the curse of the reef tank

[invert]

To start with I will apologise for the long post but I’m sure you will all find this either amusing or amazing but I just had to tell you all. This post was not written to put anyone of reef keeping and the problems that I have experienced a so unlikely to happen that I everyone at my lfs thinks we are cursed.

 

After a couple of years of keeping freshwater fish I managed to persuade my mum into keeping a reef tank. We when to as many fish shops as possible and we went for a hand made solid wood 120 gal tank with a prism protein skimmer and 2 rean external canister filters. If only we knew what was to come. We go it all home and set it all up and left it over night. When we came back down the next morning the howl bottom of the cabinet had flooded to about 5 inch deep. So we cleaned up the mess and asked the shop what had gone wrong. The next night it did the same thing. So we phoned the shop up and asked why. Each time the shop told us to change something and it didn’t work. Well after five times of flooding the cabinet the guy from my lfs came to see what was wrong he took some more media out and we left it over night again. Once more the tank flooded again. We decided that the canisters weren’t right for us so we changed to a forty gal sump. The shop took the tank to be drilled and said they would take the responsibility if it cracked. Then a week later there was a phone call saying that the tank was ready. But when they went to put it in there van there was a crack near the hole. The stupid guy that drilled the tank just drilled it and sore that it was cracked and just left. So the made us anew tank for free and a month later we filled the tank. We used a mix of ½ ocean rock and ½ live rock with a three inch sand bed. We also got a uv serialiser. There was no way this could of leaked know so we were really happy. But it leaked again. At this point we were about to give up. But we found out that the uv was faulty and got it changed. Since then our tank has been running amazingly well for six months. Although we had three large crabs and a 12-inch bristle worm appear from the live rock.

 

As we were doing so well with the tank I decided to set up a nano so I got all the rock, sand and equipment for a 2.5 gal. But then I thought that there was to much fluctuation in temp and salinity to keep the tank so I went to my lfs and asked them to take my cichlids out of my 20 gal. They offered to give me what I paid for them, which was 68 pounds. This was just enough to get all the rock I needed. As I was catching them I noticed that the stand for my tank had been soaked in water and was very unstable. So I know had to find the money for a stand. Kindly, my mum offered to buy it for me as an early Christmas present. I then took the fish to my lfs. But when I got there the manager was back and he said he would only give me 20 pound for the fish. I couldn’t refuse because I didn’t have a tank to put them in. know I have about 2 kilos of rock. I then when home because I was angry with the manager. I started to set up the tank a week later when we got the stand. I washed the sand and left it in a plastic box. My 12-week-old kitten mistook it for his litter tray and he did the biggest poo I have ever seen. So I know have no sand and barely any rock.

 

Well that’s all the problems that we have had so far but it is unbelievable that we are having loads of problems again.

Sorry for the length.

[LEEWINK]

ah man thats sad, but i'm sure once reset, with determination in abundance, you'll forget everything, and have the dude'iest tank around, maybe gods telling you something is wrong, mark my words, your tank will eventually be the best ! cheers, lee

[invert]

thank you I have many ideas for my tank and I cant wait to get started. im supprised anyone would read all that. lol

[Sahin]

Hi, sorry to hear about all the problems you've had so far. I have went through my share of tank nightmare during my FW tank years.

 

Hopefully things will go smothly from now on.

 

And yes we do read everything--well, some of us at least.

 

Take care, hopefully everything will work out.

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Hi,

 

I read it all and thought it was funny, esp. about the kitten. It always seems like when you want something badly everything goes wrong. Too bad you live in the UK- I have plenty of leftover sand I would gladly give you. Good luck and I'm sure it will all fall into place soon.

Tasha

[Toyfreek]

That was nice of the store to replace the tank they broke

If I was you which I am not....I would goto another store in the future, the cichlid thing would have made me (last straw) really angry!

there are many stores near me but only one I goto, the reason customer service. If after the first time it flooded my guy didn't come out to check my plumbing I would have been shopping around at that point.

I am sorry to hear about your troubles but think of it this way, maybe you got all the bad stuff outta the way before any animals died!

Good luck,

Toy

[Sea Wraith]

Thats a classic example of Murphy's Law in action!

 

For those of you who dont know what Murphy's Law is, Its this:

 

If it can go wrong.... It WILL!!!!

 

Below is the supposed TRUE account given by Murphy (a Bricklayer) given to his boss on the incident that led to the discovery of Murphy's Law.

 

 

Dear Sir;

 

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a more complete explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.

 

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later, were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.

 

Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 240 lbs of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs.

 

Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.

 

In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions, and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3, accident reporting form.

 

Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately, by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience.

 

At approximately the same time however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs.

 

I refer you again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body.

 

Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.

 

I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.

 

Signed Murphy

 

[Sahin]

Sea Wraith: that made for a nice read, thanks for posting that.

[invert]

I didn't change to another fish shop because it is only the manager that isnt very nice but when we started the tank they gave us a 25% disscount on everything. they were having there roof repaired so they gave us the disscount so we would buy everything at once.