Getting ready to dive back in...

[MBreefer]

Hey all! First off a long winded intro about my reefing journey...

 

My reefing journey began about a decade ago which just reminded me that I’m getting old. I was a broke college kid (BCK) and out on my own for the first time, living with some buddies in our first place. After doing some research on this very forum I decided to put together a BCK budget 15 gallon tank. Basically I got a tank, stand, cheap power compact fluorescent light which are now obsolete, a couple power heads, heater and HOB filter. Everything was going great for some time as it tends to for most people who get into this. I was driving home to work on the weekends and basically blowing any money I got going straight to the LFS. My tank was getting established I had a fish or two but was mostly buying softies to fill the space. Of course the girlfriend at the time requested a clown fish so we got one. Named him Hot Dog. Like I said everything was going great for a while... then it happened. It was completely my fault and I still feel stupid to this day for doing it, but I crashed the tank. I was doing my water change and maintenance and again BCK me had only the essentials so I would take the heater from the display to bring my water change water up to temp. Of course being impatient (the obvious and number one no-no in this hobby) I would turn the heater all the way up with hopes that it would bring my water up to temp quicker and I could be done with the task. You can probably see where this is going at this point. Yup, you guessed it, I forgot to the turn the heater back down when I replaced it in the DP. If you’ve never seen a 90 something degree cooked tank DO NOT google it. It is a sad sad sight to come home to after a long day of classes. Of course I lost pretty much everything in the tank, minus the clown fish, who really earned his name that day. 

 

At that point I could have let the war be won but decided to be resilient and give it another try. I set everything back up and gave it another go. This time around would be better. I got this. Let’s go. 

 

Though this time around would be better, it was still the beginning of the end of my first reefing stint. Some pics:

 

 

These are the only photos I have as I had gotten my first DSLR shortly before these were taken.

 

As you can see I was fighting a losing battle with algae that was introduced via live rock I believe and probably never fought away because of poor water quality as I didn’t have the funds for an RO/DI unit.

 

Anyway, to try and wrap this up, college was coming to an end and I would begin my real journey out into the world. I gave the contents of this tank to a reefer buddy and would shut it down in 2012 shortly before graduation. After briefly moving back home I decided to leave my home state of Maryland and move to Myrtle Beach, SC essentially to pretend I was still in college for a few more years. I visited a friend who went to school down here and had too much fun and couldn’t get away. I have lived in the area ever since, surprisingly finding some semblance of stability. After a few years of moving from apartment to apartment I now own a home with my fiancé who recently gave birth to our 7 month old son. Last year I started a photography business and get to take pictures like this in the summer time :

 

 

All these years later I have always missed reefing and being able to completely zone out into an awesome little ecosystem in my home. Now I am a broke adult kid (BAK) and have been doing a lot of research and very SLOWLY and PATIENTLY planning my return to this great hobby. The old lady is on board as she thinks it’ll be cool to show and teach our little dude, which I agree. I am hoping with a few more years of wisdom under my belt that I will be able to do this right and couldn’t be more excited about it. 

 

While I was originally planning on getting straight back in with a 90 gallon tank a friend gave me, I’ve decided to hold off and instead start with something smaller. If you want to help me decide I’ve posted in the AIO sub. 

 

 

Thanks for reading and all the future advice I can look forward to receiving from all you awesome people!

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Welcome to the community @MBreefer! 👋

 

It sounds like you're ready this time, I think you made the right decision to start with a smaller system where the maintenance schedule can better work into your schedule and lifestyle. Water changes on a 90 gallon is a lot of work!