75G w/ Wife --7month video, last page--

I'm happy for you. My Ex always like to go out of town with me for MACNA's, IMAC'S, Frag Trades, etc. She even tolerated trips to the LFS. However, she often was gone half the day shopping elsewhere. I was luckier than most guys here because (with the exception of live rock) she never complained about what I spent. She would often find something pretty and would ask if it would work in one of the tanks. Often I could find room for something she wanted in one of my tanks so I would buy it.

We had a huge BBQ and a bunch of friends came over. People were oohing and aahing over the various tanks. Then I heard my Ex telling people everything about all sorts of critters. I was AMAZED at what she picked up over time. I honestly thought she just liked pretty things. She was telling people that featherduster is actually a worm, that pom pom crab has two small anemones that it holds for protection and when they get too big, they frag the anemone, the peacock mantis has the most specialized vision of any animal in the world, yada, yada, yada. She was in her element (an element I didn't even know she had) and had a captive audience so I just got caught up at the grill.

This is a long way of saying that it's always good when your wife supports you in your hobby.

 

What a steal! Thats awesome that your wife has caught the reefbug as well!

Thats awesome. I couldnt see myself being married to someone who doesnt like the hobby. Or at the very least respect it.

 

Congrats on the great purchase and your wife join you in the hobby Mike.

 

Thanks Matt. The guy I got it from is moving and I just happened to be on the right forum at the right time. Even though my wife thinks Volitans are the prettiest fish going she wants another reef so I'm thinking SPS dominant with this one.

No they don't, especially when you tell them a piece costs $450 less than it did and forget to throw out the packing slip yourself.

Haha I know right. Well to each his own, I hope the color of the corals isn't an indicator of the quality of the light. I have yet to see this system in person and won't til I go pick it up today. But for what I'm paying I can't complain.

Thanks

 

Thanks Curt. Now the real test is seeing how well I'm able to apply the 3reef motto. I forsee a lot of purchases of $10 frags over the next year or so. I think we have a pretty good plan for the layout already. Going to try a trick from Vargas and see if I can get good depth. Wont know for a couple years if it works or not. Hopefully we'll get luck with this one and have good success with quick growth.

Thank you. Now I hope she stays interested as the costs of frags start up again.

Thanks John. Got any ideas for a good scape in a 75.

 

Arches, coves and caves if you are going the full length with rocks

3 or 4 small offset islands would be cool and different

 

I was kinda thinkin the island thing myself. Just don't know really how to go about it. But read my next post and you'll see that I'll have plenty of time to mull over the scape.

 

If you're wondering why $150...I have to admit that I didn't believe my good fortune myself. Like I said, I bought the tank only from the pic I posted above. When I got to the guys house to pick it up it all became crystal clear....

OOFTAH.......

Forgive the quality of the pics, it's about 120*F in my garage right now and I sweat like Elvis in the Vegas days.

Everything is DIY or has been modded. I was wondering why I couldn't find a Corallife fixture with T5 supps, because the T5's are a mod using parts from an Odyssea 24" 4 bulb fixture. It has one brand new Ushio 20K and one of the original bulbs that came with the fixture.


It was not a RR tank. He drilled it and DIY'd an acrylic skimmer box with a single bulk head and drain pipe. That's getting changed. And I'll add through the glass returns. Maybe a closed loop while I'm at it.



And here's the sump.....The acrylic may come in handy...
It was only a 15 gallon anyway. To small for my taste, flooding from undersized sumps has been part of the issue with my wife and the hobby.


The glass is pretty scratched up. He told me he would never shake the trapped sand out of the in tank side of his mag float because he didn't realize it was causing scratches. I should be able to dry polish most of them out of it though. Also the back of the tank has a thin coat of black paint.
The stand and hood are completely DIY but pretty solidly built.


I didn't bother taking a pic of the "Live Rock". Figured nobody would want to see a 3 gallon waste basket half full of coral skeleton. I'll incorporate them into the scape though. Get that natural "reef building on reef" look. LOL

 

Sounds like this has become a real project. Looks like there might be some figuring out to do also.

 

I'm not complaining at all. Just had my fingers crossed that I'd come across one of those really great deals. It'll take some work but in the end it will look real nice where the 46 used to set.