Niko's Reef Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 A year ago I decided I needed a hobby to keep me from drinking and to see my $ go somewhere besides my stomach. Once I got involved in this hobby, there was no turning back. I fell in love with it and lost all interest in drinking among other things. This hobby has became 1 of my main passions in life. I would like to thank this club for everything that it has done for me. Learning, friendships, enjoyment and living a better life. This was my 1st tank. It's a 75g. I had a hard time at the beginning. I lost so many fish/corals. I changed out my sump. It was just a 20g aquarium. It is now a 3 chambered sump. I started growing micro algae, placed a skimmer, liverock and sand in it. The changes have made the tank much more stable. I will soon be breaking this tank down, which will be hard. It's running at a level that I have never achieved, but I'm ready to do bigger and better things. It's pretty fugly. I'll move some of the stuff to my new 75g project. Left Side Right Side My next tank was the biocube. Again lots of ups and downs with this tank as well. Lost a lot of coral/fish again. I changed up the hood, and that helped me stop losing coral. I added a UV sterilizer, and that eliminated my loss of fish. I recently just lost my colony of frogspawn due to some movements I made. I have since replaced them. Thanks to lildodoo. He is awesome. I will soon be switching this tank to LED's. Don't know which set yet. Left side Middle Right Side The next tank was all my wife's ideal. She wanted a seahorse tank. I told her I didn't think I could do it, but I have had 0 issues with it. This is by far my favorite tank. I'm fascinated by seahorses. I constantly find myself staring into the tank. I've had them since last May. I got them as a wedding present for us. We named them little T and D. Which is for my real name Travis and her name Dana. It's my easeist tank to take care of, which is weird. I always heard they were tough to keep. It is a really basic setup. I would love to change it up, but why fix something that isn't broken. Middle Left Side Right Side So this is my years worth of work and accomplishments. I could have thrown in the towel so many times, but instead I decided to learn from my mistakes. I have big plans for this year, and I can't wait to start them. This is my next project. It's a rimless 75g. It will be taking the spot of my 1st tank. I've had this tank for awhile. I've been putting it off, but I've been having that itch to start it up lately. I took my 1st step Sun. It has scratches that need to be removed. Tried to get it done somewhere, but nobody does acrylic. So, I started working some of them out with Novous. I have seeked advice from Dapettit. His tank is awesome, and he is the guru of scratch removals. I owe him big time as well. His build is so informative and awesome to read. Plan on redoing the stand next. I'm shooting on adding the LED's this weekend to the Biocube, even though I'm not sure it will happen. I need to find a bracket or hanging kit 1st. I will be moving this tank to our baby nursery. Me and my wife are expecting our 1st child and want the kid to be involved with this hobby. What better way then having 1 in their nursery. My wife is the best. Then it will be on to my wife's and mine dream. A bigger tank. I will be getting my180g this week, thanks to Ct67stang. That's what this club brings. He is doing me a huge favor bringing it down for me. I owe him big time. We wanted to do sting rays, but I'm not sure that is possible. I just don't have the room needed for them. I need to do some research on it, but I know I can finally get my long desired tang. I got my hands full; but with a strong will and this amazing club the sky is in limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Congrats on being a father to be. You will soon experience love at first sight. And on your hobby anniversary. Great looking tanks. Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Congrats on sticking to it and learning. I sometimes forget what my other hobbies were prior to all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Congrats more on sobriety and being a new parent. It is the greatest joy in the world. I am sitting here right now looking at my 3 month old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 great looking tanks man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko's Reef Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks all. Yeah, I'm stoked about being a parent. Fixing to google what the baby looks like at 8 weeks, and some facts. Need to jump on these projects quick. Alot of my tank equipment is in the nursery room. Sobriety is great. I see things in a different light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko's Reef Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks all. Yeah, I'm stoked about being a parent. Fixing to google what the baby looks like at 8 weeks, and some facts. Need to jump on these projects quick. Alot of my tank equipment is in the nursery room. Sobriety is great. I see things in a different light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 You have done a ton in just a year's time, wow. Your tanks look great and so do the seahorses! Good luck with everything, including the baby Fun times ahead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Congrats man! Having been through some similar issues myself, and going through the same things with friends and family...much respect. What an accomplishment it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko's Reef Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Congrats man! Having been through some similar issues myself, and going through the same things with friends and family...much respect. What an accomplishment it is! Thanks Bpd. Yeah, it always tough, so much respect back at you. Hope all works out for your friends and family. I know a lot of people as well that struggle with it. I always try to lend anyone a hand, if they need help with it. I had 2 other friends of mine that quit with me as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 This is a really wonderful post! You've accomplished so much in a year! Happy anniversary, Travis! I love the seahorse tank--I've never seen one with coral! It looks beautiful. And congrats on the coming child! I really love the idea of having a reef in the nursery--way to bring 'em up right! 8} Thanks for posting this! It is so full of good energy; it has made me smile from ear to ear and given me something to be happy about all day long. 8} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko's Reef Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 This is a really wonderful post! You've accomplished so much in a year! Happy anniversary, Travis! I love the seahorse tank--I've never seen one with coral! It looks beautiful. And congrats on the coming child! I really love the idea of having a reef in the nursery--way to bring 'em up right! 8} Thanks for posting this! It is so full of good energy; it has made me smile from ear to ear and given me something to be happy about all day long. 8} Thanks for reading it and the kind words Peter. Means a lot to me. It made me feel good posting it. Yeah, the seahorse tank has really taken off lately. I used to be nervous about corals and seahorses. I read it can sting them. I used to see them all the time at aquadome and aquatek with corals so I decided to give it a shot. I haven't had any issues with them. They love them. Everytime I put coral in, they swim over to them and start hanging on them. I can't take credit for the nursery. That's all my wife's ideal. She loved when we went to Woods house awhile back how involved his son was. When we left, she told me that's how I want our kids to be. She's an awesome wife. Glad we share the love of the hobby together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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