stoneroller Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Hi all, I'm in a crash course on reefkeeping and BTW on the use of forums; a special thanks goes out to ReefCentral - very thoughtful with respect to those new to the hobby. THANKS! I have adopted a reef tank (temporarily) while a close friend deals with a family emergency and a house plumbing disaster. I've kept freshwater tanks for decades and one SW fish-only tank a few years back, has it been 15 years? PHASE I (The Rescue): Six weeks ago, I got a call from my friend and co-worker. He asked if I could go to his house and breakdown his 75G reef tank (which he has had running for years) because water had flooded the living room. A co-worker and I dropped what we were doing to help a friend in need. We loaded up coolers, buckets, aerators, hoses and nets. We arrived at 2 pm and by 6 the tank was at my house. We took off the next day to set it up. All went well, except for the yellow tang and a fairy basslet sorry to say. TANK FACTOIDS: The 75G has an overflow box (no fun there) and a trickle filter with bioballs. NO lights! 4-40W: 2 actinic, 1-10K, and one LifeGlo2. All are new, now. No operational skimmer so there is fresh carbon in the sump. Current provided by three PHs and the Rio return pump. I use a few test kits: nitrate, nitrite and ammonia; there were no bumps in these after the setup, good news after six weeks. A water sample recently tested at LFS was positive on most accounts, Ca a little high and pH a little low, no phosphates, no nitrates. And... one undersized heater. THE CRITTERS: At least 75 pounds of live rock in tank which hosts a dozen mushrooms, a small clove polyp, a small star polyp, and 5 colonies of rust/brown colored zoas. One banded coral shrimp (My kids ask, why isn't it called the peppermint shrimp?). And... from the Texas coast jetties: 4 anemones, hermit crabs, and two blenny: one unknown for now and a Molly Miller that resides in the overflow box. There are five fish remaining after the breakdown, transport and set-up: the Molly Miller and unk. blenny, A. clarkii, a three-striped damsel, and a coral beauty. Some snails and a few little starfish show up occassionally. Since the water quality turned out fine and the survivors are doing well, I have added a few specimens in preparaton for PHASE II and to add biodiversity to his LR (thinking long-term). These are a small BTA to make the clownfish happy (and it worked!), a small leather coral, a small colony of more colorful zoas, and a very small Xenia. Algaewise, lots of coralline, a few bubbles and no cyano I can detect. There is a creature (slimy and green on surface, white interior, spreading, kinda "gluey" almost leathery non-tunicate) we need help with on the ID, another topic some other day. PHASE II I have an Oceanic 72G RR bowfront sitting dry, no life support EQ. The plan is (at some point in the near future) to set it up with his sump to house all of the adopted critters while we do some work on the 75, namely drill it out and buff out scratches (any suggestions appreciated). Once the 75G is ready to go and life has returned to normal, we'll transfer his critters to a fully cycled tank. My 72 will be prime for live rock and critters. We can be frag buddies. That's the plan anyway. PHASE III Win the sump at the next ARC meeting! Well, here's my special hello and thanks to the dudester for the fine thread on RC (I've really learned a lot from your documentation) and fishypets who turned me on to ARC (even though he didn't tell me what an AEFW was! lol). THANKS! See you soon! Kevin PS. If you are in San Marcos sometime and need a little diversion, come by the Texas Rivers Center (the old Aquarena hotel at the head of Spring Lake) and see the River Exhibit: three aquaria representing a riffle, run and pool, lots of natives and the State Fish of Texas. I work for TPWD Freshwater Resources on the second floor, stop by and say hi and I'll show you around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhayden Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Sounds like you have a heck of a start!! Welcome and good luck with Phase II. Drew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Buda?.. lol.. I used to live in Buda back in the 80's!... Did they ever replace the storage shed/ fire dept. building with a real building? Back when I lived there.. the main street only had shops on one side of the road with the fire department on the other side (until the fire station burnt down & they replaced it with the storage shed) ... and the street was paved until you hit the train tracks.. dirt road on the "wrong side of the tracks"... Makes me wonder just how much it has grown and changed in the last 20 years! Welcome to the group!.. Some day I may have to make a trip back there and see how much it has changed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 Thank you both. Buda's growth is outta control. The streets are paved and there is a fire/ems station; there's a new city hall and of course the Cabela's, HEB, and WalMart. Lots of food joints too. You can buy beer in town these days. This weekend is BudaFest! Stop in, you'll be amazed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieMEDIC Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 hey i just moved to buda from dallas area I was wondering if there was anyone in the hobby close to me. guess so. i have been in austin area since october but my tank has been up in dallas still. im bringing it down tomorrow wanna help with setup??? hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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