Since this blog is about my addiction to all things reef, I suppose I should talk more about my setup. After all, that’s what us “reefers” do when we get together and talk. Unfortunately, there is a secret language used by those in “the hobby”, that might as well be Chinese to the uninitiated. I will try to keep my ramblings in the vernacular and avoid the use of terms, abbreviations and acronyms that might not be easily understood by the non-reefer, or at least I’ll take the time to explain what they mean if I do.

I don’t see much point in going back in my history any more than I did in my previous post, so I’ll start with the tank I setup in December of 2007. As I mentioned I got rid off the vast majority of my equipment before moving back to the Midwest last year. Being a true addict it did not take long before I was anxious to set up a tank in my new house. Initially I went the cheap and easy route with a 55 gallon tank plumbed to a simple sump via some DIY overflows.  BTW I don’t suggest overflows, DIY or otherwise, they are just an accident waiting to happen.  Drill your tank from the beginning or get a RR tank (RR = Reef Ready, comes with the holes already drilled and normally some of the basic plumbing).  Over the course of a few months the tank went from the image you see on the left (essentially a pile of freshly cured live rock with a few fish and corals) to what you  see in the image below.  I don’t recall the actual dates, but the pictures are about 7 weeks apart. Then in early February 2007 I was chatting with my buddy Pat, who owns a local pet store specializing in saltwater (I refer to him as the used car salesmen of the pet industry) and he mentioned having a couple of used 125 gallon tanks for good prices.  So I loaded up the family and off to the other side of town we went.  The first tank he described as a little rough, wow was that an understatement.  I wouldn’t have taken that tank if he’d given it to me for free.  The other tank however was in great shape other than being a little bit dirty.  He was asking $650 for the 125 gallon reef ready tank, pine stand, a sump and some filters.  Now remember this is the wheeler dealer pet store owner, who will take all kinds of stuff on trade.  I told him I had my 55 gallon tank, stand, and a MagDrive36 pump that I didn’t need that I could trade (long story, but never hook up a 3600gph pump to a 55 gallon tank unless you want to get wet!).  I also told him I really didn’t need (or want) the sump and filters he was including with the 125 gallon tank.  So Pat did some figuring in his head, a little counting on his fingers, some humming and hawing, then turns to me and says “how ‘bout I keep the sump and filters, you bring me your 55 gallon tank, stand and the pump, and I’ll let you have the 125 tank and stand for $140 cash.  In case you don’t know 125 gallon tanks start at $500-$600 new for just the tank, so needless to say I shelled out the cash, loaded up the tank and stand and headed for home.  As I said the tank needed a little clean up (dang corraline algae) and the stand ultimately was painted black, but all in all I feel like I got an awesome deal.  So that’s the story of how and where the 125 came to be.  I’ll get into more of the technical setup and the change over to the new tank in future posts.

Happy Reefing!