Feeling like I'm in a state of limbo

[jamesdong009]

I've had my fair share of ups and downs in this hobby but right now I might be at one of my lowest.

First, a crack in the seam of my display tank forced me to take everything down and house everything in a Rubbermaid stock tank. Without all my fail-safes in place, a kalkwasser incident caused me to lose a majority of my livestock . It's been a couple of months and things have settled down in the stock tank and I see some growth coming along. It's just tough to take inventory when you can only see top down .

All summer long, I've been battling dinoflagellates in my frag tank, with me on the losing side. It spread so rapidly that I lost a good chunk of my SPS and was depressing to see everything overcome with algae. Lights have currently been off for a week and my skimmer has been emptying about 5 gallons a day. Things a starting to look clearer and I'm hoping I can overcome this when do more maintenance on the tank this week.

I had plans of upgrading my frag this summer but I've been in the market for a bigger house, so all my tank dreams have come to a halt. I'm sure the cooler temps will force me to become more involved with my tanks, but for now, I'm not sure where I'm heading .

 

[s_kelley]

Keep your head up! Sometimes a forced change can be a good thing, it's a slow process.
We have all been slacking in tank maintnence with the nice weather, at least I know I have.

 

[Jb83]

Sorry to hear about your troubles but I see an opportunity for a new setup in a new house. Silver lining on every cloud! Maybe a full fish room....food for thought

 

[sfb911]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I went through something similar last fall and did a reboot of my system.

You may want to look into hydrogen peroxide dosing for your Dino problem... In doing some research on a bryopsis problem I was having I came across it. I ended up dosing my entire system (185 gallons total volume ) for about 5 days in conjunction with some other measures (lettuce nudis and turbo snails)..

When I was researching this a ton of people talked about having success fighting dinos with Hydrogen peroxide system wide. The dose is 1ml of 3% hp per 10 gallons. It will tick off your zoas if you have any (mine are fine now) and I recommend removing or isolating any shrimp prior to doing it.

It's an extreme measure but it apparently works.

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[Newguy]

I had a horrible dyno issue about a month after start. I believe the hydrogen method works on certain strains of dyno. It did nothing for mine. What did work was lights out and cover and remove all you can manually. Also I dosed microbater 7. Now I only get a few spots a month and 12 hour lights out wiped out any remaining. Just my experience

 

[sfb911]

As with most things reef related, there will always be folks with different experiences. There does seem to be a ton of evidence of reported success with Hydrogen Peroxide beating Dinos though.

It worked for my Bryopsis issue for sure.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[this is me]

Anthony,
On the brighter side, you are in the market for a bigger home. That is more important for the tank upgrade in the long run.

 

[IPWitan]

Not intending to be as self serving as it sounds, but if you need someone to hold some of your corals, I have room.

 

[reefstarter]

I know exactly what you mean , I am currently setting up a move . Ughhh gotta break down the tank ..... Soon

 

[wpeterson]

Hang in there man. We all have the moments and catastrophes that make you want to leave the hobby. I know we've had a few ourselves.

If you can get to a stable holding system while you find a house and move, it may be easier to setup your new, dream system then. That may also let you frag/dip each coral on the way in to the new display if you're trying to QT out a big outbreak of dynos.

It may also make sense to find homes outside your system for frags of your favorite corals so you have a life-line if you do have a crash while you're figuring things out. In the Bay Area reef club I belonged to there was a well organized, honor system of free frags so people would have backups of the best colonies alive in someone elses tank to help them re-start for times like this. You've got a lot of friends in this club who I'm sure can help out with this, too.

 

[Alex]

This hobby can be so unforgiving. I've had a number of disasters over the years. Calcium reactor melt downs, ruined hardwood floors, leaking seams. I left the hobby for a few years but couldn't stay away. I waited till I bought a house that had a finished basement then got back in. I kept some of my equipment but it was nice to start fresh. This hobby is punishing but the rewards are awesome.

I'm also a big believer in trying to make friends in the hobby and trading/giving away corals so that you always have people you can go back to for your favorites.

 

[Archit]

really sorry to read this Anthony like everyone said, chin up buddy! I'll buy the beers at the meeting this time, and hook you up with a sweet frag pack of one of every acro I have once you are ready again!

Now buy that new house quick!

- Archit

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[s_kelley]

That's a good idea Anthony, if you want to store stuff while you deal with tank issues let me know, got plenty of room in the basement

 

[Curren007K]

I feel ya man, I lost all my sps over the summer as well. Its a real blow after so much work you put into the hobby.

 

[AlbertG]

all i have to say is go back and beat his a** .
at least that is what my family used to tell me every time one of the kids come home crying from a kids fight or something was bothering then .
they also taut me if you brother or familly is fighting someone or struggling with something no matter how small or big , help him out so that person never bother your brother again .
so with that say if you need any help let me know .
i will be buying you the second beer at the meeting .
hope you get up soon and good luck finding your bigger house .

 

[this is me]

all i have to say is go back and beat his a** .
at least that is what my family used to tell me every time one of the kids come home crying from a kids fight or something was bothering then .
they also taut me if you brother or familly is fighting someone or struggling with something no matter how small or big , help him out so that person never bother your brother again .

 

[s_kelley]

Hahaha badpapi did you grow up in my Irish household? Boxing gloves were a birthday gift at a young age.
I think he is referencing the fact that you should never give up on something and always come back stronger

 

[AlbertG]

sory tha my broken english got you confuse . but i meant wath kelley say !
Never give up and always help your brother to stay strong ! that is why i offer the beer

Hahaha badpapi did you grow up in my Irish household? Boxing gloves were a birthday gift at a young age.
I think he is referencing the fact that you should never give up on something and always come back stronger

lol thanks for the translation

 

[s_kelley]

No prob bud

 

[JohnK]

Sucks man, sorry to hear. Like Papi said, life might knock you down and then kick dirt in your face - but that's when it's time to step up, brush yourself off, and jump back in and kick a** better than ever. (translation #2, how am I doing?)

Personally my set backs in this hobby have been like reefing darwinism. The weak are weeded out by my bad luck and mistakes. Eventually my tank has evolved into one heck of a durable collection of things that I don't seem to be able to kill no matter what I do or what goes wrong beyond my control. LMK if you would like some hardy leather frags and or a RBTA for when things start to bounce back