Dary's tank!

[Dary421]

I normally wouldn't, I love the hobby. But now I'm going to move back to freshwater. I can't leave it all the way! And it's doing more than okay. Your tank really does look great, what lights did you get? LEDs right?

Adam,...you are so wise well beyond your years,....at 16 you have more sw knowledge than most people I know,..... I totally understand your situation, and I truly hope to see you back in the salt water reef section soon,.... You're always welcome on this thread ,feel free to chime in anytime !!!!! ,.. Dary

 

[Dary421]

People crash in saltwater reefing because they have too high expectations and don't embrace the time it takes to build a reef right. Dary has taken his time over several years I have watched him. He has never done anything in a hurry with his reef as far as I can tell. That, along with a workable routine of maintenance and feeding will do the trick every time. FW is the same, just less to do and costs less to run.

Wow,...thank you for the kind words,..I truly hope I can live up to them!!! The most important lesson I've learned here. ( as you've stated) is to take things painfully slow,.... wait 6-8 months before you start adding corals,..let your tank settle in and mature first. ,.. You re not going to win every battle but your odds Will go up by waiting

 

[needmorecowbell]

People crash in saltwater reefing because they have too high expectations and don't embrace the time it takes to build a reef right. Dary has taken his time over several years I have watched him. He has never done anything in a hurry with his reef as far as I can tell. That, along with a workable routine of maintenance and feeding will do the trick every time. FW is the same, just less to do and costs less to run.

I feel like that completely defined my situation. I rushed in the beginning, took shortcuts, and now I can't afford it because of the mistakes that I made. Hopefully it's a lesson learned.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Adam,...you are so wise well beyond your years,....at 16 you have more sw knowledge than most people I know,..... I totally understand your situation, and I truly hope to see you back in the salt water reef section soon,.... You're always welcome on this thread ,feel free to chime in anytime !!!!! ,.. Dary

Thanks dary I think you're giving me too much credit though. And will do haha, I'll be jealous of all these tanks.

 

[Dary421]

Thanks dary I think you're giving me too much credit though. And will do haha, I'll be jealous of all these tanks.

Adam,...you deserve all the credit and more..you'll be back to reefing soon enough,....we all learn from our mistakes and anyone who's managed to survive the reef tank world for any length of time will tell you the same thing ,. Everyone here has prob made all of the same mistakes at one time or another,...it's a lot of trial and error, it's the errors unfortunately that we probably learn the most from.
You take care mr Adam and we'll see you back here soon enough .

 

[Dary421]

Okay,...anyone who has painstakingly read thru the saga of this post should know about me trying to figure out how to get a CUC into my tank without being eaten by mr triggerfish,....shrimps and crabs I think are out of the question so it'll come down to snails again and prob lots of em ....I ordered some a few weeks back but unfortunately they arrived DOA so that ended that little adventure,,,But yesterday after rethinking everything,.I re ordered a bunch of them ( thru a different company ) hoping that maybe a few of them will survive long enough to eat up some of the algae on the rocks and back glass, I also added two brittle stars also,...that'll be an interesting watch to see if the trigger tries to dig em out of the rocks.
Today I just ordered three large giant type snails that ( in my way of thinking) may actually work (?) Maybe if mr triggerfish see's a snail the size of a cantaloupe cruising the glass maybe he'll Think twice about attacking it,..I'll keep some of the snails in the sump for safe keeping and will add the others at night while the trigger is asleep,
Experiment # 352 about to take off,.... I'll keep you posted of the results.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I am betting on the triggerfish...I won't trust any of my urchins in the tank with the blue jaw, much less a Picasso. A few snails have survived so far so good luck.

 

[Dary421]

I am betting on the triggerfish...I won't trust any of my urchins in the tank with the blue jaw, much less a Picasso. A few snails have survived so far so good luck.

Yup... The smart money goes on the trigger For sure... But im thinking maybe those big giant snails may stand a fighting chance at least for awhile .. Yeah sure they will .... Just hoping

 

[Hondatek]

I usually distract my puffer with clam on the half shell then toss all the inverts in the opposite back corner of the tank . Might be worth a try

 

[aadair22]

Yup... The smart money goes on the trigger For sure... But im thinking maybe those big giant snails may stand a fighting chance at least for awhile .. Yeah sure they will .... Just hoping

What type of snails are these?

 

[Dary421]

I usually distract my puffer with clam on the half shell then toss all the inverts in the opposite back corner of the tank . Might be worth a try

I can get the snails in there at nite without him even realizing they're there... BUT come " early morning" he'll be there with vengeance !!!
Thats why I'm hoping those snails the size of a cantaloupe may detour him fir awhile.
Hows our pufferfish doing these days ?

 

[Dary421]

What type of snails are these?

Some kind of giant algae eating snails from florida (?) says they get up to something like 4-6"" ... Buying size is something like 11/2 - 2".
Ps. With my luck theyll eat my triggerfish :-/

 

[Hondatek]

Oh I gotcha . Well hopefully he will leave them alone then . I know with chop the bigger it is the more he wants to eat it .He is doing great and we actually passed the 2 year mark earlier this month . Thanks for asking

 

[Dary421]

Oh I gotcha . Well hopefully he will leave them alone then . I know with chop the bigger it is the more he wants to eat it .He is doing great and we actually passed the 2 year mark earlier this month . Thanks for asking

We always had a soft spot for puffers... When snorkeling in hawaii they are really curious and will come up to you just out of arms reach and check you out .. If your arm is say 27 " theyll hang out at about 29 " very cool to see in the wild

 

[Hondatek]

That is what I have been told by a few different people . Diving with them is on the bucket list for sure

 

[Dary421]

That is what I have been told by a few different people . Diving with them is on the bucket list for sure

Its the whole scenario., puffers, triggers, tangs , parrots , wrasses, etc...... You'll never look st your aquarium the same after that . We've got exactly 3 months to go .. Leave on september 25 th and i cant wait !!!

 

[Keithhjs]

Its the whole scenario., puffers, triggers, tangs , parrots , wrasses, etc...... You'll never look st your aquarium the same after that . We've got exactly 3 months to go .. Leave on september 25 th and i cant wait !!!

Great to hear. If you haven't been to Molikini before I highly recommend a trip to it while you're on Maui. Great diving there!

 

[Dary421]

Great to hear. If you haven't been to Molikini before I highly recommend a trip to it while you're on Maui. Great diving there!

I know a lot of people who have done this trip and most all thought it was pretty cool,,,but my GF. Gets sea sick very easily so for us it's out of the question,...no worries ,we've got a couple of areas that we snorkel from shore that are awesome in itself...... I still feel that overall the Big Island prob has the best snorkeling ,..... But as they say "it's all good!! "

 

[Gregcoyote]

Diving with Manta rays at night. Awesome.

 

[Dary421]

Diving with Manta rays at night. Awesome.

Just being there....." priceless"