Comeback Kid!

JDP1988

JDP1988

New member
Chicago Land Reefers!!

Just a quick introduction on my part for the lack of involvement. I am Juan an ambitious full time student pursuing a degree in the health industry. I am also an armed forces veteran that has traveled to beautiful places in which it has inspired me to get into reefing. I like DIY stuff. I have been a member since 2012 and my activity in the CR community has been low, almost to the point that it feels that I just signed up to sell stuff or creep. Promise y'all that those were not my intentions. I was really involved on another reefing forum such as The Reeftank and that is where I was told about CR. You can say I was recruited. I have met a few local reefers that I have bought or sold live or dry goods to and had a few discussions in person such as FrostyJay, BigBarnicles, FastTrack, Kdog23, goat and some others. After this post I intend to be more involved even if its a just a quick comment on the new reefers introduction thread.

2012- I have been in the fish keeping hobby for 4 years started with freshwater like a good majority. Got into SW in 2012 which I started with a 75g FOWLR with softies the stock I had was a yellow tang, bristle tooth tang, 2 snow flake o.clowns and a flame hawk. I just had the basic knowledge and setup during that time. Here is a video of it.

http://vid1291.photobucket.com/albums/b545/JDP0621/VID_20121125_164733.mp4

View attachment 12020

2013- This is where I downgraded to a 33 gallon Solana with out the all in one filtration just the tank itself. The remaining live stock from the 75g and equipment got transferred and used for this setup. The only live stock that got transfered to this tanks was the pair of snow flakes, flame hawk and a few softies.

View attachment 12019

2014- I changed my setup to a Marineland 45g rimless cube dimensions 24x24x18. I used minimal equipment and the basics. I had a powerhead MP40, hydor skimmer, heater, DIY LEDs on timers. This setup got neglected to the point of no return loosing almost live stock and only one snow flake clown remaining. Nitrates were off the scale.

2015 early spring- After looking at how bad my tank was. I had to do something and couldn't just give up this one O.Clown that has been with me from the start and from hell and back. I rebuilt his home by saving money and planning accordingly, so it became operation save my one and only fish with 2 red hermit crabs. Using the same tank I created it into an all one system and went all out on equipment and research.

The end result as of today

[video]http://vid1291.photobucket.com/albums/b545/JDP0621/IMG_0404_zps7vhcyvng.mp4[/video]

Sorry for the background noise. There was some remodeling in the house being down that involved a hammer and wall.

[video]http://vid1291.photobucket.com/albums/b545/JDP0621/IMG_0414_zpseuapg75o.mp4[/video]

Specs:

Neptune Apex Jr.
Jebao RW-4
Sicce 1.5 Return Pump
Tunze 9004 Skimmer
Finnex 300w heater
DIY Red LED Refugium Light
Ecotech Radion xr15w Pro
Smart ATO

Live Stock:

1x Snow Flake O. Clow
1x True Percula Clown
1x Fire Fish Goby
1x Angel Fish Lemon Peel

Clean up Crew

LPS Dominant (Euphilia Fam)

Reg Grape Macro Algea

Hope you have enjoyed!
 
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Ryandragon

Member
Welcome back! I also had rebuilt my 65G which had crashed when I was living away from home for school. I tore the tank down and basically upgrade everything. It had recently just cycled and I have 3 Barlett Anthias in it now.
I'm starting the new tank with the philosophy that I would not turn it into a chord. So automating many things will happen in the future. I'm a student myself and is saving money to get a used controller for the automation part. But good job with trying to save your snowflake clown :D
 
JDP1988

JDP1988

New member
Ryandragon said:
Welcome back! I also had rebuilt my 65G which had crashed when I was living away from home for school. I tore the tank down and basically upgrade everything. It had recently just cycled and I have 3 Barlett Anthias in it now.
I'm starting the new tank with the philosophy that I would not turn it into a chord. So automating many things will happen in the future. I'm a student myself and is saving money to get a used controller for the automation part. But good job with trying to save your snowflake clown :D
Click to expand...
The student life is no joke, major budgeting and rightful planning and not going with the bare minimal/cheap way out and later have to replace parts or other stuff making your over expense more costly than originally intended. Good luck on your rebuild also, I still have ways to go. Best bet is to save money on a new apex jr for starters just like I did and get modules and upgrades as needed. Later I am getting a bigger energy bar and the wxm to control the lights and pumps. Slow and steady wins this race in this hobby.
 
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Ryandragon

Member
I'm thinking along the line of digital aquatics since it is affordable. Plus I don't really need all those controls that apex offered. It is nice to have but expensive. lol I have other expensive hobbies like motorcycle riding and shooting which takes up a big portion of my check! :coffee1:
I went cheap last time and it was really frustrating having to replace parts and stuffs. So this time I goes with the most reliable but affordable equipments I can get for my tank. So far it is working out very well. This hobby is definitely not cheap haha
 
JDP1988

JDP1988

New member
Ryandragon said:
I'm thinking along the line of digital aquatics since it is affordable. Plus I don't really need all those controls that apex offered. It is nice to have but expensive. lol I have other expensive hobbies like motorcycle riding and shooting which takes up a big portion of my check! :coffee1:
I went cheap last time and it was really frustrating having to replace parts and stuffs. So this time I goes with the most reliable but affordable equipments I can get for my tank. So far it is working out very well. This hobby is definitely not cheap haha
Click to expand...
Shooting is also another hobby that can get pricey. You start off with one simple glock and then you are like nah I need more by the time you know it you have an arsenal. Then you are like I gotta go shoot all of these a range and from there you get competitive and so on.. Real men don't just have on hobby we have many.

I was going to go with Digital Aquatics for a controller but I went with all the reviews and how people switch to an Apex later on. That's what made my decision to go with Apex and from their expand.
 
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Ryandragon

Member
JDP1988 said:
Shooting is also another hobby that can get pricey. You start off with one simple glock and then you are like nah I need more by the time you know it you have an arsenal. Then you are like I gotta go shoot all of these a range and from there you get competitive and so on.. Real men don't just have on hobby we have many.

I was going to go with Digital Aquatics for a controller but I went with all the reviews and how people switch to an Apex later on. That's what made my decision to go with Apex and from their expand.
Click to expand...
What made people decided to switch to APEX ?
 
JDP1988

JDP1988

New member
Ryandragon said:
What made people decided to switch to APEX ?
Click to expand...
A lot of it was due to lack of instructions on setup and the hassle of controlling it via web. Others was customer services with DA. The ratings went from 4 stars to below 3 stars. For the apex was at constant 4-5 stars real ease of using it. I am sure someone on CR can chime in that has had both controllers. This all self opinionated and experiences may very. One thing I learned in this hobby is spend your money once. Don't get me wrong but I would rather be on the side that has good customers service. When I got my new radions and I had a faulty radion with a bad usb port. Ecotech right away with any further questions after they were done troubleshooting they were like yeah whats your shipping address because we are sending you a new one, no charge just send us back the faulty one with the return slip from the new one. Hassle free and quick that won me.
 
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Ryandragon

Member
JDP1988 said:
A lot of it was due to lack of instructions on setup and the hassle of controlling it via web. Others was customer services with DA. The ratings went from 4 stars to below 3 stars. For the apex was at constant 4-5 stars real ease of using it. I am sure someone on CR can chime in that has had both controllers. This all self opinionated and experiences may very. One thing I learned in this hobby is spend your money once. Don't get me wrong but I would rather be on the side that has good customers service. When I got my new radions and I had a faulty radion with a bad usb port. Ecotech right away with any further questions after they were done troubleshooting they were like yeah whats your shipping address because we are sending you a new one, no charge just send us back the faulty one with the return slip from the new one. Hassle free and quick that won me.
Click to expand...
I agree with you on the pay for things only once in this hobby as I did buy cheap stuffs before. I do value excellent customer service from companies that do provide them. I bought a SCA302 skimmer and some of the parts came broken during shipping. I called the manufacturer and he just ask for my address so he can send me the replacement parts no question asked. And the replacement was sent using 2 days express mail. Excellent customer service. All business should operate this way, customers should always be kings/queens to certain extend of course. :)
 
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