The problem with patience...

[Tangy1]

Last year I decided to convert my 3 years old FOWLR to a reef. After a successful battle with green hair algae last March, I vowed to let my tank stabilize for 1 year before I started to add corals. I spent the last 10 months reading and researching deciding on how I would like my tank to look. In that time I closely monitored my tank as if it were a reef. I watched inicidental corals like porities, xenia, sponges, green polyps along with sump macro thrive. My tank enjoyed a period of stability and growth due to my new found knowledge and diligence. I'm all ready to dive into reefing, right?

Well the funny thing about patience is that life goes on. My wife and I are now expecting our first child. Realisticly I KNOW i won't be able to give my tank the required attention that it needs come July 30.

Since a tear down is imminent I was wondering what people have done with their equipment. Do you ever store all of the hardware for future use or will it be obsolete in a few years ? Is it best to cash in on some value now? I would hate to keep this all only to find that in 5 years I've just accumulated useless antiques.

Thanks
D

 

[Will C1]

i have had a similar situation i am currently setting up my 10 year old 120 for sea horses and i kept all my old stuff, my pumps and heater still work great but some of the old plastic parts are in bad shape they discolored and are brittle. i would try to keep most of it as long as you clean it well before you store it it should be fine.

 

[ChrisIsBored]

Nothing wrong with saving your old parts. I even saved my old LR from a past tank for my new 200G. It's all dry base rock now but it's just that much less $ I have to spend to get the new tank going.

 

[reefNewbie]

Your best bet is to probably either post the stuff here in the for sale forum, or keep it for later use in say a quarentine tank or spare setup. This way your new setup will benefit from all of the new equiptment and technologies and you could still keep the old stuff as spare.

 

[Crockett]

Tangy, why tear it down??
2 kids
5 horses
2 cats
3 dogs
And a 150 gallon reef that keeps my sanity! Calicium reactor, auto top off and a lazy boy!

 

[trigger0214]

The only real reaon that I can afford to do a reef tank is beacuse I've kept all the gadgets and doo-hickies from my years of running only FOWLR tanks. I too have gone on cycles...setting up and tearing down a tank. I can't imagine the expense if a had to replace ALL the equipment each time!

 

[LFS42]

Kids get older and "easier"
Ok, well at least less time demanding.

When my wife had twins, I kept the reef up until the monsters decided that they could figure out how to unlock the sump cover and proceeded to play with their bath toys in it, thus killing everything.

I wish I had that protien skimmer back then.

Well, I downsized and put everything into storage.
5 years later and a new house with more room. My wife said the magic words "you get to pick out a new tank for our anniversary"
Well, long story short, don't think that kids mean you loose your life,
well actually they do suck the life out of you, but your reef plans may just be temporarily on hold.

Ps. I put an add in the local paper selling off the rest of my livestock.

 

[Anonymous]

loule! my problem is that i just can't bring myself to sell ANY of it, not one piece. i just know that i'll be able to use it again, somewhere, somehow....

 

[trigger0214]

Seamaiden wrote:

my problem is that i just can't bring myself to sell ANY of it, not one piece. i just know that i'll be able to use it again, somewhere, somehow....

No doubt. I had an old twenty gallon I wasn't using anymore. So, I gave it to a buddy so he could set it up as a sump. Sure enough, 6 months later I set up another tank tank (for the miss's confections) and I ended up buying a 18 gallon aquarium for that project......

So, now I have my old wet dry downsatirs full of old portein skimmer parts (I could build three right now), bioballs (possible landfill), etc.....and I'll probably ask to be burried with it all.....

 

[LFS42]

Agree, i had a rumage sale once and sold 3 tanks

Over the corse of 2 years, I found I NEEDED them.
and then some.

boy was my wife pissed.

 

[Bill2]

why tear down? I have a 3 month old and my reef tank keeps my sanity. Granted I don't have the time to stare it all I want but it was never an option to tear it down.

 

[King Jason]

I don't have any experience with having kids, but I think you can still keep your tank up. Granted you may not have as much time to monitor it and keep it "perfect" but you can do your best. Even if it suffers visually the bugs, bacteria, etc will still be growing and becoming more stable.

 

[Anonymous]

I guess I do not understand.......nor can I even come close! When my first son was born I was breeding Dobermans....and had 10 of them at one time. I had a full time combative job and was going to school too. Why would you break down your tank! I had three kids in diapers at one time..and still was able to keep up my hobbies! :!: :!: :?: :?: :?:

 

[dkhinpa]

If you really love the hobby, you'll find the time to take care of your tank. I would vote not to tear it down. It will be hectic at times, but I would start looking at how to child proof your tank (sump if you have one) -

Love the story about the kids and their bath toys in the sump - LMAO - I can see that as I type.

Congrats on the birth of your first! They are the worlds greatest joy! Until they grow into teenagers....

David

 

[stlfishguy]

don't add any corals, just leave fish for right now. Treat it like it was a reef tank. Do periodic water changes and allow the tank to continue to age. When you have more time to go reef, you will have one heck of a stable system.

 

[Anonymous]

I did not think about the Sump. Yep!........that could be a problem. Would not want to come home and find my kid floating in the sump!

 

[LFS42]

Love the story about the kids and their bath toys in the sump - LMAO - I can see that as I type.


David

wasn't so funny at the time, they wiped out about $700 of fish-n-stuff.

now it's a great LFS story. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

One of my daughters put blueberries in my tapedeck about 20 years ago. Her daughter dumped an entire container of fishfood in her Betta bowl.

 

[LFS42]

here is a pic of what was left after the "tub toy" incident

 

[Anonymous]

Kind of creepy.LOL