Reef nutrition

The only thing that happens quickly, is disaster

Hello, all. It has been a long long time since I've visited these pages....

When I took over my dad's tank in 2004, the fish store he used in New Jersey told me that "the only thing that happens quickly, is disaster.". How true that is. I've been the aquarist of this tank ever since, and I've heeded that advice for many years. And now, I've seen it come to fruition.

I recently moved from Pac Heights to Silver Terrace, and in that relocation came my 120 reef.

I had it planned to a "T". I started at 10am and by 5:45pm I had a beer in hand waiting for the cavalry to arrive to help me move. They all arrived right on time (some early!) and we were packed out in 1 hour 20 and unloaded, excluding drive time, in forty-five minutes. I was feeling great!

I got the rock scaped, got corals in, then got the fish in around 3:30am. I dropped my titanium heater in and went to bed.

In the time everything came out of the tank and was moved to the new home, the temps dropped to about 62 degrees. I awoke to the thermostat reading 74 degrees so I threw 200 watts of heater at it. A couple hours later, it still read 74 degrees. I threw 500 more watts of heat at it. At 5:30pm, it still read 74 and was so cloudy, I couldn't see the overflow. I pulled my meat thermometer out and it read 96 degrees.

I panicked. I did about 15 gallons of quick cold water changes every 20 minutes and kept my fingers crossed. In the end, I went to far and the temps dropped back down to 72. Everything died. All my fish and 95+% of my corals.

I am now three weeks later and have had a strong clean up crew in the tank working for the last two weeks and I'm ready to get some fish!! I am thinking an Engineer Goby, a Jawbone Blenny of some sort, a handful of Damsels and potentially a couple of Blue/Green Chromis to start.

But where to buy them locally?!? I want to buy as much that is tank raised as I can.

Where have y'all been shopping, and what has your experience been? It has been 8+ years since I've had to purchase any livestock, which makes this all the more heartbreaking.....
 
Welcome to BAR!

Ugh! Tough one there; I recall my brother’s tank crashing and cloudy many years ago; one of those things that make us re-think the hobby but he kept on going for a while then he decided to take a break, right after I had to...
Check with @fishdoctor he’s a sponsor and a nice short drive.
In SF we had a few shops, Ocean Treasures, Aquatic Central were sponsors but closed doors; there are some stores in SF but if you want reef focused start with fish doctor in Pacifica.
 
Man that sucks. Could see it happening to me if I were freaking out about something. Have multiple ways to check parameters, especially temp and salinity. I’ve got two different test kits for alkalinity. Don’t trust the apex alone before making big changes. Things I’m learning too.

I’m not sure what’s the best in the city. But AC is the closest to you of the places I frequent. Neptune’s has great coral and equipment. Matt the Fish Guy in San Jose has a great selection of healthy fish.






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I know Aquatic Collection. I love their tail-less Dori.... I've walked their shop twice, but never bought anything besides dry goods there....

Tell me more about the Fish Doctor?

Was "Matt the fish guy" at Natural Life Aquarium before it closed?

The crash was heart breaking, and even more so knowing it was 100% my fault..... I am dealing with a 29 year old reef. I moved it from NYC to SF, checked on an airplane in 2008 and had zero loss. Zero.... Even the Keyna Tree died, and they're the weeds of the reef!!!

Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some softy frags at the swap on the 14th!
 
https://www.fishdoctor.us/

Small place, little secluded but drive down there is nice and street parking is not an issue. Quarantined livestock, aquacultured pieces available.
He might host an event, just check the events and announcements at the top of the home page or fish doc’s forum
 
Man, such a loss. That’s rough.

When I first read your screen name I read it as dad stank instead of dad’s tank. :)

Just a friendly reminder that the member’s swap is for supporting members.
 
Tough loss! Glad you have the energy to start over.
I should point out that with a reef tank, disaster can happen slowly as well.

I go to Aquatic collections quite a bit also.
 
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