Hello all, my name is Dequan Barthell and I just returned to the Atlanta area after being gone for 26yrs. I was born and raised in the local area before doing almost 24 years in the Air Force and finally retiring in 2020.
I’ve been in the hobby for a little over two years and also worked in a LFS in the Seattle area, part time for about 6 months. My first tank was a RedSea 425xl that I purchased used but it was an established tank with fish and LPS dominate corals. Ofcourse being new to the hobby, I dove head first into learning how to keep that ecosystem alive. There was a step learning curve but thankfully that tank was more success than failure even after switching over to an SPS dominate tank.
I currently don’t have a tank up and running but that’s mostly because the recent move. I’ve since sold the RedSea tank and all the corals, but have upgraded to a Cade 1800 s2 and a Reef Savvy 450g, that I got the lead on from reading on the ARC Facebook group (Thank you to that member for posting about it) and a RedSea 170 that will be a nem only tank. I still have a few fish that a friend in Seattle is keeping for me until I can get a tank setup and running.
I will end with thanking this forum/club. I was worried that moving from a very active community in Seattle that I wouldn’t find the same here. I also look forward to meeting many of you and also being very active in the reefing group, as you guys/gals are my type of people.
Cheers!
P.S. I’ve attached photos of my previous and current tanks along with some corals I had before moving back to Atlanta.
![4FFBD0AD-7373-4DFA-991C-489B9BCB641A.jpeg 4FFBD0AD-7373-4DFA-991C-489B9BCB641A.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66545-4f1a00bce09ad61cfc315408d6f6f9a9.jpg)
![C9635C5F-DB1A-496C-8656-C6E5163CED7B.jpeg C9635C5F-DB1A-496C-8656-C6E5163CED7B.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66546-56f3528e204f5cdb931ed68b25c88f81.jpg)
![AB0FB744-91B5-4FF5-BF77-3DC53AF4FF0E.jpeg AB0FB744-91B5-4FF5-BF77-3DC53AF4FF0E.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66547-f833c4684590791f6b102f9c488ac687.jpg)
![F3A87F28-BFDE-4A94-8022-294AB7D6E967.jpeg F3A87F28-BFDE-4A94-8022-294AB7D6E967.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66548-730d28d8d0bb0ec71d7d23062fcc7156.jpg)
![91E41889-F411-4161-86C5-9E2D1EEDE50C.jpeg 91E41889-F411-4161-86C5-9E2D1EEDE50C.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66549-78e201ebc7b3b30d65c41a3424547871.jpg)
![A34AE8F7-7F9D-4493-8C43-92693B2829F8.jpeg A34AE8F7-7F9D-4493-8C43-92693B2829F8.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66550-b1c4696f3a7b427a6007a0f54dba3e98.jpg)
![4BE0627F-D65A-43E5-8A30-CCBCF39B92AA.jpeg 4BE0627F-D65A-43E5-8A30-CCBCF39B92AA.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66551-657c0f7c2e8227905e12261f5f15528a.jpg)
![FD091413-C980-4360-A5FC-56FD40B93B78.jpeg FD091413-C980-4360-A5FC-56FD40B93B78.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66552-b58dcb76eb6fbd54c83ffbd962edb720.jpg)
I’ve been in the hobby for a little over two years and also worked in a LFS in the Seattle area, part time for about 6 months. My first tank was a RedSea 425xl that I purchased used but it was an established tank with fish and LPS dominate corals. Ofcourse being new to the hobby, I dove head first into learning how to keep that ecosystem alive. There was a step learning curve but thankfully that tank was more success than failure even after switching over to an SPS dominate tank.
I currently don’t have a tank up and running but that’s mostly because the recent move. I’ve since sold the RedSea tank and all the corals, but have upgraded to a Cade 1800 s2 and a Reef Savvy 450g, that I got the lead on from reading on the ARC Facebook group (Thank you to that member for posting about it) and a RedSea 170 that will be a nem only tank. I still have a few fish that a friend in Seattle is keeping for me until I can get a tank setup and running.
I will end with thanking this forum/club. I was worried that moving from a very active community in Seattle that I wouldn’t find the same here. I also look forward to meeting many of you and also being very active in the reefing group, as you guys/gals are my type of people.
Cheers!
P.S. I’ve attached photos of my previous and current tanks along with some corals I had before moving back to Atlanta.
![4FFBD0AD-7373-4DFA-991C-489B9BCB641A.jpeg 4FFBD0AD-7373-4DFA-991C-489B9BCB641A.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66545-4f1a00bce09ad61cfc315408d6f6f9a9.jpg)
![C9635C5F-DB1A-496C-8656-C6E5163CED7B.jpeg C9635C5F-DB1A-496C-8656-C6E5163CED7B.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66546-56f3528e204f5cdb931ed68b25c88f81.jpg)
![AB0FB744-91B5-4FF5-BF77-3DC53AF4FF0E.jpeg AB0FB744-91B5-4FF5-BF77-3DC53AF4FF0E.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66547-f833c4684590791f6b102f9c488ac687.jpg)
![F3A87F28-BFDE-4A94-8022-294AB7D6E967.jpeg F3A87F28-BFDE-4A94-8022-294AB7D6E967.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66548-730d28d8d0bb0ec71d7d23062fcc7156.jpg)
![91E41889-F411-4161-86C5-9E2D1EEDE50C.jpeg 91E41889-F411-4161-86C5-9E2D1EEDE50C.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66549-78e201ebc7b3b30d65c41a3424547871.jpg)
![A34AE8F7-7F9D-4493-8C43-92693B2829F8.jpeg A34AE8F7-7F9D-4493-8C43-92693B2829F8.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66550-b1c4696f3a7b427a6007a0f54dba3e98.jpg)
![4BE0627F-D65A-43E5-8A30-CCBCF39B92AA.jpeg 4BE0627F-D65A-43E5-8A30-CCBCF39B92AA.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66551-657c0f7c2e8227905e12261f5f15528a.jpg)
![FD091413-C980-4360-A5FC-56FD40B93B78.jpeg FD091413-C980-4360-A5FC-56FD40B93B78.jpeg](https://atlantareefclub.org/data/attachments/66/66552-b58dcb76eb6fbd54c83ffbd962edb720.jpg)