WHAT MADE YOU WANT A REEF AQUARIUM?

[Montanarocknree]

Hi All! What led you to this awesome hobby? Here is my story:
It started like a lot of others with a small fish bowl and a goldfish! I have always loved animals and we lived across the road where hundreds of boys went to summer camp and my brothers and I collected all the animals for their nature lodge. We collected frogs, snakes, lizards, etc well you get the picture! I loved watching reef shows on TV and I started a 29 gallon reef tank over 30 years ago. It consisted of lava rock, a hang-on filter, CC bed and underground filter and I had a jawfish, a flame scallop, 3 predatory anemones and a cleaner shrimp. I had this tank for almost 2 years and then it got damaged in a resident change and I could not afford to start another with raising a family. Five years ago I made the mistake of going into a LFS and they had a 500 gallon reef tank and the rest was history. Johnny

[reefrunner69]

About 13 years ago, my wife and I were having our first Christmas together, some friends of ours had just gotten a S/W fish tank, and my wife decided she wanted one. Now I wanted no part of this. I was dead set against it, but being that my wife tends to win in these kind of arguments, I bought her a 20g kit at Walmart and a bag of salt from the LFS.

Christmas morning....we set up the tank, complete with UGF and about 25lbs of crushed coral. Well, the quality being what it is when you get it from Walmart...it leaked. Tear it down, return it and start all over again. I really did not like this hobby! Set up the new kit, let it sit for a day and guess what...this one leaked too!

We are not doing another kit! Go to the LFS, buy a 30 gallon tank and stand, set it up, let it run for 24hrs and then start to cycle the tank with damsels. (yes I know that is not the best way, but remember that was 13 years ago) The first night the tank had fish in it, I sat in the living room watching it , well pretty much all night. I was hooked. Reefing was sure to follow. Haven't looked back since, I've spent more money on this hobby than a luxery car!!! But it has been worth it, to me.

[fishfreek]

Well my story goes like this....

• When I was a kid I would go off to camp and catch minnows and put them in a little cup. They would usually live for a few days and then die. We lived about 40min from the closes pet shop so it was on a VERY rare occasion that we would be even close to a pet shop so I did not have an opportunity to purchase a tank or anything like that as a kid. (I did not even know what WAL-Mart was until college!!! Thats how far out in the country we lived.)
  After I graduated college in 1996 I was living in an apartment and decided one day that I would buy a 20 gal aquarium kit from wal-mart. I kept freshwater fish and plants until the winter of 2000. This is when a roommate of mine purchased an setup a used 90 gal tank. He decided he did not want all the work it took for saltwater so he made it fresh. At that same time I decided this would be a great opportunity to convert my 20 gal to saltwater. So in Jan of 2001 I added the first cup of salt to the 20 gal tank. In March I purchased a used 45 gal show tank setup and then in the summer of 2001 I purchased an 80 gal show tank setup. So now here I sit telling you about my addiction into this hobby.
  I currently have a 20 gal mini-reef, a 80 gal micro-reef, a 45 gal (currently in transition) and a 29 gal freshy tank.

...well that is what I call my addiction. My wife gave me the name fishfreek back when we was dating.

[donkeykong]

WHile growing up we always had animals but things in water always interested me . I first had a turtle for about 2 years and he got to big for the tank and we set him free in a local park pond where he found a mate and lived happily ever after. My dad wanted a water fall so we combined our interest(how sweet we bonded) and made a pond out side. 50gl plastic molded pond with a nice water fall, and two pond comets for me. Well my dad like the fish so much he wanted a bigger pond for them. No arguements here. we built a 18ft long 4ft wide and 3ft deep pond. Nice. with some sweet plants and a good assortment of fish. Well when i got married we rented a house so no digging up the back yard for my ultimate pond. My gandma gives me a 20gl tall and I figure this will hold me for awhile. It was fresh water and i went to a lfs(very bad lfs) that sold me two puffers and a snowflake eel after I had told them i had a FW. Realizing my mystake I switch everything over in a hurry and started researching. well I lost slim the eel during the cycle but puffers made it and the 20gl that was going to hold me over for a while lasted 4 months then turned into a 80gl with the works. The hobby dug into me and I am loving every minute of it

[Montanarocknree]

Excellent stories guys! Anybody else? Johnny

[Jacob Morgan]

Hey, When I was like 10 or so I wentin our local LFS(when they were decent) and they had this awsome tank that had all these colorful things and a clam that had electricity in its mouth etc. I was like I want a Saltwater tank my dad is like no blah blah blah money blah blah blah. .soo my dad continues with his non salt tanks. and we go in one day (when I was either 13 or 14) to get something and hte manager is there and I talk to him and he got me to buy a bag of salt so I went home and put together a 10 gallon tank. I had alreayd been reading up but I was soo happy to of talked my dad into it. So I filled it up got a selinity tester it was perfect blah blah and now almost a yr later I have a 29 gallon tank.



Also anenomes just FACINATED ME...So thats my goal to get a anenome and keep it. I need more lighting and I wil have it when I Get a larger tank. Also I want a Tang


Jacob

[EMS503]

Hi all. My story begins like the rest. The part of NJ I live in use to be country (no more), I use to catch Turtles and Bluegills and try to raise them. Then cars and girls came along,. After I got married my wife won a 10 gal. tank at a Chinese auction from a LFS. After seeing the different fish, we graduated to a 20 gal made alot of mistakes but learned from them. Then what I thought would be a real challange a 29 gal plant tank. That went so well I felt I was ready for a reef tank. My wife was ready to give me the boot. But I purchased a 75 gal. tank and had my reef.
Pics in the gallery. Well I didn't get the boot my wife took over the 29 gal. and my son has a 55 gal. plant tank. Of all my hobbies this one I love the best.

[SleeplessLwd]

I started with a 45 gallon fresh water tank several years back. I got rid of that because I didn't have time to keep up with it. Then several years later I tried to win a 10 gallon tank for my friend's son at a chinese auction. Instead she won it. After watching them set it up, I decided to get a small tank myself. I started with a 5 gallon tank, but it was too small. Then went to a 10 gallon tank. Then I decided I wanted a bigger tank, so I got a 20 gallon hexagon tank. I'd never reccomend one of those to anyone. It was a disaster. Then I got a regular 20 gallon tank. But I still wasn't happy. So I went to a 30 gallon tank. Then I decided the problem was I didn't want fresh water I wanted salt, and not just fish I wanted corals too. It was more attractive. So I started my 30 gallon reef. I've had it up for 2 1/2 years now. It's the perfect size. Not too much work and just enough in it to make it look good.

[BettWalker]

My first fish was "Popeye" a beautiful fantail goldfish and I was six. It was my full responsibility. Well, many more goldfish followed thru the years of growing up. When I became a Mom, when my youngest son was old enough to accept the responsibility, we each got 10gal FW tanks. When we moved, many years later, (my son was gone to college) I bought a 29gal FW. This tank went back & forth from my house to a friend's for years as each of us would tire of the hobby and the other one would take the tank back. All during these years, I wanted to try a SW, but was afraid to begin. Finally took the plunge 4months ago. Really enjoying. Have a lot to learn and you guys are so much help.

BTW, it's fun reading all the posts on this subject.

[reefrunner69]

This topic has been made a sticky, so it will sta at the top of the forum. Great topic Johnny, good work!!