WHAT MADE YOU WANT A REEF AQUARIUM?

[RLG2182]

Well... here goes mine.

When I was little, my brother, mother and myself would always go rent video games from a local store. On the way back to the car we would pass by a [acronym:22b08c7cbb="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:22b08c7cbb] that was recently starting up. After what seemed like 1349120 trips inside, my mother finally let my brother and I start up a small 10 gallon [acronym:22b08c7cbb="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:22b08c7cbb] tank. Just started with some Neon Tetras and Plattys, the cheezy blue gravel, and an under gravel filter (ooh, ooh! and the treasure chest to boot). Needless to say, we had no idea what we were doing, and ended up feeding the fish 3 times a day, and tapping on the glass like no tomorrow. RIP class of 1985.

After that, probably at age 13, I tried my luck with a 29gal [acronym:22b08c7cbb="Saltwater"]SW[/acronym:22b08c7cbb] tank. Went well, although I knew nothing about cycling, water quality, proper filtration, overcrouding, testing... but managed to keep it alive for what I remember to be almost 1 year. I obviously eventually overstocked it (blue tang, yellow tang, percula clown, regular clown, couple damsels, few snails...) and possibly set the world record for ammonia spikes in a home [acronym:22b08c7cbb="Saltwater"]SW[/acronym:22b08c7cbb] aquarium. RIP class of 1992.

Annnnnnd... today, at 22, I plan on making a reef out of my 60 [acronym:22b08c7cbb="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:22b08c7cbb]/20 sump. But this time, being more educated, better prepared, and with more $$$$$$$, I plan to do things right. Reading up on everything I can get my hands on, buying the right equipment, and adding the most important aspect of the hobby... PATIENCE. I've had it with stuff dying on me due to my ignorance. I'll put faith in the fact that my cat is still alive ( ) and turn a new leaf on my past experiences.

Fin.

~~Rob

[TCTFish]

I wanted to learn more about the reef environment and the things that live in the reef. My first reef was an 18 gallon acrylic that was auctioned off at the store I work at. We wanted to take it down and set up something else, so we raffled it off and I won. This was about 5 years ago and now the tank is 29 gallons with the original sand plus extra (there's a total of 8 years maturity in the sandbed). This became my learning tank and still is. The 18 gallon reef I have now that's been set up for over three years is my show tank of what I've learned. Description of 18 gallon show mini reef is in my profile.

I'm really interested in learning more about the chemicals of stinging coral and anemones as well as the regenerative capabilities of coral and other inverts. Some amphibians share this ability, though not as extreme as seen with coral and other inverts.

I find learning about aquatic environments helps me learn about our own biology and the biology of just about everything else. After all, life did start in the water, right?

[IworkatPSP]

Well, for about the past 2 years I've worked in a pet store. (www.petsuppliesplus.com) The saltwater section always fascinated me so I began reading up on it and asking the manager everything he knew.

Since then, I've learned alot, but had not yet invested the money to start my own. So about a week ago I took the plunge, bought a 30gallon AGA tank/stand, Heater, Whisper 40 filter, a bunch of Aragonite, and a protein skimmer. Set it up, with a few problems, but now after finding this website my problems are solved and my tank in cycling.

Working in the pet store has its perks, I get to order whatever fish or supplies I want and if anything goes wrong, I get to yell at my boss. =O

I'll be posting here alot, and definately some pics once I get the tank all nice and spiffy.

Matt

[jeff8183]

I have to meet my boss in the morning at his house and he had a 55 [acronym:20be1e5372="Fish only with live rock"]FOWLR[/acronym:20be1e5372] and 45 reef safe. His son is 13 and he is getting full custody of him so he had to get rid of a tank to make room for his son, so i got lucky and only paid a couple hundred bucks for the 45 and everything that came with it, not being that familiar with this hobby both my fish died in about a month because i got more rock and didnt cure it, well im starting over now with knowledge so hopefully it will be a good one

[Flsprophet2]

this is my first time working with sw and reefs so i am really a newbie to this hobby. about 6 months ago i saw my buddies reef tank and was just amazed at everything that was going on. I thought to myself wow just like having a piece of the ocean in you home and decided to give it a shot. my tank is only 6 months old but am hooked on this hobby. I will be getting a bigger tank in the future!

[srgetz]

I couldn't think of anywhere else to put all my extra $$.

[makana]

i love this forum...great posts everyone!
heres my tale:
i was an intern at the california academy of sciences and loved the reef they had there. i worked at the tidepool tank with the echinoderms mostly. i love echinoderms. anyway, i moved out of the city and was so depressed because i missed my job and friends and grilfriend so i got a 5.5 gallon nano. ive been loving reefkeeping ever since.
i now have a banded serpent star that rocks my echinoderm-loving world!
isnt life great?

[aquanaut]

Im new to saltwater and have learned alot from reading posts here. Its is one of the factors that led me to set up a small tank (30Gal.) I love to see what others have done , some are just amazing. My tank is still cycling at this point......here fishy fishy fishy. Wont be long now Thanks all

[neon_hybrid]

Hmmm, now this is a interesting topic...

Well, when I was a child back in the 80's, I had a small tank with some fish. It was freshwater. I never seem to remeber much about the tank, other than I used to screw with it all the time (like everthing I own) an im pretty sure I killed off the fish. I grew up in Michingan where fish, and water are pretty much everywhere.

Now, jump forward to christmas 2004. My roommate and myself are looking for a tattoo shop to get some more stuff done (im a freak, lots of piercings, tattoos, wierd hair, crazy looking...you know the type... im one of those guys you avoid), anyway, were looking for this shop and when we get there its closed, but next to it is a [acronym:60ede7f2c4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:60ede7f2c4]. We decide to go in and take a look around. Back in 98 my manager had a couple of tanks, and every time I went over there, I noticed i liked watching the tank, and when I walked into the [acronym:60ede7f2c4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:60ede7f2c4], all those memorys came back. I knew right then and there I wanted a tank. I knew I didnt want a small tank, and knew that a minimum of 55gal was the way to go. About 3 months ago, my friends dad calls me and asks me if I am interested because he rememberd me telling him if he ever found something used to let me know. Well they are remodeling the basement, and dont really have a place upstairs to hold their tank, so he asked me if I was interested. I picked the tank up "established" and have been pullin my hair out ever since . Even though I have been battling nitrates from the get-go, I still love the hobby, and cant wait to get everything corrected. Corals will be in the near future, and I am very excited to have a beautiful tank. This is an amazing hobby, and is quite relaxing. I have a 2000$ big screen TV in the same room as my aquarium, and I tend to spend more time watching the aquarium than I do my TV

[JPloman]

Here is my story on what made me want a reef tank:

My mom and dad would never let me have fish as a child. I had always wanted them... In 1998 I met my husband, Josh. He raised and bred African Cichlids. I thought this was really cool, but a little boring. After dating for about three years, he decided to go back into the Navy. We sold all his fish and moved to Italy. While living in Italy we were unable to have a fish tank, but we would spend a great deal of time at the ocean. I loved more than anything to sit in the shallow areas and let the fish nibble my toes. About a year ago, we moved back to the states, bought a house, and decided to start up our fish tanks again. We set it up for fresh water and got some goldfish to cycle it… then I accidentally killed them (accidentally on purpose). We had been snorkeling a lot at this time and I was fascinated with the gobies that go in and out of the holes in the rocks. I begged and pleaded to start a salt-water tank.

Finally, after about a month of me begging and pleading he caved in. We went to the beach, got all the sand and water from the ocean and started the cycle. A year later we really got into the hobby and have now spent way too much money and are making the designs for our custom tank (which will be huge!!!).

We are also the proud owners of two pound rescued dogs and a cat. We love our animals and consider them our children, yes even the fish.