WHAT MADE YOU WANT A REEF AQUARIUM?

[MGS]

I had a guy join my Delta Force gaming squad and he has 2 180 gallon reefs. I had gone as far as I could go with the Freshwater tanks over 30 years and decided to do a reef tank.

[rthoman]

What made me want a saltwater reef? I went to a local store, you may have heard of it as he is nationaly known. Ron's saltwater heaven is simply breath taking. Its worth the trip from where ever you live.

Check out his web site => http://saltwaterheaven.com

[fishstixs05]

I didn't start out with aquariums like most with a goldfish bowl. In fact I never had goldfish until I bought a Needle Nosed Gar (heh heh heh ) My brother got a 10 gallon from wal-mart for christmas several years ago (I'm only 13), and quickly set it up. I was enthralled by it, and after a few mishaps (a.k.a. changing water but forgetting to use dechlorinator, and several fish wondering how life was like outside the tank) he gave up. A while after. I decided to try my luck. I soon moved the 10 gallon fish into a 29 gallon tank. Not being satisfied, I set up the 10 gallon with 3 puffers and a Scat. One thing led to another, and I had a 55 gallon brackish tank. I found out that Freshwater morays enjoy the live snack every now ad then, and so mine was moved into a 20 gallon solitary confinement. Wanting to try my luck at breeding, I bout a 6 gallon, and put some guppies in my 10 gallon (now empty). I soon moved all of the guppies into the 6 gallon, and the 10 became a pauldron. Then for christmas this year, I got a 30 gallon tall tank, my first SW tank. This was brought on by the wonders of the ocean that have always fascinated me, and my next-door neighbor's 100 gallon reef. Now my 30 gallon is sitting comfortably in my family's living room, with coral and all. This is a great hobby, and the best part is that at age 13, I have a ways more3 to go in the field of fish-keeping.
Yours Truly
Fifishstixs
P.S. This site is GREAT, keep up the good advice everyone!

[reefrunner69]

Fishstix, wonderful!! It is very nice to see younger people take an interest in the hobby and also an interest in doing it right!! 100 kudos!!

[BillyZ]

My story starts out a bit like many others. As a youngster my family and I had a number of fresh water tanks. Enough that one entire wall of the family room was filled with bubbling water and rather colorful fish. As we grew up, we became more of a handful than my parents could stand (there were 5 of us kids) so they no longer had the time or money for the fish. Eventually... everyone grew up and moved out, except me. I was the youngest of the 5 and separated by age by about 6 years from the next youngest. So I go the benefits of the "only child" for a few years! (go me! hehe) One of my sisters called and said she was cleaning out some old stuff and wanted to know if anyone wanted the old 55 gallon tank. This this is ancient (I still have it, and it's still FW) The glass is almost a half an inch thick... and it is glass. It ways about 75 pounds EMPTY! anywho.. I said sure I liked the fish when we had them. I've had my FW tank since then... it's been running about 8 years now. One of my first in habitants, a pleco of course actually just recently passed... about a month ago. That is the oldest fish I've ever had. I was genuinely upset to find him upside down that morning. He was almost a foot long.... Anywho.. on to a happier note. Last summer (just about this time! my goodness.. it's been a year...) I was sitting at home, recently unemployed. I flipped through the channels on the TV and came across, "The Great TV Auction" a 20 some year tradition of a local public television station to raise money. Local stores and residents donate items, gift certificates etc that the station auctions off. They started displaying the items of a new table and what should come up... "a certificate for a 20 gallon mini reef starter kit. includes tank, lights, crushed coral, live rock, testing kit, heater, power head, salt, salinity tester and filter. Winner must pick up tank and all other items at the Store" oh and even a power strip! My eye's nearly popped out of my head. I literally whimpered... what a time to be unemployed! over the next 10 to 15 minutes they came back to that table of items and time and time again.. no opening bid. the opening bid was only $75 US!!! I shook my head and said “that's gotta go up! someone is seeing this right now and picking up the phone”... they came back to the table for the "final recap" and it had gone up.... $85! I waited a minute... I thought to myself, “unemployed or not I can NOT pass this up”... I waited another minute, picked up the phone and called... it had gone up to $100... I said "how long before it closes?", "Right now sir, if you want to bid I can put it in but you can't wait." "$120 please!"...

and thus it began. An adventure in and of itself... I'm loving every second of it. my wallet, on the other hand... hates me for it! When i went to pick it up the store had a 55 gallon tank and hood on sale for $100 bucks... so I spent a little cash and "upgraded" what i won at the auction to a 55 gallon setup. I think I spent about $200-$250 for everything I needed to start a 55 gallon reef!

[d9hp]

Wow, I can't beleive I get to post here now. I have always loved fish, whether on the end of my line or behind a pane of glass. I had a tank when I was younger and got into the hobby again when I was about 13 or 14 after a fishing trip. All I wanted was a big tank for some flounder so I could learn how to catch them better. Things started moving along, I got a 10 gallon freshwater tank, then a nice while ago I got a 5.5 planted tank. Almost one month ago I got my first SW tank, and my lights are still not here!!! I am hoping to get them soon, if not Mon. I will be getting some zoos next week if I am really lucky. Just like fishstix, I am a teenager. At age 15 you get a lot of people looking at you asking if YOU take care of the SW tank, or your parents do. I hope this hobby never gets old, if it does I am out a lot of time and money.

[miller_time]

I got into SW reefs due to the jealouy caused when a friend of mine showed me the 180gal in his room

[bizzybeas]

I am a scuba diver who lives in Arizona! My only choice to see the fish I loved so much was to set up a salt aquarium! Seven years later I am adding a reef to the picture. After reading six books, three months of computer research, 3300.00$ later I am cycling my first reef. Cant wait! I dont even miss Florida anymore.

[NanoJrFL]

My addiction started at my LFS (no surprises there) when I still did FW. I loved cichlids. Then it started with the fish. (Many people are attracted to SW by the fish). The corals and inverts came later.

[cweaks]

When I was a MUCH younger man, and my now thirty-three-year-old little girl was thirty years or so younger, I worked the evening shift for the phone company. I forget now why, but I had set up a fresh water aquarium. Back then, saltwater tanks in the home were just unheard of. When I would come home from work around twelve-thirty AM, my little girl would get up and, dragging her little dolly, come into the room with the aquarium. We would pull our rocking chair in front of the fish tank. She would climb into my lap and we would just sit their rocking and watching the fish. Often, there would not be a word spoken between either of us. The closeness was beautiful, the silence was golden. She would just sit in my lap holding her doll and we would rock and watch the fish, rock and watch the fish. After a few golden minutes, still without a word, but with a kiss on my cheek, she would climb down from my lap and her and her doll would waddle back to her bed and off to sleep. I’ve loved the hobby ever since. In-so-far as to why the freshwater became a marine tank, I don’t really know, but that is not important here. Those few minutes with the love of my life are some of the most precious in my memory.