What made you want a REEF aquarium?

[madhatter208]

Lots of interesting stories here.

When I was younger I started out with, like most of you, a 10gal. It was FW, green cat, albino, guppys, mollys etc. I also had a bowl w/ a sharp looking beta and I even got them to breed. Sadly not knowing WTF i was doing I lost all the babys.
Eventualy I got a 37 tall for a christmas gift. This time I wanted to do something diff. I kept the cats but the guppys, molly, swords lost intrest for me. They were more of my dad's thing then mine. I ended up doing Discus. had 4 or 5 i dont recall, some alge eating cats, yumyum eel and a black ghost knife. This was around for a good amnt of time. But as School and work took more n more of my time and Alge out growing the alge eaters apaites it was time to fold the tank. all the Live stock went to my cousin who had more tanks then some of the LFS at the time.

Fast foward to the present by about 20yrs. A co-work was talking bout seting up a nano reef and I was very curious bout it since all I ever heard about SW was what a pita they were to maintain n keep going. After talking with my co-worker, reading a book, and hitting this web page I finaly dived in. But not with a nano.. no no.. I had to go bigger hehe.. space and money preveted me from going insaine, which is good. And I ended up w/ a 65 gal SW system. I've slowly been adding Live stock and greatly enjoy the experence. SW is no diff then FW in the way of maitnece. Ok maybe it costs more and takes a bit more time. But since I got what I call a real job and only work Mon- Fri I have time to take care of what needs to be done. My cat seems to like it to as he sits there watching and occastionly sittiing up to sofly bat at the tank. hehe

 

[mike3epanda]

what made me want a reef tank? you bastards, that's what. i think i may start a nano coming up here. i think nano's are delightful, and i have nothing but time to give it. i'm actually going to take my time on this one, but i'll keep you guys posted.

haha same here..

 

[fast94tracer]

well my story is ever since i was a baby my mom always had freshwater fish and always large tanks like 2 55gal and a 75gal but she never did sw as i grew up my first tank was a 20tall fw and i started gaining a real interest in saltwater from like the age of 5 or so
so after my parents divorced i never had my tank set back up and after 13 years and after i got married and my wife had my first kid i thought it would be great to buy a tank so my daughter could enjoy fish as i did so i bought a 29gal and set it up but i still had this deep edge to go saltwater i continued to buy fish and more tanks after a while i had 3 10gal brackish tanks and my 29gal but all still fresh water so after about 2 years of that i gave all my fish away and bought my 55gal and all the things i needed to setup a saltwater tank and to this day it is the only tank running in my house and its not big enough for me so now i am in the process of planning out a 300gal that will be started in 1-2 months and i cant wait

 

[smn723]

Very easy...looked at the tank of the month photos at reefcentral as well as some members photos here. Amazing how you can have a little piece of ocean in your living room.

 

[RISEANDFLOAT]

"to create a personal link to one of our planet's most astonishing natural realms."
- Paletta, Michael S. The New Marine Aquarium

 

[rayray]

found Nemo...

My sons and I watched that movie everyday for six months... I said "sure we can have Nemo in the living room", then Dori, then the anemone, the other fish, the reef followed, not in that order. Now, how to get a friendly great white shark in there...

 

[MommaFishels]

My parents took me and my 2 brothers to Florida when I was 4 years old. My father said he had to run after me as I was running straight into the ocean. That was the first indication that I loved water. The second is when I caught my first fish.. I kissed it. Yes. I kissed it. Well my parents bought me goldfish after goldfish although I never could keep them alive very long (I know why now). Well I got tired of killing fish so I never bought anymore until Christmas 2007 when my wonderful boyfriend knowing how much I love the ocean purchased a 75 gallon aquarium as my Christmas present. First we toggled about freshwater but I really didn't want fresh and I finally looked at him and said 'will you kill me if I choose salt?' of course he said no and away we went. 4 months later, I have two 75 gallons and love every minute of it.

 

[catmel]

It all started when I was probably only about 3-4 years old. My parents had bought a little beta bowl with a beta. I was intrigued by the bright colors. This eventually turned into a goldfish habit. While in gradeschool, being part of campfire ( similar to girl scouts) we had an overnight trip to COSI ( center of science and industy - a scientific museum, really neat), where they gave us each a goldfish as part of learning about nature and wildlife in classes there. Flounder ( my first goldfish aptly named after the fish in the little mermaid.. out at the time) lived alone in a 3 gallon hex aquarium. Around the same time my parents had tried for a few years to d oa 30 gal long aquarium and back then boy let me tell you that thing seemed like a 300 gallon! hah. Anywhere there was water, I was always attracted to it. Be it ponds, aquariums, streams etc ( I loved watching the minnows in the streams)

Anyway, I had always been facinated by the bright fish and corals of saltwater everytime we had went to the petstore, id stand there the whole time my dad was shopping staring at the colorful fish. Years later after moving out and finally get my own house I have room for a 55 gallon and always wanted a BIG ( big to me.. see above owned previous tank sizes hah) aquarium. And being that ive always been facinated by and wanting saltwater, I figured i'd give it a try. I'm so addicted and I havent even added my fish yet I find myself staring at it.. even with nothing in it! haha

 

[lance]

My brothers bad a** reef tank was cool and with a little nudge from him i was hooked. But i think he used me as an experiment for the fuge and in the hopes i would quit and give him everything i bought. Well he is getting nice frags and thats it.

Its the fact i can keep this delicate small eco system " a spec of the real reef " In My Living Room. And it not only lives but grows and thrives. I think we are very lucky...

 

[divedeep1689]

I got into the hobby because i am a scuba diver love the ocean i dive mostly to watch the fish as i swim around them so i got to thinking and i decided i wanted to try my luck at saltwater aquariums ( i had heard they were difficult, but to me they are easy) so i could watch the fish i love so much constantly istead of once or twice a year on vacations so i got my first tank a 29 gal which i have had scince last december 9 months almost now then a month ago i decided i wanted a bigger tank so i got my new 55 gal which i just set up three weeks ago and you can see my pictures of it in my album. But mainly wat got me wanting this hobby is i have a fasination of wanting to breed clownfish dont ask me why i dont know. lol

 

[SeansReef]

What made you want a reef aquarium?

First of all, I Love sea life.
Really all animal life fascinates me.

I remember my parents on the 70's having a 10 gal freshwater aquarium with the metal edges. They even had the sunken ship inside and had the air pump attached to it so the wheel thing would move. It also had the old box filter with floss and carbon. That is were it started for me.

I have had plenty of freshwater fish tanks, reptile and amphibian tanks but once I got into the reef tank, it was all over!

I got my TruVu acrylic back in 2000 from a friend of my sister in law. Funny story is that the husband was being deported back to Mexico and the wife was getting rid of his stuff!
My then wife agreed to take it off their hands and we decided to do saltwater fish only to start. I did a lot of reading and talking to the guys at the LFS about saltwater aquariums. In visiting the LFS we would see different corals and inverts. Every time we went to the LFS, my wife would ask about what it takes to keep this, or that. I changed the lights, bought some live rock. My tank was a FOWLR for only a few months before she wanted to add more. Changed the lighting again, changed the filtration. The rest is history!

Started a 30 gal reef in Feb 2002.
About 6 months ago I purchased a 110gal glass aquarium, built the stand and canopy. I will combine both my 55 and 30 into one. Retire my 55gal and I am thinking about doing the same with the 30. Not sure yet.
(I am looking for a cheap overflow box for the 110gal since it is not drilled)

 

[panza]

Well about a year ago my brother started a 55 gallon tank and it looked like a lot of fun but a lot of work than my birthday was about to pass and my and my parents had a chat and decided to get a tank my self and its a blast! who ever doesnt do this hobbie i STRONGLY suggest (just make sure u have enough money to spend cause dang its expensive ha ha)

 

[rafecci]

We (my daughters & I) started with a science project to monitor and document growth of "critters" that emerge from things we would never had thought should sustain life. So my brother had a SW tank and said - "Got a great idea for you girls" Gave us water, sand and "A" rock. Needless to say - "things started emerging!" We started the documentation project and started maintaining the tank to sustain life that was emerging. We added various rocks from different places. New life - mushrooms, corals, sponges, and many critters. (we have added fish to please Dad..LOL)

Still today, my daughter (16 y/o), begs to go watch a speech by Julian Sprung! I gave in - and she sat through a lecture of nature filtration and was totally hooked on his every word! Amazing - she's a natural! I suspect someday I will be visiting her some where close to the ocean!

 

[mlpbarrett]

I have ALWAYS loved the ocean. I used to live in California, and I always found saltwater fish especially beautiful. I scuba dove in Hawaii and loved it as well.. but, I started wanting a saltwater tank when I was about 9 right after my mom got me a freshwater tank. Of course, I wasn't able to take care of one at that age, and my mom didn't want to. So finally, years later, at 20 I am able to have one! I love being proud over the life thriving and the new life I find. It is such a rewarding hobby.

 

[DJLiquid]

It's light lift's me up when I'm down. It's my very own ocean that I can escape to.

 

[HoCkEyGmC]

i was just lookin for a cool pet, something that would cheer me up and give me something to do.

 

[Got Water?]

My husband wanted a built-in big screen plasma.
I wanted a built-in 140 gal. sw tank.
I got the better deal!

 

[SparKy697]

Neilan told me that I had to!

 

[Brad.Sedore]

Well i guess its my turn to tell my story.

When i was little i always had a fasination with fish mostly fresh water.. and mostly what was in the river in the back yard. my first real fish keeping experence was when my older cousin was baby sitting me. and we had one of those rubber pools where the sides are solid but only held up by the water inside. about 2 ft deep and 10-15 ft wide... well the night earlier i emptied the water... the next day i started from 7 am till 8 pm bringing buckets of river water to my pool... my parents didnt think anything of it figured it was just me screwing around like i always was.. well the next day when my cousin came over i spent the day catching fish from the river (perch sunfish a small pike small bass... about 30 frogs) and releasing them into my pool... needless to say i wasent allowd to go fishing with my older cousin anymore.... still have pictures my mom took of the pool and the fish in it...

anyways since that day ive been hooked. always had some kind of fish around whether it was a tank full of guppies or a bowl with a beta.. to my recent gift a 29 gal biocube...


-Brad

 

[GhostKnife]

Just the mere idea of housing/creating part of what is really out there in the oceans. All the life that is in one section of a reef. So beautiful and amazing. I took a trip to Hawaii and on Maui we took a boat to a reef/snorkel area and that is when I realized....I want one!!! hahaha yea!!!