What made you want a REEF aquarium?

[splendidus]

My father was into freshwater years ago and built a "fishhouse" in our basement. When I was young we got too busy to keep running the fishhouse so it went into dormant. When I was in school we learned about starfish and they interested me so much that convinced my father to start a marine tank. We researched it for at least 3 months then we set up a 55 gal reef tank. It has been running for the past 3 years and now I have started a 30 gal anenome tank (in the large gap my father and I have resurrected the fishhouse and have almost 20 FW tanks).

 

[e-cat]

iv always loved the looks of the reef tanks and have finaly decided too take the plunge into marine from fresh.

 

[edgekrusher]

Well I got an Eclipse 12 for Christmas. I started with fresh water fish, picked up a couple of Columbian sharks. Got rid of the fresh water fish, made the tank a brackish tank. Did some research on columbian sharks, realized they get up to 12" in length, so I decided to get rid of them. When I brought them to the LFS, first one I'd ever been in, I saw my first reef aquarium. That's when it was decided. I started all over, doing research first. They say a Nano is hard to keep, I say they aren't up to the challenge. It's been up and running now for 4 months, no problems. I haven't added any coral yet due to inadequate lighting, but soon. Mwhahahaha.

I love this hobby

Peace

Edge

 

[Phischy]

I abhore money. That's the only logical reason for my interest in SWT and Reefs. I grew up in Southern Lousiana and Alaska, always outside and I eventually recieved a degree in Forestry Science. But during that period I was exposed to a few tanks in my early years. Then in college I met a few guys who kept tanks. In retrospect, they didn't know much but professed alot. I don't even remember purchasing my 1st 31gal tank but I remember the lesson's in destruction it taught me. Now, years later and years wiser, I'm giving it another go and doing it right.

Although when the tank was healthy it was so amazing. In school we had a room that we dubbed: "The blue room". It had baby blue couches from the 70's, I had painted the ceiling blue in hopes of adding clouds one day and the blue light on the blue backing of my tank gave the whole room a blue tint. Whenever people wanted a quiet area to talk or whenever matters ofimportance were talked about, it was always done in the blue room. And chicks dug it.

Now I'm planning out my next great moneypit and in 4 months I hope to get it running! I don't own a TV so this shall sit between my stereo speakers to provide the most relaxing entertainment possible.

 

[diveonin2000]

One man Jacque Coustea and his undersea adventures. When I was a kid I loved watching those shows. Still do actually That is also what got me into scuba. I had a 20 gallon fresh when I was a kid. We had that thing for years. Then I tried s/w. I was in college and didn't really devote the proper amount of time to it, so it didn't last but maybe 8 months. So now I am getting a 55 or 75 next month.

 

[BBReef]

when i was young (about 8 or 9) i used to go down to my local lake to fish with friends. we never really caught much, just a blue gill now and again, but my first fish i kept as a pet was a baby large mouth bass. i filled up a trash can in my back yard, put some plants in it from the lake, and let his loose. i would watch him swim along the top when it was a baby, but as it grew it started staying towards the bottom and i never really saw it. well about 6 months later i guess it grew too big for the trash can cuzz it jumped out, and i found it the next morning in the grass. i was so sad. all this however lead to my dad getting a 100 gal cichlid tank, and later getting an 80 gal reef tank. but after the reef tank's seal broke on the bottom and water flooded our floor, my dad got a little mad and got rid of everything including the 100 gal. i was so bummed. well last valintines day my girlfriend and i decided we wanted to get a fish tank together, cuzz her dad had a reef tank when she was growing up too. so we got a 25 gal fw. we were so happy with this we decided we wanted to go further and breed guppies, so we got a 10 gal for the fry. then another 10 gal for a plant. then got a 20 gal for the plants. then when we went to a not so local fish store that was closing down, we saw a 60 gal accrylic tank pre drilled for 60 bucks. that was it, we knew we wanted to buy it for a reef tank. now weve had our reef for about 4 months and love it. its turning out better than we thought it would. we also just recently converted our 25 to a fowlr. now we want to start our own fish store when we get some money. im 19 and shes 18 right now, so hopefully we can save up through college and open something really nice

 

[ReefLady]

I've been a *fish* since I was little - grew up around water, lived less than 10 miles from the ocean for the vast majority of my life. Spent the first 8 or 9 summers of my childhood on a 22' cuddy cabin -- dug clams for lunch, and caught flounder for supper. Played with the baby fish and horseshoe crabs, sand dollars, starfish etc.

My parents traded the cabin boat in for a travel trailer, but we still never ventured far from the coast. When I was young, and even now, all vacations were/are centered around the ocean.

I've always been fascinated with marine life. Met my husband in '89, and he had a SW tank then. Love at first sight!

 

[jgalafa]

I guess living in an Island is only natural to love the sea, so it all just falls into place.

 

[ddcboys]

Never was able have one younger and everyone said it was hard. I like to prove people wrong and I love challenge of it

 

[captivereefs]

A strange voice in my head!!!


Darin

www.captivereefs.com

 

[MantisFreak]

There was a LFS next door to my gym. I went in every time I worked out. I was hooked but broke. I started with a nano but now have a 75g as well and I had a peacock mantis in it's own tank.

 

[reefobsessed]

I was sitting on my porch throwing hundred dollars bills in the wind and thought.. hey.. I need to add aggravation to this to make it fun. Thus the idea of a reef tank. Now I have it all. Dropping hundreds like there from the monopoly board, aggravation and frustration every time I something dies, and my time is no longer my own. If Im not testing the water Im reading up on where my livestock needs to be to be happy or surfing this site for ideas. I think I need professional help because it just doesnt get any better then seeing a tank Ive made come to life grow and improve with time......

 

[lgarmes]

My wife and I have always had a love affair with the ocean. We love the ocean an are enchanted by what you can not see in the water from land. A reef tank is like having a little piece of the ocean in our home.

 

[Tigerlily]

ROFL - Reefobsessed - you crack me up!

My story is that my boyfriend desperately wants a "nemo." This is a 34 year-old doctor, mind you. Anyway, as one of his Christmas presents I am setting up a nano-reef in our house... with a clown and some soft corals.

(He already complains that I spend way to much time and money on my FW tank... just wait until he sees how much time and money the nano-reef is going to suck up!)

 

[deejay]

My main reason is because I got bored with freshwater. I've had them for 6 or more years. I worked my way up to a 30 gal tank and decided freshwater for enough for me. I went onto ebay, found a 75 gal saltwater tank in the state, called him, looked at it bought it. Took me awhile to set up and get everything settled before I got any live rock and fish. I love saltwater. Everyone told me that saltwater tanks were hard as can be, but I would have to disagree. I haven't have one problem yet and I've had it for 6 months. Tank changes are crazy, because its such a big tank. I'd really like to have a larger one around 100 gallons.

 

[lordviporscorpi]

because im so damb rich heheheheheeh

 

[lordviporscorpi]

J/k dont get mad but they just plain out look cool and well i like spending money

 

[Doan]

I have to come clean here... I have always liked aquariums like in baltimore and pittsburgh.. and to be honest I hate freshwater.. had them growing up just didnt' get it .. silver fish very boring.. more for my sister...well to be honest after getting married about a year ago and all my buddies still hanging out in bars everynight (I was the first one to go down) I needed something to do... and a buddy told me about your site and the cool galleries... I trolled it for about 2 months never saying a word but reading and learning all I could... Then one day It dawned on me... I don't know anyone who does this but you guys help each other sooo much... if I could get your help I could do this..and well here I am a week into my cycle and honestly you all have exceeded my expatitaions as far as help goes you guys have been great... and now I have a buddy considering getting in based on my rock alone... wait till I get fish

 

[MINIATUS]

Hey Johnny
After having fresh water tanks for 40 years I decided to give salt a try, thought I di try one back in 1975-76. I was told by using a product called Nitroquick I could put fish in there in about 2 days. Tell that to the panther grouper and queen trigger. That turned me off until a few years ago when I was given a salt tank by my wife, been hooked ever since.

MINIATUS

 

[douggiestyle]

i was really into freshwater as a teenager. got up to 8 or so tanks all biotopes plus one saltwater tank. actually worked for a few years in a small fish store whilst in college. experimented with sumps and all kind of things including a diy chiller (email me for instructions). made one more move and said thats enough. sold everything at the flea market. you should of seen the guy who bought it all i thought he was going to wet his pants he got so excited (another junkie). havent had a tank since.
was going to buy one and do saltwater right. always wanted a reef tank after seeing the new installation at the zoo 15 years ago or so. had wave machines, you should have seen my experiments in designing one of those . so my next door neighbor gets paralyzed in may after a motorcycle accident and the lfs has a raffle at one of the fund raisers and guess what? here i am.