What made you want a REEF aquarium?

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What led me into a reef aquarium is the thought of having a piece of the ocean in your house. They look awesome, and it is very full of life.
 
Well....when I got married my wife had a 20 gal FW. I had noooo interest at all in the tank. It was ugly, lol...fake plants, rainbow gravel...looked like a cheezy kids tank. anyway, I told her when she moved in she could bring it over, but she was going to clean it and take care of it. I heard her mention that it would be cool to have a SW reef tank on the bar in the kitchen one day. Well, her birthday was 6 months later, and I surprised her by buying her a new tank set up. Well, being a part of the acclimation process, and all the complex matter5s of setting it up got me really interested. I mean everything was alive....even the rock. How awesome is that? And all the selection....wow. Anyway, she killed of her FW on accident by doing too much of a WC and from then on, the tanks were mine...the FW bewcame SW, and now I have another countertop SW as well....and, God help me, I'm looking at getting another one. LOl, I am hooked. The funny thing is...I am a big tightwad. But, when it comes to my fish.....sky's the limit, baby! Thank God for this amazing hobby...I wouldn't trade it for the world
 
A friend had one and i all ways thought it was cool i had a FW tank seemed way to hard for me.So he up graded to a 150 and gave me his 55 and i was hooked. It was a fowlr with some trigers and a lion fish had it for 2 2 1/2 years.Then i up graded to a 125g reef had it for just over a year and i like it way better then my old tank.
 
First post here. I had a 75g reef tank and a 110g FO for 3 years in 2000 but my road travels didn't allow me to give them the attention they required. I got the bug again in December and broke down and bought a new tank now that I'm not traveling as much.

I missed it while I was out of it but what got me started was the draw to Caribbean waters. I am a huge Cozumel fan and from all of my snorkeling there and other locations over the years made me want a small part of the ocean in my home.

My new tank has been up since December 27th, 2008. I look forward to reading the forum and getting a lot of information and meeting new reefers!

Pics of my tank:
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Going through the coraline 'greens'
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Scuba'd in 2000 in Tahiti (Bora Bora and Moorena) and have been trying to recapture that ever since.

I tried for years with the FW route but always found myself buying fish that I thought had SW coloring like African Ciclids. I was always wearly of SW because of the perceived difficulty of it all.

Finally, when my Ciclid tank needed to be completely emptied to repair a cracked support, I had the opportunity to start over and we went SW.

BEST THING I EVER DID IN THIS HOBBY. There was alot of upfront costs (Skimmer, lighting, etc), but I really think it's worth every penny.
 
Well, I always had fish in the house growing up as a kid. My mom and I had a few different tanks set up over the years but they were all fresh water. Years later I had a few fresh water tanks of my own. I took the last one down when I got divorced about 5 years ago. I was always interested in a saltwater tank but never got around to it.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. My girlfriend ordered a couple of small wall mounted tanks while we were at a home improvement show. She knows nothing about fish so I took her to a few of the local fish stores to show her the choices in fish she would have with such small tanks. Needless to say she fell in love with the saltwater reef tanks that we saw at all of the stores.

This brought my interest back to the saltwater tank. I've spent the last two months researching everything I can on reef systems. I'm getting to the point where I think I understand a lot of the basics and its time to start designing my setup.
 
I wouldn't say im into this hobby yet....
ive started looking at this hobby since 2 days ago and taken a strong interest in it
i was roaming youtube when i found out about a pistol shrimp the loudest animal on earth. I studied them for a day and found out they work with gobies and have them was watchmen. While i was looking at videos of them working together i found out that people kept them as pets. So i looked into keeping them as pets and found out about making your own mini reef. Currently i have no money to start this hobby but in the future i am planning to start it
 
I was always fascinated with SW fish tanks. I owned a 29g FW tank with two Oscars when I was 18. I didn't have the money then to start a SW tank. I joined the Army then when I got out I moved to Miami and looked into getting one there since I had a good paying job but decided against it since I lived in apartment and I moved several times when I lived there. I moved back home(NJ) and still wanted a SW tank but again I lived in apartments so it was out of the question. I was always into RC cars and I always wanted a heli but I didn't have the money for one. I bought my first heli after buying a 1/8th scale onroad race car and racing that for one season. I didn't like how the track was ran so I sold all my rc car gear and after much research I bought a heli. From the first time I flew one I was hooked. I now have about 6 helis. But now work is an issue(not enough time to fly) so I decided to get a SW tank to spend my time at home with my family. I bought a few books, joined this site along with some others, then bought my first tank(a 29g BC). Did more research, checked out some LFS(and some not to local) and decided I wanted to do this for the long term. I found a FS that was friendly and knowledgeable(very important in this hobby) and decided to get a 110g tank when I wasn't working 7 days week. I love looking into my tank and watching my fish interact. If anyone thinks this hobby in expensive try rc helis!
 
I have always kept a freshwater tank and I have enjoyed them for many years. I was always under the impression that salt water tanks were extremely difficult to keep (not really sure why though). I have thought about getting a salt water set up for a while and finally decided to go ahead and do it! So far I only have the live rock (Fiji & Tonga) and the live sand in the tank but I'm finding that's exciting enough already :) I'm waiting for my tanks salinity to stabilize and when that happens I am going to get two Clownfish.
 
I well havnyt truely started this yet.. but im working on it. i have never had fish before and never even cared about fish. i ran accross a thread about ziggy building a 150g then it went to a 120g and walla i was hooked i read that whole thread in 5 hrs and drank 2 pots of coffee to stay awake. i was hooked i wanted one so bad.. if the LFS would have been open at 4am i would have been their buying everything. thank god it wasnt btw. i have bought most of my equipment except the LR and sand but that comming soon a day or 2 after i get my water right. well that it..
oh n btw i have no idea how i even found this forum/website what i was searching for was definetly not fish... but im glad i did!
Matt
 
FEAR.
Due to lack of knowledge.

Have always kept freshwater tanks, but ALWAYS admired the colour and beauty of a SW setup.

I am older know, I do think of myself as wiser, and the decisions are a little slower to pass.
I currently have a 75G FW that I am extremely happy with. Heck, I even went ahead and put together my own DIY C02, which totally scared me.

Right now, I am reading up on things I know I will have to address.
- Lighting
- Skimmer
- and the live rock purchase.

Just reading for now and arming myself with knowledge.

I have a 10G SW setup that is almost complete. Will roll with that until I tear apart the 75G.
 
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