dmorel
Can I borrow your towel
Well I just made a post here for the first time in a LONG time, and then got sucked into reading a bunch of threads and commenting on many of them. So I thought I might say hello to the many new folks as I've not really been active on RC in many years, save for a random post here and there. Anyone thinking who is this dmorel dude who just posted on 6 topics in an hour? (I'm in a hotel room killing time before a wedding).
So he's a bit about me and the reef hobby.
I've been in the hobby since 1999, started in Rochester NY. I quickly met the guys that were then (and still are) The Upstate Reef Society. There were maybe 8 guys in it at the time. Including iconic folks like David Playfair, and RC's own Gary Majchrzak.
We grew quickly, and your own PROP farmer Stolireef was quickly an important part of the community.
In his living room, while still in Rochester, the URS formed a plan to replace an ailing tank at the local zoo, and I think we raised over 10K in cash and donations to get it done. It was an amazing thing, and a beautiful display. I was proud to donate a few nice pieces of coral to that tank.
I moved to the valley a bit later, and found the lack of SPS to be disconcerting. I became semi active on the forum here, and started trying hard to import some SPS. The URS guys sent a great care package. I started a small 20 long, but not long after a very old timer MXTang convinced me to restart my 90. And I did.
Not long after that we held a meeting in my living room to talk about the state of SPS in the PHX metro. We decided to form PROP. We all put up a couple hundred bucks and ordered a bunch of captive frags from the well known folks. We were very focused on getting nothing but at least 3rd generation frags for two reasons. The world was finally starting to figure out the reefs were in trouble, and we knew that captive frags, given the right conditions, were relatively predictable.
At that time PROP was not a loved part of the PHX reef scene. We were shamed, made to feel like charlatans that were trying to steal something (the 10% thing at auction) But we soldiered on. And I'm glad we did. One day MXtang vanished. and a solid 1/4 of the prop corals with it. Again the PROP farmers at the time (Anyone remember Erin and Scott?) and several others dipped into our own pockets to get new corals. In the end we persevered.
Eventually, like many of us, life got in the way of reefing, I moved, downsized, and started a new life in start ups that took a tremendous amount of my time (as the one I'm currently working on also does).
But then one day I got the urge. And I found that the round tank at AA was up for negotiation. Prototype, AKA JR, who is probably long gone and my wife were with me. I was hesitating but they pushed me... And the round reef was born. I sourced a number of Japanese fixtures, and with the help of Skip built my dream tank. It was phenomenal for about 18 months. The build thread and some glorious pics, as well as some not so glorious ones, are in this large tanks forum build thread if you are interested
I nearly rejoined PROP at that time after getting contacted by KK (who is not around anymore?), but was admittedly concerned about the fact that PROP was now buying wild collected pieces. I still struggle with this decision, but I've long ago lost all influence over PROP procedures, and frankly I'm super proud of how well the various iterations of PROP have continued to advance knowledge of the hobby, but most importantly provide an easy way for new and old reefers alike to share corals with one another in a way that benefits everyone. I'm grateful to all of you who carry the torch today.
Humbled that what was once a viciously despised idea by many has now become a staple in the community. One that I plan to take advantage of again very soon!
Eventually my tank crashed, slowly but surely, everything was receding.
We salvaged what we could, in fact I think DJ had a number of nice pieces for a few years until the cuke he also saved from my tank exploded and nuked HIS tank (sorry dude.).
Two half hearted restarts occurred in the coming years, but it was never the same. We almost got there with Carlos attempting to do a full restart, but he eventually vanished on me, and time ticked by again.
Now, after another year of Dry Dock, I'm working with a great dude, named Jeremy, who has a service here in the valley. I owe a great debt to Jason Frick who told him this was a project worth taking on, and that I was (despite all evidence to the contrary) not a bad person to work with!
We've made numerous changes and put in place an extensive QT protocol. He keeps an eye on everything when I'm being lazy and I'm going ungodly slow in rebuilding the tank to its former glory, but it's starting to get there. A few caps are showing great growth already, I'm super excited.
I don't read as much as I used to or participate as much as I would like in the community, but I hope to make a PROP auction soonish and perhaps load up the QT and maybe say hello to some old friends, and perhaps some new ones.
You'll recognize me as the guy with bidder number 2 who really likes SPS, acans, and zoas and fair warning, I don't like to lose an auction, though I'm AMAZED at how expensive coral has become, so I may not be able to get everything I want anymore. Stuff I used to give away or sell for 5 or 10 bucks is selling for 100+ What has this world come to ; )
I also am a person who has borderline rage about the practice of "naming a coral" that does not have lineage. Which is to say that just because something has a particular color scheme to it (at the moment they snapped the pic fresh out of the ocean) does not make it "some fancy name" worth 500 bucks.
To me, lineage will always be the most important factor. Hence my desire to find specific corals that brought me to post today. I want things that I know how they react, and that for sure have years since they were last wild collected. A fancy name means nothing to me if it is not traced specifically to a lineage. Knock offs of Blaine's Purple Eaters are the root of all of this. If anyone remembers those days, it's when things really started getting weird and very unpredictable in this hobby. One of the great things about PROP is you typically know where something is from. That's worth more than any fancy name you can put on it. This is a topic I am extremely passionate about, traceable lineage is the most important thing I care about, aside from you know... liking that actual piece we are talking about.
Happy Reefing everyone. Excited to be back. Hope my giant wall of text wasn't too self serving, I mostly meant to just say hi, and ended up writing the history of reefing according to dmorel. So perhaps the thread title should be a NOT so brief re-introduction.
I promise, I really just like drinking beer, looking at nice tanks, hacking ****, and futzing around with weird lighting schemes.
So he's a bit about me and the reef hobby.
I've been in the hobby since 1999, started in Rochester NY. I quickly met the guys that were then (and still are) The Upstate Reef Society. There were maybe 8 guys in it at the time. Including iconic folks like David Playfair, and RC's own Gary Majchrzak.
We grew quickly, and your own PROP farmer Stolireef was quickly an important part of the community.
In his living room, while still in Rochester, the URS formed a plan to replace an ailing tank at the local zoo, and I think we raised over 10K in cash and donations to get it done. It was an amazing thing, and a beautiful display. I was proud to donate a few nice pieces of coral to that tank.
I moved to the valley a bit later, and found the lack of SPS to be disconcerting. I became semi active on the forum here, and started trying hard to import some SPS. The URS guys sent a great care package. I started a small 20 long, but not long after a very old timer MXTang convinced me to restart my 90. And I did.
Not long after that we held a meeting in my living room to talk about the state of SPS in the PHX metro. We decided to form PROP. We all put up a couple hundred bucks and ordered a bunch of captive frags from the well known folks. We were very focused on getting nothing but at least 3rd generation frags for two reasons. The world was finally starting to figure out the reefs were in trouble, and we knew that captive frags, given the right conditions, were relatively predictable.
At that time PROP was not a loved part of the PHX reef scene. We were shamed, made to feel like charlatans that were trying to steal something (the 10% thing at auction) But we soldiered on. And I'm glad we did. One day MXtang vanished. and a solid 1/4 of the prop corals with it. Again the PROP farmers at the time (Anyone remember Erin and Scott?) and several others dipped into our own pockets to get new corals. In the end we persevered.
Eventually, like many of us, life got in the way of reefing, I moved, downsized, and started a new life in start ups that took a tremendous amount of my time (as the one I'm currently working on also does).
But then one day I got the urge. And I found that the round tank at AA was up for negotiation. Prototype, AKA JR, who is probably long gone and my wife were with me. I was hesitating but they pushed me... And the round reef was born. I sourced a number of Japanese fixtures, and with the help of Skip built my dream tank. It was phenomenal for about 18 months. The build thread and some glorious pics, as well as some not so glorious ones, are in this large tanks forum build thread if you are interested
I nearly rejoined PROP at that time after getting contacted by KK (who is not around anymore?), but was admittedly concerned about the fact that PROP was now buying wild collected pieces. I still struggle with this decision, but I've long ago lost all influence over PROP procedures, and frankly I'm super proud of how well the various iterations of PROP have continued to advance knowledge of the hobby, but most importantly provide an easy way for new and old reefers alike to share corals with one another in a way that benefits everyone. I'm grateful to all of you who carry the torch today.
Humbled that what was once a viciously despised idea by many has now become a staple in the community. One that I plan to take advantage of again very soon!
Eventually my tank crashed, slowly but surely, everything was receding.
We salvaged what we could, in fact I think DJ had a number of nice pieces for a few years until the cuke he also saved from my tank exploded and nuked HIS tank (sorry dude.).
Two half hearted restarts occurred in the coming years, but it was never the same. We almost got there with Carlos attempting to do a full restart, but he eventually vanished on me, and time ticked by again.
Now, after another year of Dry Dock, I'm working with a great dude, named Jeremy, who has a service here in the valley. I owe a great debt to Jason Frick who told him this was a project worth taking on, and that I was (despite all evidence to the contrary) not a bad person to work with!
We've made numerous changes and put in place an extensive QT protocol. He keeps an eye on everything when I'm being lazy and I'm going ungodly slow in rebuilding the tank to its former glory, but it's starting to get there. A few caps are showing great growth already, I'm super excited.
I don't read as much as I used to or participate as much as I would like in the community, but I hope to make a PROP auction soonish and perhaps load up the QT and maybe say hello to some old friends, and perhaps some new ones.
You'll recognize me as the guy with bidder number 2 who really likes SPS, acans, and zoas and fair warning, I don't like to lose an auction, though I'm AMAZED at how expensive coral has become, so I may not be able to get everything I want anymore. Stuff I used to give away or sell for 5 or 10 bucks is selling for 100+ What has this world come to ; )
I also am a person who has borderline rage about the practice of "naming a coral" that does not have lineage. Which is to say that just because something has a particular color scheme to it (at the moment they snapped the pic fresh out of the ocean) does not make it "some fancy name" worth 500 bucks.
To me, lineage will always be the most important factor. Hence my desire to find specific corals that brought me to post today. I want things that I know how they react, and that for sure have years since they were last wild collected. A fancy name means nothing to me if it is not traced specifically to a lineage. Knock offs of Blaine's Purple Eaters are the root of all of this. If anyone remembers those days, it's when things really started getting weird and very unpredictable in this hobby. One of the great things about PROP is you typically know where something is from. That's worth more than any fancy name you can put on it. This is a topic I am extremely passionate about, traceable lineage is the most important thing I care about, aside from you know... liking that actual piece we are talking about.
Happy Reefing everyone. Excited to be back. Hope my giant wall of text wasn't too self serving, I mostly meant to just say hi, and ended up writing the history of reefing according to dmorel. So perhaps the thread title should be a NOT so brief re-introduction.
I promise, I really just like drinking beer, looking at nice tanks, hacking ****, and futzing around with weird lighting schemes.
Last edited:
