First off, I would like to say that I am absolutely shocked that I have been selected as the August ROTM. While I am not sure I am worthy of the recognition, I truly appreciate it and I'm grateful for being selected as well as grateful to RC for providing such a wonderful place for us to share our experiences. The wealth of information here is invaluable to the new hobbiest and the seasoned reefer alike. I am always learning something new here and as such, I believe that RC is by far one of the best resources for salt water enthusiasts like myself.
Now a little bit about myself.
My love for saltwater started when I was a child. I've always loved the ocean and learned to scuba dive when I was 13 or 14. My first saltwater tank was a 60 gallon which I bought back in 1987. It was your typical glass tank with undergravel filtration, a lion fish, triggers etc. I was about 17 then. When I was 19 or 20, a friend of mine gave me a 90 gallon tall which kind of propelled me in a different direction. I got into eels then and quickly acquired a 100 gallon tank along with a 5' moray eel which I named Gorby after the old Russian president. My eel had a birthmark on it's head much like Gorbachev so the name seemed fitting. It didn't take me long to realize that Gorby needed a bigger tank so I commissioned a local acrylic tank manufacturer to build me a 240 gallon tank to house Gorby and some sharks that were soon to be acquired. Gorby was my buddy and loved to be pet and handled. He'd let me rub his chin, scratch his sides and even pick him up completely out of the water.
As with anything in this hobby, it's hard to be satisfied and my aspirations quickly grew. At the time, I was running my own business reselling computer parts and anything else I could make a buck on. I wanted to be able to write my tank habit off legitimately. I also was very fascinated with sharks and spent a great deal of time researching them which ultimately led me to various collectors. It wasn't long after that I had 10' kiddy pools setup in my garage with make shift above water gravel filters providing the biological filtration and white tip reef sharks, black tips and lemon sharks swimming in the pools below. The sharks that I was importing were mostly for sale and some of them along with other fish wound up at places like the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
My 240 was home to Gorby, a couple white tip reef sharks, a horn shark and a leopard shark. One day while sitting in my living room I heard and felt a big boom. My immediate thought was that a car crashed into my house so I ran outfront to see no such sight. When I came back in I noticed the tanks water was all over the place and the water was stained blook red. Apparently Gory decided to attack my 24"+ leopard shark and in a single shot, bit it in half and did so with such agression that it literally shook the house. At that point, I knew it was time to find Gorby a new home as the sharks were really my primary interest at the time. Truth is that even to this day, I miss that damn eel.
None the less, I still wanted bigger and decided in short order that I wanted a tank twice the size at 480 gallons so again, I commissioned the same acrylic manufacturer to build me yet another tank. This one 4'x8'x2' tall. Just to put a time frame into perspective, this would have been around 1995. When the tank was done, my livestock was transferred into the kiddy pools and I built the system and sold the 240 to my friend who gave me his 90 several years before.
With the 480 gallon tank all setup, I moved the live stock back into it and enjoyed what I had for a while until I decided that the sharks were too much work. I sold off what I had and converted the system into a reef. A couple years later I bought a new house and built that tank into it where it sits now 17 years later and a couple filter iterations down the line.
My current system at my home consists of a 480 gallon tank, a 90 gallon sump, a 90 gallon refugium, LED lighting, several hundred pounds of live rock, dozens of fish and lots of soft coral among other things. It's also completely automated. The only thing I need to do is insure that the RODI and salt water holding tanks are full and clean the glass every week or so. Water changes and top offs are automated and my Apex manages most everything. Sadly, without that stuff, my tank would likely not be as happy as it is now due to the fact that I've gotten a bit lazy over the last several years. If you are interested in more information about my tank, check out my build thread here as I have documented it's evolution over the last 17 years.
In addition to the tank at my home, I have 2 additional saltwater tanks at my office. One is a community fish tank and the other is a Jelliquarium jellyfish tank but is currently keeping fish and not jellyfish.
So that is the long short of it. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please see my build thread if you would like to read more about my tanks!
480 gallon tank:
Now a little bit about myself.
My love for saltwater started when I was a child. I've always loved the ocean and learned to scuba dive when I was 13 or 14. My first saltwater tank was a 60 gallon which I bought back in 1987. It was your typical glass tank with undergravel filtration, a lion fish, triggers etc. I was about 17 then. When I was 19 or 20, a friend of mine gave me a 90 gallon tall which kind of propelled me in a different direction. I got into eels then and quickly acquired a 100 gallon tank along with a 5' moray eel which I named Gorby after the old Russian president. My eel had a birthmark on it's head much like Gorbachev so the name seemed fitting. It didn't take me long to realize that Gorby needed a bigger tank so I commissioned a local acrylic tank manufacturer to build me a 240 gallon tank to house Gorby and some sharks that were soon to be acquired. Gorby was my buddy and loved to be pet and handled. He'd let me rub his chin, scratch his sides and even pick him up completely out of the water.
As with anything in this hobby, it's hard to be satisfied and my aspirations quickly grew. At the time, I was running my own business reselling computer parts and anything else I could make a buck on. I wanted to be able to write my tank habit off legitimately. I also was very fascinated with sharks and spent a great deal of time researching them which ultimately led me to various collectors. It wasn't long after that I had 10' kiddy pools setup in my garage with make shift above water gravel filters providing the biological filtration and white tip reef sharks, black tips and lemon sharks swimming in the pools below. The sharks that I was importing were mostly for sale and some of them along with other fish wound up at places like the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
My 240 was home to Gorby, a couple white tip reef sharks, a horn shark and a leopard shark. One day while sitting in my living room I heard and felt a big boom. My immediate thought was that a car crashed into my house so I ran outfront to see no such sight. When I came back in I noticed the tanks water was all over the place and the water was stained blook red. Apparently Gory decided to attack my 24"+ leopard shark and in a single shot, bit it in half and did so with such agression that it literally shook the house. At that point, I knew it was time to find Gorby a new home as the sharks were really my primary interest at the time. Truth is that even to this day, I miss that damn eel.
None the less, I still wanted bigger and decided in short order that I wanted a tank twice the size at 480 gallons so again, I commissioned the same acrylic manufacturer to build me yet another tank. This one 4'x8'x2' tall. Just to put a time frame into perspective, this would have been around 1995. When the tank was done, my livestock was transferred into the kiddy pools and I built the system and sold the 240 to my friend who gave me his 90 several years before.
With the 480 gallon tank all setup, I moved the live stock back into it and enjoyed what I had for a while until I decided that the sharks were too much work. I sold off what I had and converted the system into a reef. A couple years later I bought a new house and built that tank into it where it sits now 17 years later and a couple filter iterations down the line.
My current system at my home consists of a 480 gallon tank, a 90 gallon sump, a 90 gallon refugium, LED lighting, several hundred pounds of live rock, dozens of fish and lots of soft coral among other things. It's also completely automated. The only thing I need to do is insure that the RODI and salt water holding tanks are full and clean the glass every week or so. Water changes and top offs are automated and my Apex manages most everything. Sadly, without that stuff, my tank would likely not be as happy as it is now due to the fact that I've gotten a bit lazy over the last several years. If you are interested in more information about my tank, check out my build thread here as I have documented it's evolution over the last 17 years.
In addition to the tank at my home, I have 2 additional saltwater tanks at my office. One is a community fish tank and the other is a Jelliquarium jellyfish tank but is currently keeping fish and not jellyfish.
So that is the long short of it. Thank you for taking the time to read this and please see my build thread if you would like to read more about my tanks!
480 gallon tank:
Gives me the heeby jeebies just looking at you with you hand so close to that monsters mouth lol.
