MarkusII
New member
Hello,
this is my first posting on Reef Central and I thought it would be a good idea to say hello this way and to present my tank and my history in reef keeping and the history of my tanks.
I am from Austria and was born at the Lake Constance. Nevertheless my contacts with fishes or “seafood†was for the biggest part of my live only fishing and/or eating them.
Since more then two decades I live near Innsbruck, an even more mountainous region with almost no relation to fishes except some rivers and lakes with trouts and other species.
All started when my two boys wanted to keep fish. They where at the age of five at that time and therefore needed some “helpâ€Â. My wife was of the opinion that each of them should have an own tank. So we set up two small freshwater tanks of about 14 gallon each. That was when I was caught by the “virusâ€Â. I also had seen the beautiful reef fish and corals at our local pet shop and started to search the internet. The next was that I bought some literature and started to study more deeply into the subject.
After about one year of theoretical preparation I started buying the first items for my own reef tank.
This I set up at the end of 2001. It was a 120x60x60cm (47x23x23 inch) 430 liter (114 gallons) tank. It developed quit well but after one year my neighbour came one day (we live in a 2 storey condominium) and asked if we had the washing machine running during night, which I negated. Finally we found out that it was the pumps which you could hardly(!) hear, when you pressed an ear to his sleeping rooms wall.
As he was constantly claiming the noise and I was not willing to invest in new pumps (as I did not want to spend a lot of money , not being sure that the outcome was better â€"œ with the outcome that I also would have to remove it for the sake of good neighbourhood relations), I had to consider to find a new home for my tank, as I did not want to sell it (and of course loose some money).
Adjacent to us there is the home of the aged of our village and in the entrance hall they had a freshwater tank which was not in the best shape.
I approached them and made the offer to donate them my tank if they would find a place for it. I also would continue to maintain it â€"œ the only thing they would have to do would be the financing of the ongoing costs…
After they paid a visit to my home they decided to remove the freshwater tank and to place my tank there but they insisted that it should remain in my ownership.
So on the 2nd of January 2003 I moved the tank the few meters to the neighbouring building. Since then it was a constant viewpoint for the aged living there as well as for the staff and visitors to the aged and the house. I frequently give introductions into the reef tank and the hobby for school classes and groups. Articles about the tank appeared in several newspapers and even in a German magazine (Datz).
But as it is with all tanks: over the years it became too small…..
But the same happened to one of my best reefkeeping friends. He had two blue powder tangs which had grown too big for his 960 liter/253 gallon tank (200x80x60cm â€"œ 78x31x23 inch). So he built up a 951 gallon tank and his old tank became available. I asked the administrator of the old people´s home if I could replace the existing tank by a larger one and he agreed. As I had been also looking after a 660 gallon tank in a hotel bar for about half a year (trying to develop it from a fish tank into a real reef tank) I had earned some money which I spent buying the friends entire “old†system.
So again this new tank belongs to me although his regular place is in the home of the aged.
At the beginning of April I drove to my friend (with the Mercedes minibus of the old people´s home) to pick up the tank and all other items.
After some adaptations of the stands covering I finally prepared the move of everything from the old tank to the big new one.
The move then took place on the 30th of April and was a success with no loss in fish, corals or other animals.
Since then it developed rapidly and is already in a good shape for such a “new†tank.
Here you can see the entrance hall plus the tank one day after setup:
And this is a close look up of the tank (shot taken June 17, 2007)
It consists of a mix of soft and hard corals.
Fishes:
2 Zebrasoma veliferum
1 Pterapogon kauderni
1 Cirrhitychthys falco
12 Chromis viridis
2 Gramma loreto
2 Amphiprion occelaris
1 Chelmon rostratus
2 Centropyge bispinosa
regards
Markus
this is my first posting on Reef Central and I thought it would be a good idea to say hello this way and to present my tank and my history in reef keeping and the history of my tanks.
I am from Austria and was born at the Lake Constance. Nevertheless my contacts with fishes or “seafood†was for the biggest part of my live only fishing and/or eating them.
Since more then two decades I live near Innsbruck, an even more mountainous region with almost no relation to fishes except some rivers and lakes with trouts and other species.
All started when my two boys wanted to keep fish. They where at the age of five at that time and therefore needed some “helpâ€Â. My wife was of the opinion that each of them should have an own tank. So we set up two small freshwater tanks of about 14 gallon each. That was when I was caught by the “virusâ€Â. I also had seen the beautiful reef fish and corals at our local pet shop and started to search the internet. The next was that I bought some literature and started to study more deeply into the subject.
After about one year of theoretical preparation I started buying the first items for my own reef tank.
This I set up at the end of 2001. It was a 120x60x60cm (47x23x23 inch) 430 liter (114 gallons) tank. It developed quit well but after one year my neighbour came one day (we live in a 2 storey condominium) and asked if we had the washing machine running during night, which I negated. Finally we found out that it was the pumps which you could hardly(!) hear, when you pressed an ear to his sleeping rooms wall.
As he was constantly claiming the noise and I was not willing to invest in new pumps (as I did not want to spend a lot of money , not being sure that the outcome was better â€"œ with the outcome that I also would have to remove it for the sake of good neighbourhood relations), I had to consider to find a new home for my tank, as I did not want to sell it (and of course loose some money).
Adjacent to us there is the home of the aged of our village and in the entrance hall they had a freshwater tank which was not in the best shape.
I approached them and made the offer to donate them my tank if they would find a place for it. I also would continue to maintain it â€"œ the only thing they would have to do would be the financing of the ongoing costs…
After they paid a visit to my home they decided to remove the freshwater tank and to place my tank there but they insisted that it should remain in my ownership.
So on the 2nd of January 2003 I moved the tank the few meters to the neighbouring building. Since then it was a constant viewpoint for the aged living there as well as for the staff and visitors to the aged and the house. I frequently give introductions into the reef tank and the hobby for school classes and groups. Articles about the tank appeared in several newspapers and even in a German magazine (Datz).
But as it is with all tanks: over the years it became too small…..
But the same happened to one of my best reefkeeping friends. He had two blue powder tangs which had grown too big for his 960 liter/253 gallon tank (200x80x60cm â€"œ 78x31x23 inch). So he built up a 951 gallon tank and his old tank became available. I asked the administrator of the old people´s home if I could replace the existing tank by a larger one and he agreed. As I had been also looking after a 660 gallon tank in a hotel bar for about half a year (trying to develop it from a fish tank into a real reef tank) I had earned some money which I spent buying the friends entire “old†system.
So again this new tank belongs to me although his regular place is in the home of the aged.
At the beginning of April I drove to my friend (with the Mercedes minibus of the old people´s home) to pick up the tank and all other items.
After some adaptations of the stands covering I finally prepared the move of everything from the old tank to the big new one.
The move then took place on the 30th of April and was a success with no loss in fish, corals or other animals.
Since then it developed rapidly and is already in a good shape for such a “new†tank.
Here you can see the entrance hall plus the tank one day after setup:
And this is a close look up of the tank (shot taken June 17, 2007)
It consists of a mix of soft and hard corals.
Fishes:
2 Zebrasoma veliferum
1 Pterapogon kauderni
1 Cirrhitychthys falco
12 Chromis viridis
2 Gramma loreto
2 Amphiprion occelaris
1 Chelmon rostratus
2 Centropyge bispinosa
regards
Markus
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