Osteoclast
New member
Thanks Paul, watching hockey but will get a truck and crew down there to begin the dredge. Appreciate your call. Test the PO4 for me if you can and we will do the rest.
Reefkeeping History
- Thread starter Peter Eichler
- Start date
tonyf
New member
Still do that ... calcium supplement for cattle feed makes an excellent brilliant white substrate of the perfect size.
:hmm4:
Paul your mistaken they been siphoning! Lost of stuff been sucked away. Look at them trees standing in the water- they're standing up on their bare roots. Matter fact I think they took too much out. Watcha think?
ashish
New member
The the timeline is really great to see; im very fortunate to be around in these times
Back in 1996 when i got into saltwater aquariums i tryed very hard to find good books and failed!! The only book i found was at a flee market and i must have read it twice; not realizing that book was probably from the 80's. Nevertheless, the books back then had knowledge that proofed to be bias and wrong.
I ordered the Reef aquarium 1994 (5years ago) and despite being 20 years old, it still is very current because delbeek/sprung went by years of research and proven european methods. Looking at the pictures in sprung's book show how much reef keeping has improved over the years. I still feel the book will scare off newbie aquarist it's far to advanced & newbie's need easy to follow diagrams and colorful pictures (i know i did lol)
Back in 1996 when i got into saltwater aquariums i tryed very hard to find good books and failed!! The only book i found was at a flee market and i must have read it twice; not realizing that book was probably from the 80's. Nevertheless, the books back then had knowledge that proofed to be bias and wrong.
I ordered the Reef aquarium 1994 (5years ago) and despite being 20 years old, it still is very current because delbeek/sprung went by years of research and proven european methods. Looking at the pictures in sprung's book show how much reef keeping has improved over the years. I still feel the book will scare off newbie aquarist it's far to advanced & newbie's need easy to follow diagrams and colorful pictures (i know i did lol)
Wonderful thread .... feeling all nostalgic.
My own personal obsession with reefkeeping started in 1986 (might have been 1987). I had been keeping freshwater planted tanks previously, and a serendipitous visit to Reef Encounter on Route 4 in NJ introduced me to Dupla. It was, in fact, Albert Thiel, himself actually setting up the first Dupla reef tank in the area (not sure how long he worked for/with Dupla, but he provided the English translation for 'The Optimum Aquarium'). Wow! I was hooked.
My own personal obsession with reefkeeping started in 1986 (might have been 1987). I had been keeping freshwater planted tanks previously, and a serendipitous visit to Reef Encounter on Route 4 in NJ introduced me to Dupla. It was, in fact, Albert Thiel, himself actually setting up the first Dupla reef tank in the area (not sure how long he worked for/with Dupla, but he provided the English translation for 'The Optimum Aquarium'). Wow! I was hooked.
Is that right! Ask him if he remembers Simon Ellis from NJ. It's been along time, so perhaps he doesn't; but definitely one of the 'old guard' along with Leo Wojcik (sp?) who subsequently started up MTC along with his brother.
Peter Eichler
New member
I used to drool over the Dupla stuff... Then again I also was a sucker for Thiel stuff back in the day. If I go back and read any Thiel or Dupla stuff now I almost feel violated for having paid for their advertisements.
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I remember looking at all the dupla stuff that I could never afford!
I've had aquariums since I was a little boy with heroic attempts at keeping dime store goldfish alive in a goldfish bowl. :fish2: I grew up in the late 60's-70's.
My first tank was a stainless steel 5 gallon tank with a slate bottom that someone decided to throw out fish and all! I was hooked I was about 7-8. I remember seeing my first saltwater fish at the fish store. It was a pair of ocellaris or percula clown fish. I thought they were awesome fish, and I still do!
My first saltwater tank was an all glass 45 gallon tank that I got while I was in Jr. High school. Anyone remember Nektonics UG filters, test kits & hydrometers?
How about Metaframe, supreme aqua king & little giant air pumps?
one customer from the local fish store in Oceanside thats no longer there gave me a bunch of back issues of The Marine Aquarist magazine that I no longer have but have since recollected through eBay. The only books that where available to me at the time where TFH that I read voraciously. I used to have tons of FAMA magazines that I bought at the LFS, but I threw them away years ago. I'm going to recollect some of them through eBay and Craigslist. I remember reading Peter Wilkens articles Flower Animals in the Marine Aquarist which I managed to recollect those issues. There where no translations of his books or any of the other books that where cited in his articles. Does anyone recall the book by R.A. Risely Tropical Marine Aquaria? Its a book about Lee Chin Engs natural system. I bought that bought during a visit to Scripps when I was a geeky teenager. It's long out of print, but it has some nice color pictures of natural system tanks.
Now I'm looking forward to setting up a 100 gallon zeovit system. This is the first setup ive had in about 7 years. I know that my post isn't completely OT, but I just had to share. This thread has brought back some really fond memories, and I just wanted to say thank you
Efrain
Peter Eichler
New member
Bumping this one up
Peter Eichler
New member
I guess my main reason for bumping this was to see if anyone thought there has been something significant to the history of our hobby in the last few years. I can't really think of anything.
I'm actually of the opinion that a lot of the extra dosing and carbon dosing has set the hobby back a bit. I also think that better equipment and naming corals becoming more prominent, while making the hobby a little easier, has a lot fewer people exploring the more scientific side of the hobby.
Any thoughts onj the above?
I'm actually of the opinion that a lot of the extra dosing and carbon dosing has set the hobby back a bit. I also think that better equipment and naming corals becoming more prominent, while making the hobby a little easier, has a lot fewer people exploring the more scientific side of the hobby.
Any thoughts onj the above?
Nano sapiens
New member
A couple older items of interest:
'Nature's System of Keeping Marine Fishes' was the method name coined and written about by Lee Chin Eng of the Prinsen Park Aquarium, Jkarta, Indonesia. The actual method was developed in 1955 by Mr. Tan Soen Hway of Banguwangi, East Java, Indonesia.' (The Reef Aquarium, Vol 3, Sprung/Delbeek).
The first public exhibit of live South Pacific corals in a US aquarium was back in 1978 at the Waikiki Aquarium (The Reef Aquarium, Vol 3, Sprung/Delbeek)
'Nature's System of Keeping Marine Fishes' was the method name coined and written about by Lee Chin Eng of the Prinsen Park Aquarium, Jkarta, Indonesia. The actual method was developed in 1955 by Mr. Tan Soen Hway of Banguwangi, East Java, Indonesia.' (The Reef Aquarium, Vol 3, Sprung/Delbeek).
The first public exhibit of live South Pacific corals in a US aquarium was back in 1978 at the Waikiki Aquarium (The Reef Aquarium, Vol 3, Sprung/Delbeek)
I had my first reef tank around 1987, and kept one continuously until the end of 2008 when I took a 'burn-out' break for four years. Incredible advancements in the hobby in the early days, but when I came back to the hobby in early 2013, I was surprised to find that things were pretty much the same - at least in terms of the essentials. OK, vortech pumps are more sophisticated now, Apex does more things, and LED seems poised to replace MH, but they're all evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Maybe the biggest change is in the community. I joined RC in 2005, but only posted a handful of time before leaving the hobby. Vast majority of my posts are from 2013 on. Once you get a sense of the various contributors, one fairly quickly learns to 'separate the wheat from the chaff'. Some knuckleheads, a few spectacularly so, but also a wealth of knowledge and insight that even a 25 year reefer can benefit significantly from. I do chuckle though at these folks who show up, posting and dispensing advice on everything, everywhere for a short while, only to disappear in short order with nary a whimper.
+ 1.
Fish Net was my major source of reef info/advice in late 80's. Larry Jackson, Greg Schiemer, Randy, Craig Bigman, and, dare I say it, Ron Shimeck were hanging out there among many other larger than life reef folks. Looking back, I really enjoyed the irreverent, satirical, and genuinely funny atmosphere of the site. Greg would absolutely savage products that he thought were frauds. And god forbid they'd try to argue the point -- he would excoriate them with facts, data, and logic. Good times.
And I know that Shimeck is now persona non grata on this site, but putting aside the DSB debate, back then he was providing eye opening data (e.g.about what salt mixes claimed they contained vs. what was actually in them), analysis (e.g., pointing out that natural reefs were flourishing at temps well above what the recommended temps for reef tanks were back then), and spot on IDs of the various inverts popping up in posters' tanks.
Compared to Reef Central, Fish Net was a bit more wild west -- the touters' mumbo-jumbo magnetic filter threads that occasionally pop up here with little or no response, were some of the most entertaining threads on Fish Net, with dozens of celebrity and everyday members posting hilarious responses.
Well, I'm older now and maybe I'm looking back on that period with rose colored glasses. But it sure seems like it was free-speechy fun.
Mike
Full disclosure: I once moderated a deservedly short lived forum on Aquarium Literature on FishNet.
