SPS tank in 1994

[Stylaster]

Ok, so looking back ive been doing saltwater reef tanks for over 20 years! A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. So digging through old pics, i thought i would share my 60g SPS clam tank from back in 1994. Most people never even heard of SPS back then I was and still am into the odd corals, even had a chalice in the system back then (green with black rings) Enjoy guys!

Here is the link to a writeup of my system on reefs.org
Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - Member's Aquarium Series - Roy Seine

 

[GXPKY]

Cool pics, thanks for sharing.

 

[Toadally]

Yup very nice! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jabrams]

Very cool. All vho?

 

[Jabrams]

Do you still have any of these pets?

 

[skh]

Cool, that's very impressive. What were your husbandry practices and what equipment did you use?

 

[stevie-o]

Wow!!!! you sir are a pro very impressive

 

[Stylaster]

Back then it was 175w 10k mh with vho actinic. I dont have any of the corals anymore, sure wish i did though!
I did water changes once a week about 5 gallons. For calcium i used kalkwasser as my make up water. I ran a huge venturi counter current skimmer it was 5' tall lol overkill for a 50 gallon tank, but the water sure was clean!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Well done! Were those Maxima clams Red Sea Max's? I only ask because the pattern isn't something you see today, not even when the Marshall farm was at it's height of production, and the Red Sea shipped in the most amazing wild Maxima's back in the mid to late 90's.

 

[ayckorea]

they look great, thx

 

[franklypre]

that put me back to grade school, my family had a tank in the early 90s, I still remember the first SPS we had, looked like a brown fuzzy rock. That was a NICE tank back then, would be a nice tank today as well but back then WOW. Thanks for sharing.

 

[gasman059]

those truly some nice clams-- shame on u......... u old fart

 

[allsps40]

Wow that was very hard to do with the tech in mid 90's. Great job.

 

[Stylaster]

ya red sea maxima clams where the bomb! Nothing compares to them now. The croceas where nicer back then too

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

That's pretty nice, to have a tank like that way back then. I had my first tank in 93 and for me clowns were the hype. I knew nothing of sps corals.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[badguitarist]

Stylaster, just out of curiosity, I'm from Corvallis and have seen you on the local forum. what stores were you buying from back then as most of the ones around now are not all that old. I'm guessing upscales was just opening around that time and maybe waves was around? I know it was mostly an online place when I started in about '02. thanks for sharing, looks great!

 

[Stylaster]

I purchased from waves, upscale, tyree, and harbor aquatics