therman's 40B SPS tank, TOTM Oct 2001 and reef nostalgia thread

[therman]

Because I felt bad for hijacking the GFO/GAC thread, here is a new one for those of us who were keeping SPS around the time of Y2K. The thread is about the tank loosely, but feel free to ramble about these early days of online reef keeping discussions and chats, or just pop in to post hello if you are a fellow RC "old timer".

This tank was the October 2001 RC Tank of the Month, though it was actually dismantled shortly before being awarded those honors. From what I understand that TOTM account webpage was lost. It is profiled in Mike Paletta's "Ultimate Marine Aquariums" book as well. I still have many photos of that tank and its corals that were never shown in either place and will post them here as time allows.

Here are some photos from a few months before it's last hurrah to start it off:

Enjoy!

Tim

 

[Big E]

Here ya go Tim,

Dino the mod dug this up for me--

https://web.archive.org/web/20040413050805/http://www.reefcentral.com/totm/2001-10/index.php

 

[stikhead]

Well for everyone out there looks like Therman was sporting strawberry short cake before it was cool

 

[A. Grandis]

Oh man!!!
You've got to post all the details for that tank, including the Aquaclear, 6500K Iwasaki's and so on!! I'm sure you'll post more pics. Perhaps some unseen images!!

I kinda knew back then that we were living in a great time!!!
I still have my Lunar 500 working day after day on my 75gal!!!
Also the "top of the line" Berlin skimmer with Mag Drive 7!
I can go further back and remember before my Beriln, the Sander skimmer, driven by wooden air diffusers!! I still got 2 of them.

I used only kalk and SeaChem products on my tanks back then...

Then I had 2 X 250W 6500K Ushios over my 55gal. The zoas were amazing!!

I miss the scientific names. No cartoon names back then. No hype with crazy prices!!!
Hope to hear more from many of us!

Good thread!!
Grandis.

 

[griss]

Thanks for making me feel really old Tim. That was a great tank and those sure were good times in reef keeping

 

[Carlos]

Holy crap, that is a blast from the past. I feel compelled to tell everybody that was not around back there that the pictures do that tank no justice. That tank was amazing considering that it was a 40B installed in a dorm room without a sump!!!!!

Therman, I hope you have not lost your green thumb man!

 

[Carlos]

Oh man!!!
I miss the scientific names. No cartoon names back then.

Amen to that. I loved when we referred to the purple monster as Purple A. valida. The superman mille was just pink and blue mille (which was actually a A prostata but the name stuck). Back when having an A lokani or A suharsonoi was rare. When we were all looking for the M undata and the real M confusa!

That is the thing that I miss about the old day... the real names and not the cartoon names.

 

[MrSandman]

Tim! Man, talk about a blast from the past. That tank was way ahead of its time.

At least now i know where i got my pink jade from!
When i took down my other tank i had to sell off a massive colony of Pink jade and people were asking where i got it from. I couldn't remember. lol. Now i know!

I still remember when you and Los came to Los Angeles all the way from Chicago hand delivering frags to me in the quest to find the perfect clams. I was still living with my parents at the time and you guys helped stock my TOTM tank with amazing frags. The 60G tank was lit with 2 x 250W Iwasaki street lamps. It was that weekend the SPS bug bit me when we stopped off at Aquarium City and went shopping at the legendary Joe Kelly tank.

While i went to work the next day, i dropped you guys off at the Pacific Ocean and 9 hours later i picked you up. 9 hours at the tide pools! You and Los were crazy! lol. You guys had some awesome pictures at the end of the day.

I forget where else we stopped that weekend it was so long ago. Perhaps George is right....we're really old now.

Maybe i'll stop by the IRC chatroom for old time's sake. Is it even running still?

 

[Dwayne]

That was a good looking tank. It was just missing one thing.

DIVER DAN!!!

Long live Diver Dan and his amazing adventures.:dance:

 

[therman]

Diver dan was the best!

I really do wonder how many of those corals I sent out got branded and named. I shipped probably 50 boxes of frags when I tore the tank down, including a big box of frags to Dustin at ORA. My best stuff came from Joy at Harbor Aquatics and Menard's amazing store. Carlos delivered me some choice frags from Menard once, and then when I actually visited the store it was like a dream come true. Veron's books were just coming out and all those new species blew our minds. True suharsonoi and confusa were the holy grails of SPS.

Los- I lost my green (rainbow? purple?) thumb for a while there, but I think I have it back now. With rtbm's, RMF's, purplereef's, and a few other locals' help I am rebuilding a collection of SPS to be proud of. I've turned to the dark side and even have a tank chock full of nice zoas/palys (zoas weren't even on the radar as something to intentionally grow back then!). I really need to make a trip to Chicagoland and north to visit you guys again and drink plenty of beer.

MrSandman....I remember we went to Tracy Gray's store and saw Tyree's tank. I don't remember where else we went. That was a fun trip....mostly about it I remember Carlos wanting to go to the beach to look at things other than corals!

 

[mellotang]

I remember buying insane colonies from Cquarium.com

 

[johnike]

I agree with George.

 

[therman]

Here ya go Tim,

Dino the mod dug this up for me--

https://web.archive.org/web/20040413050805/http://www.reefcentral.com/totm/2001-10/index.php

Thanks Ed!!!
I tried asking about it a couple of years ago and they told me it was lost!

I will post some previously unseen photos of that tank's corals later tonight I hope.

 

[Maximus]

I need to get some more confusa someday. I remember Tim and I really wanted to set up a montipora dominated tank over a decade ago. Ahh, life was so carefree and simple back then. I never tested for phosphates, had no clue what gfo was and biopellets weren't even in the picture. ULNS, Zeo, needlewheel skimmers, what the hell were those? I used to run a ETSS Reef Devil downdraft skimmer and Iwasaki's on my 100g sps dominated tank in the mid to late 90's. This thread sorta reminds me of the Jimmy Fallon skit, "Simpler Times" ( I think it was Fallon or Leno?).

 

[therman]

I will hook you up with montis if you want them Sang. I saw you eyeing the beach bum.

They were simpler times. I think the GEO 1.0 out of PVC fittings grew corals better than anything today. I never tested my water, and the main water changes were topping off after bagging up frags to give to people!

$50 was a crazy expensive frag then.

 

[Maximus]

Haha, I had the prototype Geo calcium reactor #1!! Beat that Tim! Man, George has come along ways since then. Yeah, the Beach Bum is top on my list right now. Do you remember the top acros and montis from those days?

 

[therman]

Yeah, the Beach Bum is top on my list right now.

Do you have a tank to put it in?

 

[Maximus]

Do you have a tank to put it in?

Oh yeah, my 75g rimless is doing great. Read my sig!!

 

[therman]

How long has that been running?

 

[Maximus]

How long has that been running?

Since Dec of last year.