What constitutes a Reef Tank anymore?

[Paul B]

I have some of those from the early seventees, but it was fish only :spin2:

 

[QuailHollow]

I might be able to dig up one or two from the archives of dad's old tank.

 

[Paul B]

Here is one of my first blue devils over his nest of eggs in that barnacle shell, circa 1973

 

[doctorgori]

Paul, I see a gorgonian...when did it occur to you to put live rock & living inverts in a SW tank?
I'm thinking I'm not as old as you but my recollection of the hobby was that I didn't regularly see inverts until the 80s (other than condy's, carpets, flame scallops & snails)

...also while we are strolling down memory lane, when did you 1st see ASW? I'm thinking IO came about 76ish ..... any timeline(s) you can provide would make interesting reading

 

[QuailHollow]

...also while we are strolling down memory lane, when did you 1st see ASW? I'm thinking IO came about 76ish ..... any timeline(s) you can provide would make interesting reading

You are probably pretty close. Dad said he was keeping seahorses when he was 12 years old (was his birthday present). That would've been 1973. The brand of salt was Instant Ocean.

 

[Paul B]

Paul, I see a gorgonian...when did it occur to you to put live rock & living inverts in a SW tank?

That gorgonian like all the corals available in the early 70s was a dead skeleton. There was no live rock or even dead rock. We only used dead coral skeletons. All of the rock in my tank then is still there and I collected it myself in the Caribbean and hawaii.
My tank started in this 40 gallon tank in 1971 as you can tell by my watch, hair and the dead coral skeletons. (I don't even remember having hair) That is when reefing started in new York. I bought some of the first blue devils available in the only store in NY that had salt water. That was Aquarium Stock Company about two blocks from the Trade Center. They had everything including sea turtles.
The salt available was "Lampert Kays Marine Magic",
Instant Ocean was developed by the guy who started the oil company "STP".
He had salt water fish and invented the salt. ASW and oil are both chemical companies so it made sense.
My tank did and still uses dolomite and a UG filter. The gravel in that tank and the water is still in my tank. It was never taken down except when I moved in about 1979 when I just transfered all of that into a larger tank. I started the tank with real seawater from New York City, probably not the best choice but it is still running so how bad could it be?
I don't remember when we started adding corals but crustaceans were available in the 70s as were anemones. oddly enough moorish Idols were also available in the early days although I don't know why.

 

[doctorgori]

Thanks Paul...I find the history of this hobby facinating... I got in at the end of metal framed tanks, but the transformation into more "modern" fishtanks happened about 73ish and was VERY fast if you recall...
...rambling on, but....
and by sometime around 78-79 it seems Ehiems, Aquaclears and powerheads became more common...it seemed prices dropped, and SW fish had a "reasonable" survival rate (at least for mid-level hobbyist like myself) ....
Since IMO basic aquarium equipment has evolved a lil but not "revolutionarily" so,,,

...later I thought a big leap in SW tanks happened about 81ish ...seemed something happened in the Pacific region and all sorts of fish became available, although few lived very long...

...I could be wrong, but I'd say things changed again around 95ish, when Skimmers became cheaper along with Icecap ballast, et....

and just from my short hiatus I'd say we are in the mist of another paragdim shift

 

[Paul B]

Doctorgori you have a better memory than I do and I have spoken on the history of the hobby twice. Once in California and once in DC.
I can't remember what happened in what year but I have it all written down from when I spoke.
The first powerheads were not submersible and they were aluminum with a plastic housing. If they got wet, you got shocked. GFCIs didn't come out until much later.
I did have a counter current Sanders skimmer in the early 80s.

Here is my current tank under construction in about 1978. I put it in a wall and built the basement around it. There are no mouldings or even floor or ceiling here. Everything in my 40 gallon tank including the water was transfered into this tank which is 6' long. That was considered huge then. It still had the dead coral skeletons from the old tank.

 

[billsreef]

^^^ you guys are bringing "warm/fuzzies" to me....

If I look real hard I got some pics from back in the day circa 85-87ish when reef tanks were just starting...heck just for fun that could be a whole new topic



Sshhh don't say that too loudly ha ha

Shop lights using Ultralume bulbs and actinic bulbs were the bomb...in NO output of course

 

[doctorgori]

[/QUOTE]

Ha ha ...I had one of those...I wanna say thats a Supreme filter...either a Aquaking or Super King .... one of the models acually had 6 siphons and some contraption with a woden dowel to start the siphons.... yeah many a hobbyist got a nice shock from those ha ha

Edited to add: the motor looks like a supreme but the filter itself is even older I think....now I'm not so sure

Shop lights using Ultralume bulbs and actinic bulbs were the bomb...in NO output of course

ha ha...remember the bulbs with the "power twist" ? you were rockin if you managed to cram 6ea over a 45L and coaxed your condy's and caulerpra forest to grow

 

[Paul B]

All filters looked like that. Yes, you got shocked whenever you went near them. They all rusted away. The diatom filters still look like that, I have 3 of them. And they are all rusty.

 

[billsreef]

ha ha...remember the bulbs with the "power twist" ? you were rockin if you managed to cram 6ea over a 45L and coaxed your condy's and caulerpra forest to grow

The power twist was the new fangled invention

 

[CaptiveReef]

A reef tank reflects it's owner..........

A reef tank reflects it's owner..........

Every Reef Tank reflects it's owner, what size tank,lighting choices, aquascaping. In the end what your looking at through the glass,(acrylic) is an expression of that tanks owner(caretaker).


CaptiveReef :wave:

 

[richardinphx]

If anyone hasn't seen this tank http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2005317 it's an amazing coral menagerie and yet the owner feels it's not a reef tank.

well.. i couldnt call this a reef tank.. it is definately a "specimen" tank.. kind of like the orchid clooectors of the early 1900's..

Sometimes it's like calling one's greenhouse a "tropical jungle"

 

[doctorgori]

well.. i couldnt call this a reef tank.. it is definately a "specimen" tank.. kind of like the orchid clooectors of the early 1900's..

Sometimes it's like calling one's greenhouse a "tropical jungle"

...and yeah, nobody wants to knock whatever any hobbyist is doing to maintain salt water specimens...

...but I think if the emphasis swings too far to wards specimen husbandry & display, above all else, then I think the concern is valid that along some lines there will be a disconnect from the other biological intricacies of a coral reef...

...basically a educational/awareness sacrifice if nothing else

 

[mussel and hate]

And yet this is a tank dedicated to calcifying sessile inverts encrusting a calcium substrate. Setting aside shape and aesthetic preference, what differentiates dead rock from tumbled marble tiles? Perhaps how long the rocks were out of the water?

This particular system is one that tests the logic of reef tank vs something else.

 

[gp2]

Im loving the trip down the aquarium memory lane. Wasn't Supreme and eheim basically the only players in the filter realm? Remember the piston air pumps? Where the pistons were not enclosed and you could watch them chug away? Yeah I thought I was hot to trot with my twisted bulbs, vita-lights i think?

 

[Paul B]

And you had to oil those pistons. and the oil would get in the water. Then they would overheat and I would attach a fan on them