What made you catch the reef bug?

[Poof]

How I got addicted.......

About seven years ago I wanted a cat, dog, some type of animal. I went to petco and got a betta. Had the betta for about a year and then got a 10gal FW tank then about another year later seen Finding Nemo and that is when I wanted to start a saltwater tank. I wanted to make the same tank that was in the dentist office and that is what got me started. I went to Beldt's and bought my 55 with stand and did a lot of research and now I have a nano reef. But my boyfriend also was into reefs and FW. So now we have tanks all over the place. It is so awesome. Our 4 year old knows the difference between LPS, SPS, and softies. She can name all the fish we have and most of the corals. She is addicted already and wants one in her room. Now it is my goal to have a tank on ever wall of the house that isn't being used.

 

[hckycoz]

to be honest i was at a friends house and i was so high i started staring at his FW tank. soon after i set up a 20fw then my finace bought me a 55 to turn into salt. found out i want somethin bigger and have started on my 110.
PS my 55 has never seen salt. been FW for about 2 years.

 

[gath2]

I had a small FW tank in my room for as long as I can remember. My dad also always kept a tank up. When he tried salt, his under gravel filter with crushed coral 55g tank never lasted that long until it would crash. He would move back to FW frustrated. The price of SW fish and that I had never seen fish live for very long kept me away for a long time. My cousin, goalie66, kept telling me I needed to try salt and got me hooked on RC. The more I learn, the more addicted I get. After getting my own reef setup, my dad now has his own successful reef; he's learning

 

[Island Hopper]

Twenty Three years ago my wife and I took a delayed (5yrs) honeymoon to St. Thomas. We spent a day at Megans Bay where I had my first experience diving and snorkeling. Having all those beautiful fish come up and eat out of my hand was awesome and I never forgot it. Living in So. Il. has some drawbacks like NO SWF stores or oceans anywhere near. About a year ago a fellow co-worker opened up a small store and it wasnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t long before I had a 12 gal. Nano up and running. Six months later it was a 150 gal. Reef Tank and meeting up with this guy in South County who sold corals out of his basement didnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t hurt any. Now Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m making up for the last 23 years and having a blast. Being on line and having access to all the available info, such as RC and SlASH has probably made this hobby a reality for me.

 

[Grace's Dad]

I started with fresh water in the early nineties when I lived in Maryland. The LFS in Randallstown had both fresh and saltwater fish. I had always wanted to try saltwater but the cost of everything would've cut into my beer money. Plus I always rented and didn't want to move a tank every year or so. I had told myself that I would try salt once I bought a house and a more permanent residence. We bought our house in 2003 and I quickly got a 75g and 125g before my daughter was born (had to spend the money before the wife wanted to spend it on kid stuff). I am now looking at getting a larger tank with the money I'll save from not having to pay daycare this summer. I want to do evrything right with this one so I will probably be on the "Nook plan"

 

[ol'saltybastage]

I typed up the story of what got me into the hobby, then hit spell check. my pop up blocker killed the spell check box. then i allowed pop-up's from this site. it refreshed the page and wiped everything i had typed. so..... i suggest you try reading my mind cause that was a lot to type and i'm going to go eat.

 

[DARKSILENTTYPE]

I would say my interest was always there in one form or another . I have been drawn to water for as long as I could remember I first started with a small tank and then expanded from there . The first real tank I set up was a african chiclid tank and it was so much fun making it as natural as possible and soon they were mating like crazy . I moved and had to take it down and it sat in the garage of the new house for many months before I started thinking of setting up the tank again and in the process I started reading about reef tanks because I was looking for something with more of a color range . One thing lead to another and here I am today looking for a bigger tank to set my reef system in and to keep moving forward into bigger and better underwater worlds that I control or control me which ever it is , I sometimes wonder.

DST

 

[Reefer Wannabe]

Started with us getting a fish bowl at a garage sale about 5 years ago. My son decided to get a goldfish, and the pet store told us a fishbowl wouldn't do it. We had a nasty, dirty 20 gallon that I filled up with water, put some conditioner in it, and went back to get some fish. Came back with a goldfish, 2 catfish, and a fiddler crab (which ended up eating the goldfish...) and a filter. Soon upgraded to a 55 gallon, and I was hooked.

When I began teaching gifted kids, I decided to try a saltwater in the classroom. It didn't work so well with weekends and breaks, but it was enough to get me hooked.

 

[vishboy]

I saw Kathy's.

 

[jimmyleg]

I can remember walking into a place called Schaefer's at 270 (244 at the time) back in the late 70's and they had freshwater upstairs and some salt tanks in the basement. Seems kind of funny now, but a yellow tang caught my attention and after seeing the cichlids and stuff upstairs the colors of the tang and others blew me away. The saltwater fish seemed to have a lot more personality as well.

About '87 or so I went into Seahorse Pet Shop in Ballwin and immediately figured that keeping salt was the only thing that would keep me interested for long. The prices alone of the livestock screamed 'exotic'.

About two months later I started my first salt tank, a 29G that eventually housed a blue throat trigger, a brown spotted moray and a large hermit that took no crap from either, all from A Fishy Deal. The 29 grew to a 55 and then a 75. The best source of info was Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine and the LFS's.

I stayed away for several years until walking into CPE a couple of years ago. When I found that there was a local SW club I decided to get the 85G I'd been lugging around for several years going finally. Once I got turned on to RC by Our Man Steve, it was off to the races.

Even with the advances that had happened during my hiatus it still took me a while to comprehend that a bunch of people were out there keeping some very exotic stuff. I still haven't gotten over the possibility that those out there keeping multi-hundred gallon tanks are just plain nuts, tho their passion may make up for any mental defect they are dealing with.

For what it's worth, it seems to be contagious. I'm getting ready to set up a 75, but realized that doubling the total capacity with a large sump, a prop tank, fuge, quarantine tank, et al. just makes perfect sense. What doesn't make sense is having just a 75 for display, but space constraints mean keeping that footprint. Maybe just a 90 or even a 110 tall ............ hmmm ..............

 

[rams]

How many tanks do you have Scott?

 

[D-Rod]

Ick, flatworms & red bugs

 

[rams_1_again]

I've always had an interest in Reef aquariums since I was in Jr. High School. I had a buddy that had a small Reef aquarium back in the early 80's. Ever since then I've always wanted to start my own but I always heard that salt water aquariums are very difficult to keep. I've had fresh water fish, mainly goldfish, for years until...ramtheory.

I have known Dennis for 9 years or so. Just recently he joined the Engineering group with me at the wireless carrier that we both work for. He told me how easy it was to keep up a Reef and showed me pictures of his setup. I decided to take the plunge and have been hooked for almost a year now. What he neglected to tell me was how addictive and expensive the hobby is...thanks Dennis

 

[rams]

Your welcome and I told you so, now I listen to all your problems. see now you know its just that easy!

 

[jimmyleg]

Dennis, we currently still have the Tenecor 85, but the stand is starting to show the results of long term exposure to water and it looks like it's been aquascaped by someone facing away from the tank with a bag over their head.

The JBJ 24 Nano we just fired up looks much better, but I just plagerized the layout and filled it with some tough stuff till it matures a bit.

We really do have the new 75, stock tank sump, 55 combo fuge/prop tank and will have it going within a month or so. Tonight I mentioned to TW (the wife) that every time I looked at it that it seemed too small. She said that she thought I had already made the decision to go with a 90 instead. :eek2: Forgot that I had planted that seed so carefully long ago. Based on the behavior of those around me it looks like the future is paved for the inevitable purchase of fade's 450 when he decides he needs several hundred more gallons.