Who are the SPS Veterans?

Greg Hiller said:
I got started in SPS back about the time that Steve and company were reporting the RTN outbreaks. Back then a lot of us were on Compuserve's old Fishnet forum. Sprung, Delbeek, Richard Harker, Larry Jackson, Randy H-F, Tapio, Bob Stark, Ron S (got ****ed off and left after a while), and a bunch of others were on back then.



Yes those were the days.. The software stunk that fishnet ran on, but that was the largest group of experienced people in the hobby ever in one spot.. Yea missed a few Albert Theil, Bob Goemans, Dana Riddle, Eric and Ron if I remember right came later to fishnet.. I actually remember using that forum before the internet when you had to dial in to compuserve.. Bob Turned me on to that systemââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦I think anyone who was anyone in the hobby at the time came through there at one point of anotherââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦

Dave
 
Mark said:

When I moved to Atlanta, I took all my sps with me, and shared all the frags with Atlanta reefers. It was cool because no-one had a Bali green slimer here, and now practically all sps tanks here do. It brings a proud tear to my eye to know that they all mostly orginated from my tank.:)

LOL mark,,, I was keeping balislimer at that point in atlanta,, so :P~~~~ What about Walter Bobi? Did you know him.. he was the one that had the HUGE bali slimer their ... hmmm,,,

Ive been keeping SPS since 94-95...:)
And I think WAY to much,,, just ask Dana..LOL


Nathan
 
MARINE FISH MONTHLY

MARINE FISH MONTHLY

Somewhere around 1995 Marine Fish Monthly began to publish articles on sps corals. The one that whetted my appetite for sps was an article by Dana Riddle (Stoney Guy on RC}. Dana took a trip out to southern California to see some sps reef tanks . Steve Tyree was his tour guide and in the article was the first published mention of the purple monster along with a photo. He also visited the famous Pieces OF THE REEF store where the origina Tyree soli lived and died in a tank disaster .
Many of the husbandtry techniques we take for granted were first mentioned in this article.
 
Dude, you should have done more trading then. :) I couldn't find anyone to trade with, so I was literally giving the frags away back then.

NuclearReefs said:
LOL mark,,, I was keeping balislimer at that point in atlanta,, so :P~~~~ What about Walter Bobi? Did you know him.. he was the one that had the HUGE bali slimer their ... hmmm,,,

Ive been keeping SPS since 94-95...:)
And I think WAY to much,,, just ask Dana..LOL


Nathan
 
As a related story: I remember when I was in retail sales back in 94-97' and was "pioneering" transhipping for our store. I was trying to convince the owner to cater to SPS hobbyist. There were very few then! It was at that time my fever started especially after seeing Steve Tyree's tank in "The Reef Aquarium" by Delbeek and Sprung.
One night while picking up a late Sunday night transhipment of SPS I ran into another gentleman who was picking up his shipment. He was very inquisitive and introduced himself as Steve Tyree. I did my best to keep my cool, plus I was half in disbelief. It was like meeting the president or other famous idol.
We chatted a brief while, most of the conversation I have since forgotten, but I remember he was full of innovative ideas about SPS. I remember Steve that at that time you where attempting to simulate the sun and moon traversing the sky. Did you ever refine that strategy? Man, those were the days. But we have come a long way in SPS husbandry since then.
Hey Steve, I would like to get your autograph next to Delbeek's and Sprungs in my book someday! Going to any swaps, or Marine Clubs anytime soon? Thanks for letting me digress in nastalgia. Chris
 
Re: MARINE FISH MONTHLY

Re: MARINE FISH MONTHLY

frink said:
Somewhere around 1995 Marine Fish Monthly began to publish articles on sps corals. The one that whetted my appetite for sps was an article by Dana Riddle (Stoney Guy on RC}. Dana took a trip out to southern California to see some sps reef tanks . Steve Tyree was his tour guide and in the article was the first published mention of the purple monster along with a photo. He also visited the famous Pieces OF THE REEF store where the origina Tyree soli lived and died in a tank disaster .
Many of the husbandtry techniques we take for granted were first mentioned in this article.


I just dug around in my attic and found that issue. Good reading!

Whatever happened to that mag?
 
Oh man you guys are making me teary eyed. If the sps market was slim in LA imagine what it was like here in SC? God I remember the first acro I ever saw alive, it was a small tan table that hadnt developed its shape. Id never seen anything so beautiful.
Everybody was hesitant to try acros then because we all believed that they just up and died for no reason, because of the mass reports of RTN. Who coined that word anyway? was you Steve? Anyway, it has been amazing to see the hobby grow and expand to today's scene. Me and Mark go way back on this, to the late 90's when the stony coral scene was just beginning to produce locally available frags.
 
I believe if memory serves me right we were selling " Aquatic Wildlife " frags in 96 at the store I managed in atlanta. They were located in Cleveland Tennessee and Dana worked with them til their financial planning was Umm,, well anyway,, they are closed now...:(
Actually I think Julian was the one that termed Tissue necrosis RTN in like 95 ..
 
Ah, the good ole 'quatic wildlife co. and their awesome ebb and flow ATS that never really caught on. What store in atlanta did you manage? I managed Marine Fish in marietta from 2000-01, I think it was set up in 97-98 and It was a few miles from atlantis aquarium.
Hey does anyone remember Bruce Carlson's acropora challenge or whatever it was called. He sent out a bunch a frag to reefers who had the right tanks. Any of you guys receive these frags or know where they went?
 
Shark Bay was the store I was at,,, we were right in the middle of buckhead,,,,,, I heard about Bruce's little test but never jumped on the band wagon...
I never made it to Marine Fish, I stayed outta cobb county. Lived on the other sides of town....

Nathan
 
Marine Fish bought up much of what Shark bay had when it closed down. I prolly used much of the same equipment you did. MTC pro cal reactor, 2 x 4 ft dual ETSS skimmers, some DAS tanks/pools, one was 4x4x2, other one was angled like a pentagon. Any of that sound familiar?
 
yep, I had left before they closed but still kept up with John when he sold all that.. He moved off to Selma Alabama! Did they get his old dolphin pumps and that huge bio tower I hated?

Nathan
 
Chris,

SPS transhipping. That was quite a crap shoot back in the mid-90's. And yes the captive care of sps has drastically improved over the past 12 years. I have not done any more research with simulating the moving sun. Quite a few others have been though. Speaking of importing, I have just gone 6 months without buying any imported corals. Selling all farmed and captive. We have had to rethink the whole import process due to the invasion of red but bugs, monti eating nudi's and acropora eating flatworms. And who know what else is out there. I have been setting up separate systems to hold new import corals and to hold new farmed corals. Quaranteen tanks are now required. Will be picking up some import again once I have the infrastructure in place for proper isolation and treatment. My farm systems are pest free and I want them to stay that way. When I spoke in England over a month ago, they had not gone through the 'sps pest' phase yet. Oh what fun they will have.
 
AquariaUSA,

The first reactors used on sps tanks in the US were setup in late 1994 to early 1995. They were DYI and were based on an english translation of a german magazine article about the Loebeck Reactor. Gregg Cook translated the article. The first company selling reactors within the US was Bob Mankins MKR reactors. I got the second one he ever made. Soon afterward the Knopp reactors were imported.
 
Frink,

Dana's visit back in 1995. Remeber it well. He had been metering captive tanks around the country with a PAR meter. He was the first one to do that. At the time my tank metered the highest he had seen. Close to 1,000 micro einsteins. Now he is metering reefs in Hawaii everyday !
 
Nuclearreefs,

Well perhaps there is some controversy on who coined the term 'RTN'. I heard Stanley Brown claim that he had coined the term. He made this claim during a presentation he made. If Stanley coined it he was describing what was happenning in his particular tanks. This was just prior to the real nasty RTN that came in during 1996. Basically Stanley had one of those reef tanks where sps just died quickly and tissue sloughed off the skeleton. At that time he could not keep them for long. Kept wondering why. Then all of sudden his reef tank was able to support them. I have seen this condition in a handful of reef tanks out there. Dont know what causes it.
 
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