My husband bought me a 20g tank with a clown fish for a christmas present in '93, after managing to keep that fish alive for 7 yrs I decided a reeftank was worth a try :razz:

I remember many moons ago, picking up a copy of FAMA (Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine) - mind you, I already had a Marine Fish only tank going at the time, there was an article by a fellow named George Schmidt on trickle filters, which was something totally new at that time, he went on to talk about the possibility of keeping a small part of the ocean in your home, as i kept reading article after article, I knew i was about to convert my fish only tank into a reef, I had a trickle filter built holding many Blue Bio-Balls and a small protein skimmer made out of pvc which was part of the trickle filter.

And so it began, I've had a reef ever since.

Funny, Finding Nemo was a huge turn off for me keeping sw, actually felt guilty about the poor fish pulled from the ocean and put in a glass box, so I don't get the connection others have. My bf had a fw tank with an Oscar and pleckos in a 55 gl tank. He set it up around the same time we started dating and it followed when we moved in together. The Oscar died 2 years ago and the kids begged for a sw tank. He held off bec he knew how expensive they are to set up. Next spring and a tax return later, he bit the bullet and got started. I still didn't really care much for it, added some clowns and chromis. Meh, nice fish. Then one of the boys and I went to WAIS, bought some "nice" corals. They didn't do so well and that's when I got hooked. Had to figure out how to keep them alive. I should have known better, I can kill a cactus, what was I thinking with corals??Still have a lot to learn, my interest wanes here and there but now I love my fish, I love the accomplishments and the tenacity needed to keep going.

My wife had a 15 gallon FW that I didn't pay much attention to at first and then totally took over. That turned into a 36 gallon FW. Then I spent a weekend at West Edmonton Mall and spent hours staring at those three tanks. Wanted a Clown Trigger in the worst way. Swapped 36 gallon to SW within weeks and now have 2 SW and 1 FW tank

I just went from freshwater in the 70,s to salt I guess. Of course back then they were fish only. Owned everything from my 225 in wall, to a pair of 170 and 180g cubes to my current 30g sps reef.
Me thinks my list could rival Brett,s....:lol:

geez a guy really has to read every last thread around here.

Doug most of my tanks never became reefs I was just 'playing tanks'... nothing too serious!