What brought you into Reefing?
 

Kind of interested to see this, what brought everyone into the Hobby? I worked at Petland for about 1.5 years and then went to Petcetera for another year and a half. After Petcetera I picked up a few clown fish (because they carried them) and after visiting an actual Exotic fish store *removed* I decided to take the plunge and buy a nano cube. After that I shortly upgraded to a 65g and have been going since then.

Levi

My wife bought me a starter 20 gallon kit for a b-day present.. It all started there, then it was the 20 gallon fresh and a 30 gallon salt, then a 90 gallon fresh and 75 gallon salt, now I'm up to the 265 salt and we still have the 90 gallon fresh.. The fresh is a bit sad these days though.

Always wanted but what put me over the edge was snorkeling in the Philippines.

I got bitten with the reefers bug when I was 4 and saw a sw tank at my babysitters house. Last year my fiance encouraged me to take the plunge and here I am :)

I guess "petstore" is the closest thing for me. I had been toying with the idea of setting up an aquarium of some kind and was really drawn to discus. After a few conversations with LFS guys (Big Als, Riverfront, and Dark Side Creatures), they told me that Calgary water was too hard for discus but was good for reefing. The more I learned about reefing the more I was drawn into it, eventually taking the plunge with a 50g aquarium I found off the Bargain Finder from a guy who had upgraded to a 90g reef. That was December 1997 and I've been broke ever since.

Back in the '80s I was big into freshwater. I tried them all: community tanks, Amazon tanks, Oscars, Discus, Africans, breeding Cichlids, etc. At one point I had 6 tanks on the go. Then, during the 90's, I was too busy with my business and raising a family, to properly maintain the tanks. So I sold or gave them away. Last year I got the bug again, and set up a FW tank, but it wasn't as fun as before, so I decided to try SW as well. SW is awesome! I have the 90 gal. reef and am now in the process of planning a 200 gal build; probably this fall.

Lol I take it the general consensus here is that reefing is very addicting. Maybe we should get some slogan going for anti drugs in school... I think "Reefing my Anti Reefer" works fairly well :razz:.
Levi

I had been into fresh water, African Cichlids and such for many years and back in the late 80's my tank sprung a leak. Due to time constraints I shut it down but told my wife when I eventually got back into the hobby it would be salt water. Then about 4 years ago my son came home and told us about a party he was at where they had a little RC submarine in a fish tank and chased the fish with it. Right around that time I was winding down with my soccer coaching so my wife had told me to think about a new hobby because I would need one to replace the time I spent coaching. Anyway my wife liked the idea of the fish tank, went out and bought a submarine and informed me that maybe I should get back into this hobby. Well obviously I did & the rest is history except she never really got to use the sub much, it rusted up right away and we never got another one. Now of course I would never allow one of those near my tank.:lol:

I was watching the Mod Squad on dvd when it first came out (1999) and in one scene they had a little fish tank (nothing special) thought it'd be cool to have one.. start with a 20gal fw, that lasted until xmas I think, when I got some reefing presents (book/salt/hydrometer)... all downhill after that.... well $$ wise.

Reality tv SUCKS, so I would rather spend time mucking with my fish tank which seems to be an endless task of cleaning/rearranging/staring at/adding to/ etc.

It's a great hobby. I have had mine for just over a year, and I cant see not having one. It's something different, and you are always learning something new! :biggrin:

Last year I worked with a guy who talked about his SWtank (all I had was my FW pond fish). So, I figured it he could do it, I could too. Took the plunge after last Christmas and already going bigger.

I had cichlids for years and was really annoyed when my best friend would mention at the pet stores that the saltwater fish were mch more colourful and exciting. I made a point of not wanting saltwater.

Then I snorkeled in the Caribbean and decided I *had* to have a Sergeant Major. After some reading I discovered that might not be a good idea but I became incredibly hooked.

I'm between tanks but I'm working on a 225.

It's something I had been thinking about for many years and finally 2 years ago I decide it was time. I had a 75g reef, moved onto a 90g with 35g sump and I recently added a 24g JBJ nanocube! :mrgreen:
I may have to go live in a cardboard box soon but I'm bringing my tanks with me!! :lol::lol::lol:

My mom saw "Finding Nemo" and wanted one.
So as a joke I bought her "Saltwater for Dummies" for christmas a couple of years ago.
After reading it and seeing we had most of the stuff with the fresh water we said why not give it a try
I am now setting up my 95 & setting up her 75, Nuff said. :lol:

Hey, I have that book!, my son bought it for me too! Is that a trend or something or do all sons think thier moms are dummies.....:silly:

after my infatuation with the ocean, and scuba diving in the cayman islands seemed only natural to have a bit of the ocean for myself.

I had three fw tanks and three reptile tanks in my house when I was in Edmonton. That took my to Big als alot where there was a good selection of salt tanks. I decided that I would set up a salt water tank and no fresh when I moved.

I did, I got a 33 used with lots of aiptiasia. That tank got upgraded to a 75, then to custom 135 that I built myself. I have been in the salt side of things for almost 2 years now, and the 33 is a freshwater in the bedroom.

Pretty simple....

- kid with access to lake in summertime
- kid discovers snorkelling
- teen gets dive certification
- young adult dives in tropics for first time
- adult dives LOTS in tropics
- adult decides to have ocean in living room.

It was all my husbands fault (he bought me my first 20g sw tank 16yrs ago), something I got to remind him of very recently when I ordered the bubbleking skimmer :mrgreen:

Wow... That actually really scares me as I'm 18, just got certified, had lake access and snorkeled all the time and on July the 27th I'm heading to Cozumel for my first tropic dive.



Daddy?
Levi

A saltwater aquarium book got me into SW...I think. That was a long time ago. I had tonnes of freshwater tanks, but I couldn't resist the ole clownfish and anemone! I fell in love with Copperband Butterflies...and I have yet to own one. Soon I say, soon!

I used to keep sw in the 1980s but started up again after my wife asked me for a sw tank so she could keep Nemo. That was the most expensive movie for me ever!!!

I bred african cichlids for a while, then came upon a book that sparked an interest in keeping a reef tank.

I looked at hubby's FW tank in our early years of marriage and he totally neglected it. One day I was sitting there and fed the fish. Lights went on (with me), and next thing I was breeding cichlids...

Hubby (again) decided he wanted to do SW. After he plumbed a sump twice (upstairs) and it cracked, he gave me his three rocks and three blue damsels and the rest is history. :biggrin:

I have had FW tanks since I was 12......(not THAT long ago :wink:) and one of my co-workers started a reef tank...she said it was easy....well for her it was she stuck with her original 72g tank and I bit the bullet really really hard! Many tanks later.....and no money left...ahhh what a great hobby!

after 2 years of cichlids i started looking thru the saltwater sections at lfs's...but my trip to maui snagged me into this hobby, and glad it did

Started in the 80's with a small FW tank when I lived on my sailboat. Had kids sold the boat and moved into saltwater. Stepped out of that for about five years, and am now back into it.

reply
 

I used to live up the street from this little fish store that I acquired many of my cichlids from. (Tanks a Lot) They had a very unsuccessful reef tank setup that I never found that spectacular. Beside that tank they had a 29 gallon nano which housed a Manderine and a few softies. It was that little tank that made me want to try reef keeping one day. About 6 years ago was when I setup my first little nano. And every other year since I've been upgrading. I'm up to 110 gallons today.

I blame my wife. :mrgreen: She has allergies to anything with fur or feathers, so that left fish as the only choice for a pet. It just snowballed from there. :lol:

Lol, you couldn't collect stamps or something?:lol:

I was into Cichlids for a long time, but felt I wasn't being kept poor enough with that hobby. I needed something that could consume my entire pay cheque in one stop at the store.

Everyone told me not to do it, that it couldn't be done. Mahahaha :biggrin:

I got into reefing because of stuff I read online. I was interested in the challenge because I get bored of fish quite fast. There was an old internet article kicking around (that one in green text and black background) that described the reef tank kinda as "an aquarium you'll be staying up all night fretting about as you perform a careful ballancing act constantly." Right up my alley :)

Gotta say I've come back to/sticked with it because of the forums. Haven't been able to find much for planted tank enthusiasts in Canada really.

A good community makes any hobby/past-time exciting really and the forums have been great.

I've had FW since I was a kid and I've always loved SW but thought it was "too difficult". last year my vet office went over to the vancouver aquarium for fun and Drew and I decided we really wanted to get into SW so we bought an 8gal nano. That lasted about 3 months till we bought the 65 then Drew built the 27.......next tank will be...90? 125? we shall see ;)
The 8 gal is still running...as a QT ;)

Ever since i was in my early teens i had FW.. my dad and brother had always had an obsession with Discus and Angelfish so slowly i got into that started breeding and raising both. I always loved SW..whenever we went to our LFS i always wished i could keep SW..but i knew it was far to much money so i stuck with FW. Finally school was done, and at that time i found many reef forums and was inspired but all the amazing tanks. I did not want to jump in with a VERY large tank right away (although i wish i did now) but like with many hobbies you never know if you really like them or just get bored with it after a few months. So i bought my 90g set it up, and now after almost 2 years i am still here! I have had some ups and downs along the way but i have never thought about quitting..it only makes me want to learn more and try to improve hopefully have a tank one day like those that first inspired me. Next tank (maybe next year) i am thinking of a 180 4x3x2' :).

I had never been into keeping aquariums at all as a kid. None of my friends had them, and I never really heard about them. About 1.5 years ago, I went to a buddies place for a BBQ and saw this HUGE (atleast I thought it was at the time) 90G Reef tank. But never thought I couldn't do it after hearing about all the things he has to take care of it. It had the clowns w/ anemone, coral, etc etc.. and I was amazed by it every time I went round his place.. I am now living in a house with another friend that was into FW before i moved in.. and it was cool, found a 55G Starter kit for a great price at Petland one day, and decided to start a FW (becuz I thought SW was gonna so difficult, I wanted it, but just didn't know much about it).. So anyways, started the 55G FW about 2-3 months ago, and as I started that, my roommate started his 20G Nano Reef... well geez, now I had to look at his tank everyday, and it finally got to me and I caved... Was gonna do the 54G sumpless, which ended up being the 75G RR Tank I now have going... and I just picked up a bunch of parts to start a 23G SPS Nano.. Build thread coming soon. :lol:

I guess I can blame being broke on my friends.. :mrgreen:

What brought your into Reefing?
 

Never thoought of this if Snorkel and Scuba Diving aren't in my most favorite activities back then and even now.

well i guess just going into the LFS for my 4 fresh tanks and always seeing all the awesome sw fish and also i just love the ocean and so many tanks look so nice, i decided i would try it

Growing up as a "ferry kid" brought me into reefing. Every long weekend and summer vacation my father got we would go to my grandfather's various properties on the gulf islands. We fished, beach combed and swam and boated. Ever since I have always been fascinated with the ocean. So fascinated, I have often considered changing my major to biology of the marine variety. Just to show how insane I am, when i went to Hawaii with friends last year, I would spend more time wondering the shores, gathering discarded reef rock and investigating tide pools than seeing the other sites and partying. AS far as prior experience goes, I basically went from keeping feeder goldfish until I was 12 -taking a hiatus, only to purchase a saltwater setup when I was 21.

I hate to say it, but Petcetera got me into reefing. I ended up there for whatever reason years ago, and seen two Ocellaris Clownfish in one of their tanks. I think I sat there for a solid half hour just gazing into that tank. The colours did it for me mainly, but also their personality and the way they moved. I needed some clownfish. Did minor research and came to the conclusion that there was no way a 16 year old with no job could afford a SW tank. So, naturally, I went to FW (african cichlids, etc.) Time passed and I got a good job, with good pay, and still wanted to pursue the SW. So I went to Big Al's and got my supplies and setup a 20g FOWLR.

Then I found corals.... and ohhh boy, here we are today. I had to get out of reefing last April for various reasons, and being away really sucked. It had it's small advantages (able to take vacation with peace of mind) but not enough to keep me away. I am back at it, and am loving it.