What got you in to this hobby? How long have you been doing it?

[neoh]

Curious how long everyone has been reefing. What got you into it in the first place, and what keeps you going with it?

Have you ever stopped, then started back up again?

Curious to see everyone's views.

I came up with an interesting theory of my tank. I think of it almost like the stock market. I buy corals (stocks) and hope they will grow large enough that I can sell off pieces, or just let them ride and continue to grow.

But if everything goes wrong, you can loose everything. Or, I can sell everything off and either loose money, or hope to break even. With the amount of money we have tied into these tanks, it sort of feels like your money is somehow tied up in these wonderful little creatures, as you would with your stock portfolio.

Strange.

[Samw]

Had my reef tank for 14 years. Ten years before I set up my reef tank, I kept a marine fish only tank for maybe 5 years with mixed results. I bought my fish from Pet Habitat, and Paul's Aquarium, and a big marine fish shop on E. Hastings and Willingdon. I never even knew about reefing until the Internet allowed me to learn about it since most of the fish shops I went to didn't carry corals. I found J&L on the Internet around 1999.

When I started reefing, J&L had just opened their store. They used to have free personal delivery and they delivered my first live rocks right to my building. My first critters were some blue legged hermits, scarlett hermits, an emerald crab and snails. My first coral was a Xenia frag that I bought from Canadawest. I found his ad on the Buy and Sell website if I remember correctly. My first set of lighting was 110W of power compact GE 9325K bulbs. Growing corals to sell frags was never on my mind originally. But of course, if I have frags available, I would sell them.

[Dearth]

I've been in the hobby/job for 2 years now but feels much longer. I got into SW via a friend who nudged me into the hobby and I fell into the empty wallet syndrome and haven't looked back since.

I have definitely had my share of ups and downs and have been tempted on more than one occasion to throw in the towel when I have lost a prized coral or fish, tank die off and several other things but in terms of reefing I am still a pup in the hobby compared to those that have persevered for 10, 15 and 20+ years and my hats off to those people as they were the pioneers of modern SW systems. They are a big reason why I stay in the hobby many of them have faced total tank kills, catastrophic failures, extreme pricing of equipment and many other things yet they are still here and going strong.

If they lived through all their issues I think I can too and maybe just maybe I can have a tank that will rival theirs one day.

[straightrazorguy]

I had a freshwater tank for years, and then got out of a hobby. My girfriend nudged me into getting a saltwater tank a year and a half ago. Now I am am totally hooked! Not to mention broke...

[Aquattro]

First tank was 20 years ago. Live rock was almost $20/lb. It always had coral on it. I used to feed my aptaisia pieces of krill, no idea what they were. Internet was just starting to have pics, if you could figure out how to view them. Newsgroups were about the only online support forum. MH hadn't really caught on yet. Protein skimmers were catching on, if you could find the lime wood airstones. Successes were few and far between.
I became pretty good at this by year 10, could grow frags like crazy. Sold lots. Hobby has evolved to the point where I just want a nice display. I won't sell frags anymore, trimmings will be given to LFS or tossed. I'm scheduling a big purge to get rid of the crates of equipment hoarded over the last 20 years. I predict another 5 years, then I'm done. New hobby will be surfing

[kien]

Since 2002. Maybe 2003. It's all a blur now. I totally sucked at it back then. Trying to grow SPS in a nutrient rich tank with compact fluorescent lights LOL. Those wood block skimmers were a royal pain. I did take a break from the hobby for a few years which was actually really good for me. I really missed it during my hiatus and really wanted to get back into it which told me that this hobby was for me. So then I came back and now I'm a lifer. Come hell or high water (which did happen btw).

[Reef Pilot]

Been into it since the summer of 2010, when we bought a house with a saltwater tank already in place. Been a fun ride, and still a challenge at times. But fully enjoy it, and really appreciate the natural beauty it adds to our kitchen.

Get tired sometimes, though, with the constant work of cleaning glass, algae, skimmers, etc. Tried to automate as much as possible, and that has certainly helped. But also worry a bit when we are away (often for a week or more). Power outages are my biggest fear.