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Looks like a great site...
(cut and paste from the WM thread)
And as far as being active in the hobby... I'm ALL about the hobby. Let me tell you a bit about myself.
In 1978 I moved to Thousand Oaks, Ca at age 13. The next year I started my first saltwater aquarium (I was a discus fanatic at age 12). It was a 55 gallon glass tank with an air driven undergravel filter. It was typical 1979 aquaria... dead bleached corals and a dried whip coral. It had a green metallic background, lol... before i replaced it with one of the photo "scene" ones. I soon added a canister filter and airstones for "effect".
About that time I began to haunt this LFS on Thousand Oaks Blvd, I can't remember the name but it was a dark little place with a good selection of fish. I proceeded to buy/kill/re-purchase just about every saltwater fish known to mankind over the next year or so...
The hobby didn't "work" well back in 1979...
My first real challenge in the hobby was in about 1987. After college I set up a 180 gallon acrylic with a full "Thiel" platinum wet-dry with all the little reactors, skimmer and BIOBALLS! It was on a white washed oak stand and canopy and used a dead-rock base with plastic "fake" saltwater plants inserted and glued into holes i drilled into the rock. Looked pretty decent actually.
My goal was to collect Red Sea fish. I proceeded to build a relationship with one of the FEW Red Sea Importers in the US, a guy in New Jersey. So I started bringing in special specimens collected by the importers brother in Egypt. I had quite a nice collection of Red Sea fish, most quite rare in 1987 in the States.
In the early 1990's I started my own business as jobber, a person who raids the wholesalers at 6AM and cherry picks their best and ships across the nation to retail stores who don't have access to LA wholesalers.
I kept probably 20 aquariums at my house and kept a decent stock of fish. I've seen a LOT of fish in my life.
By 1995 I was a partner in a LFS, running the coral end of the shop. We transhipped quite a bit of coral and clams. (Ahhh... the good ole days, landed Ultra Croceas @ $9) I insisted on unpacking EVERY bag of coral. To this day, I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning wondering what's inside the bag.
At the time I was using commercial water additives in the store system and at home. One day I thought, "Hey, I have no idea what kind of junk is in these bottles. I have no idea what quality raw materials they use and I'm sure it's overpriced. So I went to a local Chemical Supply specialty shop. I'd purchase little 500 gram jars of Analytical Reagent Grade chemicals and mix my own additives in a 5 Gallon Jug. I KNEW the quality, the concentration and the contents...
After using these additives in the store and at home for a year or so, hobbyist friends started asking if I could make up an extra Gallon or two for them the next time I was mixing chemicals...
So it started.
Well those 500 gram jars have turned into 1000 lb. pallets and those 5 Gallon Jugs have turned into large HDPE tanks plumbed into automatic bottle filling machines but "really" not that much has changed.
We "still" make products like it was for my own personal use.
Highlights of career?
Favorite fish: Chaetodontoplus conspicillatus
I purchased one in 1998 for $400 and kept it for 3 years in my reef tank until a chiller failure got him.
Best moment: I had the honor and privelege of being a consultant on a 3500 Gallon Reef aquarium build, on of the finest in the US. It was a 6 month labor of love and a truly fantastic time in my life.
I'm here to help... corals, fish, water chemistry.... whatever. Let me know.
(cut and paste from the WM thread)
And as far as being active in the hobby... I'm ALL about the hobby. Let me tell you a bit about myself.
In 1978 I moved to Thousand Oaks, Ca at age 13. The next year I started my first saltwater aquarium (I was a discus fanatic at age 12). It was a 55 gallon glass tank with an air driven undergravel filter. It was typical 1979 aquaria... dead bleached corals and a dried whip coral. It had a green metallic background, lol... before i replaced it with one of the photo "scene" ones. I soon added a canister filter and airstones for "effect".
About that time I began to haunt this LFS on Thousand Oaks Blvd, I can't remember the name but it was a dark little place with a good selection of fish. I proceeded to buy/kill/re-purchase just about every saltwater fish known to mankind over the next year or so...
The hobby didn't "work" well back in 1979...
My first real challenge in the hobby was in about 1987. After college I set up a 180 gallon acrylic with a full "Thiel" platinum wet-dry with all the little reactors, skimmer and BIOBALLS! It was on a white washed oak stand and canopy and used a dead-rock base with plastic "fake" saltwater plants inserted and glued into holes i drilled into the rock. Looked pretty decent actually.
My goal was to collect Red Sea fish. I proceeded to build a relationship with one of the FEW Red Sea Importers in the US, a guy in New Jersey. So I started bringing in special specimens collected by the importers brother in Egypt. I had quite a nice collection of Red Sea fish, most quite rare in 1987 in the States.
In the early 1990's I started my own business as jobber, a person who raids the wholesalers at 6AM and cherry picks their best and ships across the nation to retail stores who don't have access to LA wholesalers.
I kept probably 20 aquariums at my house and kept a decent stock of fish. I've seen a LOT of fish in my life.
By 1995 I was a partner in a LFS, running the coral end of the shop. We transhipped quite a bit of coral and clams. (Ahhh... the good ole days, landed Ultra Croceas @ $9) I insisted on unpacking EVERY bag of coral. To this day, I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning wondering what's inside the bag.
At the time I was using commercial water additives in the store system and at home. One day I thought, "Hey, I have no idea what kind of junk is in these bottles. I have no idea what quality raw materials they use and I'm sure it's overpriced. So I went to a local Chemical Supply specialty shop. I'd purchase little 500 gram jars of Analytical Reagent Grade chemicals and mix my own additives in a 5 Gallon Jug. I KNEW the quality, the concentration and the contents...
After using these additives in the store and at home for a year or so, hobbyist friends started asking if I could make up an extra Gallon or two for them the next time I was mixing chemicals...
So it started.
Well those 500 gram jars have turned into 1000 lb. pallets and those 5 Gallon Jugs have turned into large HDPE tanks plumbed into automatic bottle filling machines but "really" not that much has changed.
We "still" make products like it was for my own personal use.
Highlights of career?
Favorite fish: Chaetodontoplus conspicillatus
I purchased one in 1998 for $400 and kept it for 3 years in my reef tank until a chiller failure got him.
Best moment: I had the honor and privelege of being a consultant on a 3500 Gallon Reef aquarium build, on of the finest in the US. It was a 6 month labor of love and a truly fantastic time in my life.
I'm here to help... corals, fish, water chemistry.... whatever. Let me know.
