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How long have you been in?
- Thread starter El Dude
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First 24 gallon back in 1995. Only fish lived, but nothing else lived. Got cheap n couldn't afford anything.
Second attempt was in 2001. Small 5 gallon nano with firefish n damsel. Did well for a few months.
Last n finally was a 8 gallon cube last year in July. Everything did well.
Had a good job to buy all the essentials. Upgraded to 14 cube, then 24 cube, then 29, then 40 breeder, then to 50 gallon, then to 100 starphire.
Mixed reef w tangs, clowns, trigger. Happy like my clams.
Second attempt was in 2001. Small 5 gallon nano with firefish n damsel. Did well for a few months.
Last n finally was a 8 gallon cube last year in July. Everything did well.
Had a good job to buy all the essentials. Upgraded to 14 cube, then 24 cube, then 29, then 40 breeder, then to 50 gallon, then to 100 starphire.
Mixed reef w tangs, clowns, trigger. Happy like my clams.
1981. Tap water, underground filter in 10 gallon tank. No such thing as live rocks back then. Used lava rocks. Kept bleach white coral skeleton as decorations. Kept a few damsels and clownfish. NO INTERNET so relied on FAMA magazines to learn
Early 1990s restarted hobby. Wet/Dry was the thing. Bought an Americle wet/dry system for 100g tank. Bought live rocks from Jeff's exotic before he started his warehouse. Went to his house to pick up the live rocks. Started to keep corals. Again no internet and I called a few places in the Magazine for corals. During that time one of the owners of Marine Depot (Ken?) Actually came to my house to deliver my fish/corals since UPS/Fedex did not deliver live goods well. Marine Depot just started back then. SPS was not in yet back then.
Best LFS in the late 90's was Jeff's Exotic. $99 for 9 corals was their special. Not frags but small LPS colonies.
Still feel like a beginner today after all these years. Not sure why I stick to this hobby still
Early 1990s restarted hobby. Wet/Dry was the thing. Bought an Americle wet/dry system for 100g tank. Bought live rocks from Jeff's exotic before he started his warehouse. Went to his house to pick up the live rocks. Started to keep corals. Again no internet and I called a few places in the Magazine for corals. During that time one of the owners of Marine Depot (Ken?) Actually came to my house to deliver my fish/corals since UPS/Fedex did not deliver live goods well. Marine Depot just started back then. SPS was not in yet back then.
Best LFS in the late 90's was Jeff's Exotic. $99 for 9 corals was their special. Not frags but small LPS colonies.
Still feel like a beginner today after all these years. Not sure why I stick to this hobby still
In 1992 I helped one of my friends in high school set up a small 20 g. acrylic tank. He saw i had A decent FW tank And was like help me put it together.
Well it was all super fail but fun. Put some shrimp in it and a clown and some purple pseudo chromis. And a Nem.
I remember going with him and the Asian lady @ Su's aquarium (still exists) would sell him all sorts of fish that weren't suitable for the tank. (clown trigger, yellow tang, I think a baby shark once.)!
In those days only the highschool and library had Internet. So we definitely ended up with a failure. Imagine predator cube with a Treasure chest.
It had a MarineLand bio wheel type filter screen that I would change monthly and a deep 6" layer of live sand and some 12lbs of LR, no sump. Light Was a Fiji purple type bulb, it had two.
I remember that he would kill fish like it was the "in" thing. Only thing we tested for was salinity and he mixed his water with RO water, no DI. It was super fail. He never topped off.
I was hooked. I would clean his tank for free. He was the fat kid with the cool parents who bought him everything. I was the poor kid with the fresh water tropical. But I had me some live plants and a sweet rig for FW. Nah, it was meh, but my parents enjoyed it and we all need vices.
Well it was all super fail but fun. Put some shrimp in it and a clown and some purple pseudo chromis. And a Nem.
I remember going with him and the Asian lady @ Su's aquarium (still exists) would sell him all sorts of fish that weren't suitable for the tank. (clown trigger, yellow tang, I think a baby shark once.)!
In those days only the highschool and library had Internet. So we definitely ended up with a failure. Imagine predator cube with a Treasure chest.
It had a MarineLand bio wheel type filter screen that I would change monthly and a deep 6" layer of live sand and some 12lbs of LR, no sump. Light Was a Fiji purple type bulb, it had two.
I remember that he would kill fish like it was the "in" thing. Only thing we tested for was salinity and he mixed his water with RO water, no DI. It was super fail. He never topped off.
I was hooked. I would clean his tank for free. He was the fat kid with the cool parents who bought him everything. I was the poor kid with the fresh water tropical. But I had me some live plants and a sweet rig for FW. Nah, it was meh, but my parents enjoyed it and we all need vices.
I started in 2002 with a 20 gallon long with PC lighting and a crappy HOB skimmer. I had a monster outbreak of aiptasia and some green star polyps, and an evil purple pseudochromis and blue damsel.
After about a year I upgraded to a 75 and figured a few things out, enough to keep some brown softies and LPS alive. I didn't really try SPS until about 3 years in.
After about a year I upgraded to a 75 and figured a few things out, enough to keep some brown softies and LPS alive. I didn't really try SPS until about 3 years in.
2004 bought my first 90g Acrylic from Jeff Exotic (I miss that place) and went with PC lighting and had a Euro Reef knock off in the sump. Back then, I thought the best powerhead were SEIOs. I did pretty well considering the lack of knowledge and then I found reef forums. From there I changed everything in the 90g tank except the rock, tank, stand. Redid lights, sump, pumps, the whole 9 yards.
In November of 2009, bought my current 150 and still running.
In November of 2009, bought my current 150 and still running.
I had freshwater tanks all my life, guppies, cichlids, planted etc. then when I was in college in 2004 I bought my first saltwater tank. Man did I waste a grip of money on that tank. It was a eclipse tank like 30 something gallons, lion fish, puffer fish, way overstocked, corals, crappy hob skimmer, and a biowheel. When it all died from my lack of knowledge and experience I took a break till about 2006 after doing a little reading / research and I've been here ever since. Been through many tanks now during the last 6 years. In the beginning I learned a lot from the veterans of SCMAS after I joined the club. The internet has also been a really good tool for me to read about the hobby from anywhere.
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Got my first freshwater when I was 16 in 1998, it quickly turned into salt after my LFS Goldfish Plus in Covina talked me into it saying all I needed different was saltwater and not fresh water... Left his store with 60g of water and fish and I went home and drained my freshwater, filled it up with salt water and put the fish in. Lets just say a dozen fish in a 60g tank with blue gravel and a underground filter didn't last long. I felt like I would work a week at then spend it trying to keep fish alive and everytime I went in he would say 'ohh you need this' and I would buy it. Well then I found Global Aquatics! For anyone that knows this store it was 1000x better than Goldfish Plus. I ended up buying live sand, rock and a wet dry filter with bio balls and this is when I first started having minor success. I got some coral and some PC lighting and I kept some alive for a while. I upgraded to a 120g in 2001 after I graduated highschool with my graduation money and kept it full of large fish and eels till I moved out in 2003. I then kept little tanks until I bought my first house in 2007 and ever since then I have had reef tanks.
Goldfish Plus is still there in Covina and still sells all kinds of saltwater stuff to newbies and so is Global Aquatics. Someone needs to buy Global Aquatics and turn it into a godo store, it would be the perfect Inland wholesaler.
Goldfish Plus is still there in Covina and still sells all kinds of saltwater stuff to newbies and so is Global Aquatics. Someone needs to buy Global Aquatics and turn it into a godo store, it would be the perfect Inland wholesaler.
First FW tank when I was 9yrs old (29gallon). Had up to 11 tanks in my bedroom at one time between 9yrs and 16yrs old.
Got my first SW tank when I was 17yrs old (10 years ago), also a 29gallon. TERRIBLE. Used sand and water from the beach, Reptile UV lights, $15 protein skimmer that never once pulled out a single drop of waste.... Killed all sorts of fish and corals. I remember buying my first "Live Rock"...one piece cost me $60! Looking back my LFS gave me such TERRIBLE advice...
Now I design, setup, and maintain aquariums for a living. My current personal tank is a 95gallon wave tank.
Got my first SW tank when I was 17yrs old (10 years ago), also a 29gallon. TERRIBLE. Used sand and water from the beach, Reptile UV lights, $15 protein skimmer that never once pulled out a single drop of waste.... Killed all sorts of fish and corals. I remember buying my first "Live Rock"...one piece cost me $60! Looking back my LFS gave me such TERRIBLE advice...
Now I design, setup, and maintain aquariums for a living. My current personal tank is a 95gallon wave tank.
