Hi all,
I thought I'd introduce myself. I currently reside in the town of Solvang, CA. I turned 28 yesterday. I've been reefing for a little over a year now with good success. I recently sold my 30 gal. JBJ rimless, moved, got married, and bought a puppy labradoodle. I still have found plenty of time to dedicate myself to expanding my passion and knowledge in learning more and more everyday about reefing. This has continued my hobby despite a short pause directly influenced by life events. You can call it more of a learning/step-up period. This has given me a chance to honestly evaluate how dedicated I am to this. Usually after a few weeks if it's something I'm not serious about I'll walk away and forget about it. This time it's been more than an itch... For gosh sakes. I've read all of my reef books. I'm now watching Ryan's 'BRS 52 weeks' videos for the second time around.
Last month was my one year anniversary of being self employed. I figured I'd spend some time alone in my office. Might as well have kept myself company at the time since I didn't have a dog, so I bought a used JBJ rimless on Craigslist. I obtained a pretty decent setup for an okay price. I learned very quickly about the pitfalls of this hobby by inexperience. This forced me to learn very quickly having purchased a well established tank from a former employee of an aquarium shop close to State St. in Santa Barbara, CA. My passion for this hobby grew as I began to increase my knowledge. Jumping back to the past - During my high school era, two years of my education I was able to participate in the Aquarium/Tourism class. I have to say, for high school, it was a pretty fun class. There were all sorts of tanks. Cold and warm water coral. As a young teen I was fascinated with reef tanks. I remember the huge skimmer and the main water line that exited from it at the aquarium... What's the school district's water bill like? I always wondered since I'm a bean counter. We gave tours to K through 5 on a weekly basis. Before high school I happened to have a few freshwater tanks, with the usual assortment of Petco fish - Guppies, Cichlids, Neons, etc. You sort of see where this passion grew from.
More recently, having more 'free time' in the office while working from home has allowed me to expand my dedication to this hobby. First, it was the beginner experience with the JBJ. I learned from my mistakes then and counteracted all (most) problems. Buying used equipment can be a pain sometimes though depending on the issues. Second, the transition from moving and selling my tank led me to focus more on the educational part of reefing. I'll be honest, kinda went overboard on Amazon with used reef books. I have them all... Amazon.com WTF... Lastly, I've worked up an excel doc on costs, structure of hardware for my tank, etc. I will share this with you all shortly. My budget for hardware is $5-6k. You're probably thinking, why not just get a 350 or 450 instead... Well, honestly, I want something compact. I don't want this to be more than a hobby.
That's it for the introduction. This was a one beer post. I guess I drank too slow :yo:. I'll post the particulars on what I plan on buying tomorrow and keep you all updated. In addition I will be documenting everything on Youtube. I think Nathan Willard did a great job with his updates via Youtube. I'd like to give a different perspective on startup. Not sure how yet but I'll make it interesting. There are a lot of questions most people like answered on Youtube vs Forum and vice versa. Let me know if you have any personal questions for me in the meantime.
Cheers,
R.
I thought I'd introduce myself. I currently reside in the town of Solvang, CA. I turned 28 yesterday. I've been reefing for a little over a year now with good success. I recently sold my 30 gal. JBJ rimless, moved, got married, and bought a puppy labradoodle. I still have found plenty of time to dedicate myself to expanding my passion and knowledge in learning more and more everyday about reefing. This has continued my hobby despite a short pause directly influenced by life events. You can call it more of a learning/step-up period. This has given me a chance to honestly evaluate how dedicated I am to this. Usually after a few weeks if it's something I'm not serious about I'll walk away and forget about it. This time it's been more than an itch... For gosh sakes. I've read all of my reef books. I'm now watching Ryan's 'BRS 52 weeks' videos for the second time around.
Last month was my one year anniversary of being self employed. I figured I'd spend some time alone in my office. Might as well have kept myself company at the time since I didn't have a dog, so I bought a used JBJ rimless on Craigslist. I obtained a pretty decent setup for an okay price. I learned very quickly about the pitfalls of this hobby by inexperience. This forced me to learn very quickly having purchased a well established tank from a former employee of an aquarium shop close to State St. in Santa Barbara, CA. My passion for this hobby grew as I began to increase my knowledge. Jumping back to the past - During my high school era, two years of my education I was able to participate in the Aquarium/Tourism class. I have to say, for high school, it was a pretty fun class. There were all sorts of tanks. Cold and warm water coral. As a young teen I was fascinated with reef tanks. I remember the huge skimmer and the main water line that exited from it at the aquarium... What's the school district's water bill like? I always wondered since I'm a bean counter. We gave tours to K through 5 on a weekly basis. Before high school I happened to have a few freshwater tanks, with the usual assortment of Petco fish - Guppies, Cichlids, Neons, etc. You sort of see where this passion grew from.
More recently, having more 'free time' in the office while working from home has allowed me to expand my dedication to this hobby. First, it was the beginner experience with the JBJ. I learned from my mistakes then and counteracted all (most) problems. Buying used equipment can be a pain sometimes though depending on the issues. Second, the transition from moving and selling my tank led me to focus more on the educational part of reefing. I'll be honest, kinda went overboard on Amazon with used reef books. I have them all... Amazon.com WTF... Lastly, I've worked up an excel doc on costs, structure of hardware for my tank, etc. I will share this with you all shortly. My budget for hardware is $5-6k. You're probably thinking, why not just get a 350 or 450 instead... Well, honestly, I want something compact. I don't want this to be more than a hobby.
That's it for the introduction. This was a one beer post. I guess I drank too slow :yo:. I'll post the particulars on what I plan on buying tomorrow and keep you all updated. In addition I will be documenting everything on Youtube. I think Nathan Willard did a great job with his updates via Youtube. I'd like to give a different perspective on startup. Not sure how yet but I'll make it interesting. There are a lot of questions most people like answered on Youtube vs Forum and vice versa. Let me know if you have any personal questions for me in the meantime.
Cheers,
R.
