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What got you people into this hobby/business?


prada

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My wife is the culprit here, and she has the nerve to call us "reef nerds"!!. She kept a 20g FW aquarium for years, took care of it all by herself, I had nothing to do with it. One day she said come with me and see this big saltwater aquarium at the pet store, this is what I want to do. A week later we ordered a 180g and I started the work on the base and hood, I was to take care of the mechanics, she was in charge of the fish, corals, cleaning. This lasted about 6-8 months, then when all the stuff kept dying she lost interest and I took over.

I wouldn't say I became obsessed (apparently others would) but I just wanted to figure this thing out!

 

That was April of '02 and I think I'm getting close (scratch)

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My wife is the culprit here, and she has the nerve to call us "reef nerds"!!. She kept a 20g FW aquarium for years, took care of it all by herself, I had nothing to do with it. One day she said come with me and see this big saltwater aquarium at the pet store, this is what I want to do. A week later we ordered a 180g and I started the work on the base and hood, I was to take care of the mechanics, she was in charge of the fish, corals, cleaning. This lasted about 6-8 months, then when all the stuff kept dying she lost interest and I took over.

I wouldn't say I became obsessed (apparently others would) but I just wanted to figure this thing out!

 

That was April of '02 and I think I'm getting close (scratch)

 

LOL. Well, I've seen your tank Steve. It's still really nice.

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Did you have anyone that helped you start out? I was lucky' date=' my bro and a couple friends helped with the basic things. The biggest mistake for me was being impatient. I was such a big time noobie... wait, I still am LOL. I just owned myself.[/quote']

 

I lived in Moses Lake where there was no lfs. I ordered everything and had no help just the internet. 3reef.com was my home then. They helped me alot. I guess I burned through a couple thousand up there with a 30 gallon then 2 55 gallon tanks. Yep...a good couple thousand (nutty). I was injured and pretty much just went to work and came home to my chair and pain pills

for about 2 years. I started with a fresh water for something to look at while in my chair then it just exploded when I saw the stuff that google spit out when I typed out saltwater aquarium. I saw the pictures at Garfs website and it was all over at that point. Hooked(scary)

 

Jay

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About 4 years ago my friend had a fish only aquarium and he was moving due to a job transfer. So he gave me his set 80g set up fish and all. I really got intrested is salt water fish. Later the coral fever kicked in so I upgraded to a 125g mixed reef. 3 years later my 125g is full of corals and I am thinking to upgrade to a 300g. That should keep be busy for a while.

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My wife wanted a betta fish to liven up the apartment a bit...

 

We went to Petco and $400 later we walked out with my version of a betta. If you are going to doing something, go all out. I just didn't realize how far "all out" was until thousands and thousands of dollars later...

 

29g eclipse(LOL) --> 90g mixed reef with a bunch of goodies --> 210g mixed reef(turned out mostly sps dominated) --> 600g frag/algae/support system +210g mostly sps domintated system --> A BREAK(for what was supposed to be a while lasting only 2.5 months or so)--> 450g frag/algae/90g display in my parents garage since I am too broke to afford my own house because of my addiction!

 

 

I need to get my priorities straight.

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My wife wanted a betta fish to liven up the apartment a bit...

 

We went to Petco and $400 later we walked out with my version of a betta. If you are going to doing something, go all out. I just didn't realize how far "all out" was until thousands and thousands of dollars later...

 

29g eclipse(LOL) --> 90g mixed reef with a bunch of goodies --> 210g mixed reef(turned out mostly sps dominated) --> 600g frag/algae/support system +210g mostly sps domintated system --> A BREAK(for what was supposed to be a while lasting only 2.5 months or so)--> 450g frag/algae/90g display in my parents garage since I am too broke to afford my own house because of my addiction!

 

 

I need to get my priorities straight.

 

How come you never post any pictures Garrett?

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Similar story to many of you here. Did FW tanks as a kid/teenager, then took a stab at SW in the early '80s -- undergravel filter + power filter... crushed coral substrate and bleached coral skeletons as "decorations". I drooled over the cool wet/dry filters and space-aged airstone protein skimmers that all the Germans in the magazines had but they were way too expensive for me at the time. Expensive and subsequently dead fish drove me out of the hobby.

 

I don't really remember exactly what it was that brought me back, but returning was inevitable. I've always loved the ocean and sealife -- as a kid I spent the best days of my summers knee deep in tidepools on the Maine and New Hampshire coastlines looking for cool critters. Great stuff all around...

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I was a fish in a past life so need tanks all around me to feel at peace:) but seriously have had a passion for marine life as long as I can remeber even as a baby I have a memory of playing with little plastic marine fish in a bowl like it was a aquarium then later my family did regular trips to our local coast as we had family there so while my mom caught up with the fam I would sneak out to the tide pools, so to make a long story short the ocean and hobby has always been a part of my life.

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I've had fresh water tanks as long as I can remember. I really wanted to be a Marine Biologist growing up, but due to some really stupid mistakes on my part, college was no longer an option. So I joined the Coast Guard to get as close to the water as I could.

 

Moving here I walked into a LFS to get stuff to setup my freshwater tank and my wife asked me if we could do a Saltwater setup? I walked out a $1000 poorer with no idea of what I was doing. Made a ton of very expensive mistakes in the beginning.

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My brother & my son have SW tanks.My son got me out of freshwater & into saltwater.He is going to transfer to WSU next year for his last 2 years(hopefully) of school & I swear he was thinking "hey, I'll get the old man into saltwater tanks,then when I go to WSU I have a built in reef keeper"

It workedDOH!

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Needed something to occupy the wifes time at home, she suffered a stoke and this was the perfect THERAPY for her to regain alot of skills that were lost.

 

Now I have 2 SW and 2 FW tanks and a large KOI pond outback!

 

And yes ...they all have names !!

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i have always loved fish and animals in general but especially fish..and i had FW tanks from around 6yrs old to 16 and then wanted to try SW and got hooked on SW fish cuz there so much more colorful and bright! and then i was browsing around online and saw corals and wanted to try those and the addiction is still going..:D

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