what got you started?

[stylaster]

I was wondering what got you guys started in the marine hobby?

My tale begins in 1994, after i graduated high school i had to have a kidney transplant. As it turns out the first one failed and i ended up staying at home for two years doing dialysis while waiting for a new kidney... so i had plenty of time to spare. I actually got started by a friend of mine from tacoma that was raising giant clams back in 1990. That kicked the whole thing off, so i setup a 60 gallon tank and it progressed from there. If you want to know about my 60 gallon and see some pics here is the link to it from reefs.org

http://www.reefs.org/library/members/r_seine_061099.html

 

The tank looked pretty good for one back in '94.... man im old lol

 

Roy

[spectra]

Well started about 13 years ago when there were only a few places in town to deal with. Tank lasted about 3 years and got tired of it. Well 10 yrs later my son wants an aquarium and it all starts again. Now he is ready to get rid of hisDOH! Kind of weird how things work(laugh)

[Michael7979]

About 15 years ago I moved to California to take a job. And the guy I was working for had a smallish, (60g. ?), tank in the office that was in need of some TLC. So I volunteered to clean it up and try and breath some life into it. Needless to say I made some mistakes and did lots of learning as I had never cared for a SW tank before this. Well after that job failed to provide me with any work I moved back to Oregon and set-up a 55 FO tank. That quickly became 3 different 55's and I had atleast one for about 10years. Got divorced and took a break from the hobby and then my girlfriend, (now wife), gave me an old 55 she didn't want and I started back into it. Re-learned a lot and then moved to a 100 gallon reef tank and now I'm sitting on a 240 gallon tank that will be a reef as so as it cycles. And the wife has a 11 gallon FO tank now too.

[CCR]

This idiot told me I could. Oh brain farrrt. Let me try and think.. .. . . . . .. .. . .. . .OK I can't I had tooooo many Oreo"s tonight

[ghiggi]

In 1999, a friend of mine had a toddler that loved climbing on things. The first time he found him standing on a chair with his hand in the tank, he decided it was time to get rid of it before the kid pulled it over on top of himself. So, I inherited his complete 135g FOWLR setup. No cost. He just wanted someone he knew would take good care of his fish. Last year I started upgrading everything in order to start the switch over to a reef. Now I'm in the process of rebuilding the whole system from the ground up.

[snowpunk]

Got a 20g tank given to me, so I decided to buy a pirana:eek:. That was a wash, I was hoping for mean, bloody, carnage!!! He lived harmoniously with the gold fish and snacked a little here and there. Bought another tank and got the GF a zebra cichlid. That turned out to be the mean, bloody, carnage fish(scratch). Long story short, everyone told me saltwater was so hard, you'll waste your money and time. Blah blah, freakin' blah... I made myself a deal that if I did fresh for 1 year with no problems that I would move to salt. Did great, minus my zebra killing my pirana, and now I am here wasting my time and my money just like everyone said I would. But I love it!!!(rock2)

[pledosophy]

I had a delay in some film being processed so I walked around the shopping center. Walked into a store called Tongs. Saw a tank full of WC seahorses. Two days later saw a tank at a garage sale on the side of the road. It was meant to be. If only I would have known how much I would have spent in this hobby, i might have opted for the Porsche.

[andy]

I set up my first SW tank back in '87 after keeping FW tanks for 10 years or so; it was a 30 gal fish-only (no live corals in any of my local stores back then, closest thing I had was a tubipora skeleton used as a decoration) with crushed coral substrate on top of an undergravel filter, and an Aquaclear power filter on the back. A single tube of NO fluorescent lighting topped it off. Skimmers were sci-fi contraptions, using wood airstones and Bio-ball wet/dry filters were just starting to show up, arriving from Germany.

 

A Hippo Tang and Firefish did ok, but several tries at Koran Angels, Coral Banded Shrimp and a unfortunate Mandarin Goby eventually made me realize that either I wasn't ready for SW or SW wasn't ready for me. I took the next 15 or so years off from the hobby. Got back into it about 3 years ago. Things have changed

[kriswaters]

I guess I may be like many. I was raised Fresh Water...My mom had a huge tank of Oscars and Red devils. I can't ever remember not having some sort of fish...gold fish, betas, tropicals...something. I was told as well that salt water was unattainable...too diffucult, too spendy...too much work. I like challenges.

 

To think I was going FOWLR and now...its reef central...(no pun intended)! Started with the inhereted 55 gallon acrylic (hope this old fiberboard stand holds up for a few more months) and am upgrading to a 110 gallon...I say it will be the last tank I'll ever have....hmmmmm

[CCR]

Well the Oreo's have worn off. It all started at the carnival when I was a dear tot.(scratch) It seems I was rather good with the ping pong balls it the little cups. Ya know, make cup get fish. Well after about 20 gold fish I was awarded a large fish bowl. From there to Guppies, mollies sword tails,, anything I could breed. Little did I know it would take me into adul.... OH yes, sorry must be the suger,(naughty) where we. So as I grew up I had about 20 fresh water tanks. Eventually, that all settled into a 55 Glass. It was the first purchase my wife and I made 30+ years ago. We kept it fairly peaceful. It was also the best babysitter in the world!! (rock2)Just put child in swing, crank it up in front of tank and like magic, everything was good. Now it was important to prove the theory of the liquid sitter. so we had three more, with the same results. After they grew up. It became a chilid tank. After having my arms bitten every time I went into the tank over several years It was time for a change to discus. It was getting closer to the salt water look. What a total pain they where to keep. Well some how, back in the day I hooked up with Jay(nothing personal)(nono) and was in hog heaven He had a beautiful 240 gal Reef. Had to have it(and used to have money)..... I also setup a 750 Gal frag system in the garage. Costum tanks built and so on and so on..... I learned most everything on line and the most at the time from GARF. Leroy and I had many a long conversation. We moved from that house of 2900 Sq. Ft. to 1400 sq ft and didn't have anything setup at all. Now that we have settled long term again, several tanks later I am working on a 210 setup. I hope this will be my last.(nutty) I'm dragging my feet as I really want a bigger one like the new Marineland tanks.(scary) If the Dam lottery would pick my numbers!!!(threaten)