How'd you get here?

[CoryDude]

Everything has a beginning, how about your's? I'd love to hear how members got into the hobby.

I got the itch after seeing a mandarin fish at the old Pet Corral on Manchaca Rd. I guess I can thank Terry and Gary for this addiction.

[BIGBIRD123]

I had FW for several years and a friend gave me a 20g with everything to get started in SW...my wife says if she could ever find him again...she'd kill him...LMAQ!

steve

[tony]

was stationed in Colorado Springs in the early 90s and drove by a saltwater store every day. finally went in one day and the rest is history

[aquasport24]

When i was stationed at Cannon AFB (Clovis ,NM) I went to a LFS in Amarillo,TX and saw their DT with a beautiful Naso tang and failed in love with SW ever since.

[Kristy]

Mike and I had both kept freshwater tanks for years and he even gave me a 20g fresh setup as a birthday gift when we were dating (after I'd mentioned how I wanted to keep a tank again someday.) We always had one or two tanks going throughout our married years but wanted to try salt someday.

Then, Mike made a stand during the holidays 2006 and announced his New Year's resolution to start a saltwater tank. The rest is history...

[mama]

ever since living in Miami and Boca Raton, Florida, I really wanted to try saltwater, but was as chicken as KFC...I have had FW for 40 years, but always heard how difficult the saltwater hobby is....and then one day in December 2007, I tripped into River City Aquatics...now my doctor has had to up my meds for my OCD....:lauging:....I am enjoying my salty journey and you all here at MAAST have been so inspiring!!:wink_smile:

[CoryDude]

All of these are good. Keep sharing. Thanks!

[rz1a]

one day decided i had wanted a beta fish. so i was given this small tank for it. didnt even cycle it or anything, didnt know about the nitrogen cycle. kept feeder fish with it, lol. my friend at the time had a 55g fw planted tank and had talked about one day keeping a sw tank. thought he was nuts. started looking at the sw fish online and fell in love with them because of the juvenile imperator angel and the longnose butterfly. i read as much as i could about keeping a sw tank so i jumped in and bought a setup from some guy in SA, it was a 28g bowfront. wow i learned so much along the way.. made a lot of noob mistakes like adding salt directly to the tank (happened only once)

i learned so much in just under a year that before the year mark i was already keeping thriving SPS, of course with newer equipment and all. i had a 28, then setup a 10g, then gf bought me a 14, now i have a 75g. still enjoy reading new things along the way

[stoneroller]

Long story, short, I helped a friend out by reefsitting his tank. As I read all about it, I figured I'd jump start a tank using his live rock. At one point, I had enough rock for two tanks. Worked out great other than the reefer madness part, lol.

[glennr1978]

I actually kept my first sw tank about 10 years ago. It was a 75g with crushed coral complete with under gravel filtration!! That tank ran for about 2 years before I gave it to my sister in Houston. She kept it running for about another year after that. We used tap water for wc's and top offs (dechlorinated of course!), and only had our awesome under gravel filter for filtration (no live rock or anything). That tank housed a lionfish, a flame angel, and 5 or 6 different damsels.

In October of '06 is when I really got into the hobby though. After taking a trip to the aquarium here in Corpus I took my wife to the LFS to see the fish they had since the aquarium generally only has local species displays, and i wanted to show her the vivid coloring of reef fish. After looking around ther for about an hour I spotted a 24g Aquapod. I started talking to the owner of the store and thought it was really neat that everything you needed was built right into the tank. My wife knew right where the conversation was headed and after a couple minutes of us bickering over wether or not we had "the perfect spot" in our living room I was awarded a $500 budget for the tank and everything that I would need for it (including stocking it).

Since then I've gone a bit over budget (by atleast 10x's), and the aquapod is now sitting gutted in my garage. I've definitely had my ups and downs in this hobby, which are finally turning into more ups than downs. I still get as excited as the first day we went to the LFS every time I get some new little gadget, or frag for the tank.

Although I really don't have the means ($$) to play in the big leagues (100g+), I'm here to stay. My two little tanks keep me pretty happy for now!

My next venture in the hobby is going to be acrylic work. Over the next 6 months or so I plan to acquire the tools necessary to build tanks, sumps, etc. Then I want to start of by building some little "nanos" for a few of my friends. Maybe I will get good enough to make a little money on the side building tanks someday!!

[Zoofan]

I kept freshwater for years before and decided to start with a 58g reef. I was so surprised how interesting just looking at the live rock was and all the life it held. After that first experience I was totally hooked. Now I am working on a 210g reef and have BIG plans for my house that I am hoping to build in about 5 years. The reef tank really has to become something wild, we just try to contain it and control it the best we can.

Mike

[LoneStar]

I blame it all on TexasTodd after seeing his corner bowfront in person! :rolleyes:

[ACE]

I blame it all on TexasTodd after seeing his corner bowfront in person! :rolleyes:


I kept freshwater for 10+ years and then I met Alton, and his tanks got me hooked. so, honey...it's Alton's fault.....:angel:

[Bill S]

OK, this one goes WAY back:

In 1969 - yup - I got into FW as a young kid. In 1970, I went to work for a LFS at the ripe age of 13. Back then, you could do that! I worked there thru college, and when SW first came out in the early 70's, I jumped right in. Fish were the SAME price back then, and I made $1 an hour: Clowns were $25 and angels were $50. It took a LOT of work to buy a single fish!

Since then, its been up and down - when I was traveling all the time I went back to FW.

[hobogato]

growing up, my mom had FW tank (s) that i helped with and eventually took over in high school. 1992, jumped to SW when my oscar (mutt) outgrew the 29 gallon tank i had him in on my dresser in my dorm room.

once i moved, i had the 29 for exotic and a 20L for native. eventually a 58 with a lion and large moray. after graduating, i went back to cichlids in the 29 and a 125 (after the 58 cracked) with an oscar and an arawana. when we move here in 1999 (cue the prince music) i set the 125 up as FOWLR and started a reef in the 58 (replaced the cracked side). then the reef moved to a 60 corner and eventually ended up in the 125. from there, i jumped to the 240.

now, we have the 240 (sps dominant) with attached 50 gall clam/cuttle tank and the 180 lps tank. not to mention the 800 gallon setup in my classroom and the 40gallon in my classroom for native species. oh yeah, this year i will be setting up todd's old 215 as a coral prop system at school as well. really thinking about adding a small octo tank to the main system here at home as well :)

[tony]

raise your hand if you owned a skilter!!!

hahaha

[RayAllen]

Father was in the fresh water hobby from the day I was born; therefore I was introduced to fish in diapers. We always had a aquarium. I officially had my first (my responsibility) aquarium at the age 11 of so. Cichlids were my passion from then on. It has now been approx 13years. It was in 2004 that I was introduced to the saltwater hobby and have been hooked since then. I did a estimate of what ive spent $$$ through my years in the hobby and the number was shocking considering im only in my mid 20's.

[hobogato]

:lol: or under gravel filters with crushed coral and power heads on top of the tubes..... also had two sets of bleached acro skeletons at one time so i could change them out to clean the algae off and make em pearly white again (now shaking head in disbelief)

[DrMark]

I grew up (till I was 12 in England) where my Dad had freshwater. I also had a freshwater tank until college (1990) where I had a 90g SW Fish only. I then stayed away from hobby until was done with medical school and residency and started back heavy in early 2007. I now have 214gal mixed reef, 34gal nano, a 3gal pico for one of my sons in his room, and a 115gal SPS only (in the works).
mark

[tony]

:lol: or under gravel filters with crushed coral and power heads on top of the tubes..... also had two sets of bleached acro skeletons at one time so i could change them out to clean the algae off and make em pearly white again (now shaking head in disbelief)


lol i had a 55g hex with undergravel filter and kept a yellow tang in it for a looooong time

[DrMark]

my first SW tank in early 90's had the infamous undergravel filter also......

[Mr_Cool]

My grandparents kept some huge Oscars when I was a kid. Before I was born, though, they had about 50 tanks in there basement where they would breed FW angels and goldfish. I loved to watch the Oscars.

Then, in high school, my girlfriends dad got into the fish hobby. He had a 45 gal. tall African Cichlid tank as well as a 150 gal. SW predator tank and a 45 gal. clown-anemone tank. (He set them all up within two months. He owned an auto body shop and had so much money it wasn't even funny! As far as I can remember, he had top of the line everything.) Anyway, I LOVED the SW set-ups.

When I went off to college, I set up a South American Cichlids tank ('cause I couldn't afford SW!) Had that tank back and forth from school a few times, and then for about a year after I graduated. Again, I couldn't afford the feeder fish for the huge Red Devil anymore.

Got married about 2 years after that. After 7 years of marriage, 3 kids, a move to SA, and some financially security, I somehow figured I could finally afford a SW tank. It's been about 4-5 years now into SW. I'm getting the hang of it. Still can't afford everything I WANT, but I guess I have what I REALLY NEED.

[Robb_in_Austin]

I wanted a SW setup back in 86-87(when I wanted to be a marine biologist). I got a20l and bag of IO from my GF at the time to get me going. After looking into it, I decided it was going to cost too much(in HS at that time) and bought a bunch of neons and guppies for it. Kept that tank running for 1-2 years. Then took a break until about 5 years ago when my wife and daughter wanted something. We got a 20H starter set, my wife then buys a red devil cichlid from Petsmart and now we have 5 FW(75g x2, 50g, 29g, 2.5g betta) setups, and I started my 58g SW in January.

[BigKGlen]

In the late 80's and early 90's I was running rigs around the county, I was home evenings and weekends. To raise our income, I started taking intra-state loads that would keep me on the road for the week. First week out, I had given the simple intructions to my wife on taking care of my 110 African Cichlid tank...feed them when you get up. "you're hungry first thing in the morning, so are they, feed them then".
Well, 'someone' misunderstood, and ended up feeding them everytime 'someone' ate.
Yes, ammonia took the tank.
I tore everything down and swore off the hobby.

12 years later, I stopped into a NW side LFS and the bug bit me again. But, this time it was salt!
I started with a 55 and had no luck at all. Some advice of " the larger the water volume, the lesser the risk of a small mistake making a big difference". I sold the 55, bought a 180, had a 90 gallon sum/fuge made, and so far (knocking on wood) seem to have a good line on what's going on.

[Bill S]

LOL. UG filters with powerheads on them! How about "crushed dolomite"?

[glennr1978]

Am I the only one who has never had a FW tank?

[RayAllen]

Am I the only one who has never had a FW tank?

Everyone ive know personally in the aquarium hobby started fresh.

[jrsatx20]

i've had a fw tank but never took care of it. my mom took care of it. now that i am all grown up lol. i wanted a $1800 bulldog and the wife said how bout a fish tank said only sw she said ok. now with more than 1800 in tanks wife said i should've got u the bull dog. just to let everyone know that i won i got the bull dog also. ha

[Shawnanthony]

I've always wanted a SW tank ever since i was little. we had a 20g FW tank for the longest time but like i said i was little and i wasn't allowed to touch anything. As the years went by my brother got married it so happened that their center pieces had gold fish in them so i took care of them for 6 months(that is before they died) and decided that i wanted to get my own SW tank due to the fact that FW fish are so boring and SW fish are exotic in color, variety, etc.... In doing my research i went to petco one day and bought a starter kit. the cashier Andrew (username "envy") asked me if i still needed to do some research to check out this website. so here i am :bigsmile:

[copperband]

ok so about nine years ago when i was four i got my first freshwater tank, and i kept getting new tanks. So last year i upgraded my 29 gallon fw to a 55, and when i saw a copperband butterfly at my lfs i new i had to have a reef tank. So i set my 29 up as a reef, and then just this year i down sized my fw to my 29 gallon and upgraded my reef to my 55 gallon. The rest is history!

[CoryDude]

raise your hand if you owned a skilter!!!

hahaha

First tank was 10 gallon w/red and blue gravel, skilter, undergravel filter, and 1 powerhead attached to the riser tube.

[coraline79]

first tank was an oceanic hex 30, had it setup from 86 until about 4 months ago. FW of course. I have been through a number of fw tank over the last two years, and I still have a african cichlid 60 gl tank in my living room. Salt is just something I had to try, now I love it!