Marine Aquarium Experience

[masterswimmer]

Wow, what an experience group of reefers here. More than 50% are over 4 years. That's actually quite impressive.

Russ

 

[Tonyscoots84]

yes sirrrrrrrrr. lolz.. im only 6 months....

 

[pecan2phat]

bought my first tank in 67 ,30 gal long still have it ,back then under gravel filter,hob supreme filter ,I think lee skimmer with air stone boy it was hard to get the tank started, I don't know if anybody remember aqua stock in manhattan warrant street to Murray street, that was a big fish store,

Aqua Stock on Warren street, Fish Town on 34th street...... lol, that brings back memories!
There were a couple of places that we went out to Jersey for, can't remember the names of the stores but one was on Rt 17 I think and the other one might have been the original Reef Encounter store before they consolidated and moved.

 

[spykes]

1 and a half and change, i think maybe 2 years who knows, im new to the hobby, but yet i can tell you i aint the worst in the hobby :p

 

[inkblue]

...tHere'S notHing wrong with beiNg the woRst as long as yoU imProve :smokin: everyOne has to start from the bottoM uP :icon16:

 

[NYPDFrogman]

started my first saltwater tank in 1981 I had 2 oscars and a snake head in a 90 gakllon tank.

I went to Bay pets in what was than the KORVETTES SHOPPING CENTER
now ceasrs bay

they had a saltwater section in the rear of the store. one of the kids working there went to the same HS I did and drove a 70 dodge challenger.

I eventually brought the oscars and snake head to them
bought a undergravel filter and 100lbs of crushed coral and sh*t load of black mollies, mixed my saltwater 2 months later I brought home a puffer and a snowflake eel.
the rest is history I've up graded down graded went reef to FOWLR back to reef

never any regrets!

lets see that makes it 25 years on and off with this obsessive hobby and I still know jacK

 

[herman]

My family have kept SW aquariums b4 I was born to this day. I succumbed in 1987. Been doin it ever since.

 

[jenniebutterfly]

i started in dec 04 with a 10 gallon. 48 watt jbj light, 2 powerheads and that was it. so far no major problems. knock on wood, and i still love it

 

[Deanos]

:bump:

 

[PalmTree]

I statred w/ a 10 gallon in late 98. Didn't have much luck and stried a 75 after that and upgraded to a 180 around 00 or early 01. I've have the 180 since and its survived one move. Well most of it survived!

 

[LeslieS]

My one year anniversary is June 19th!

 

[SIReefer]

My father always had f/w as long as I can remember - That would be about half a century........ He used to take me to Aquarium Stock Company & Trefflics in downtown manhattan - pre Tradecenter days. I never liked f/w so apx. 78-82 I had 3 10 gal s/w tanks w/crabs & snails from Long Island bay areas, damsels that were 3 for $5 and condy anemones w/dead corals. Flor. lights, no skimmer, top off water only, HOB filter. ----AND IT WORKED!!! Very little die off. As of now I spent more on my lil' piece o' the ocean than it cost me for my first 3 cars!!!!! Go figure. :banghead:

So all total 4 years s/w in the dark ages & 3 years now w/reef exp.

 

[Awibrandy]

WOW, Aquastock. I'd been trying to remember their name. Sad day when they packed up and left.

Started w/fw in 1973(oscars of course):wink1:. Thought I could never keep SW, went to African cichlids in early 90"S. Finally took the dive in 2001 into a 75g FO with coral skeletons, conch shells, supreme hob superking filter, switched within a month or so, (cause the super king clogged very frequently), to americle wet/dry with a SeaClone Skimmer that Drs.Fosters & Smith told me was just the thing for my tank, upgraded to the TurboflotorMulti 1000 in 2003 all this pre MR. Started adding pieces of live rock here and there and slowly removed the skeletons & conch. Kasie found me on RC shortly after getting ripped off, and sent me here. Post MR. Upgraded to the 5' 120g at around 2003 with sump/fuge, trusty old turbo, and really started adding lr 75lbs or so bought from a MR member here in NJ back in 2003-04. If he is still around he might remember me, I was so tense driving out to him that I almost fell getting out of my suv my legs were rubber.lol
Still have a coral from those early days my Flower cabbage leather. Due to a very sad occurance I ended upgrading to a 155g Bow Front last year.
But never has my tank looked as good as it does today.

 

[scumonkey]

I started my first SW tank in 1968, a 55 gallon w/nektonic undergravel filter
and an eheim canister. Bleached white coral heads and a 3 inch sandbed.
Made my own skimmer with a lime wood air stone!
Instant ocean was about the only salt available.
Back then It had separate liquid trace elements that you had to mix in!
All the ads for it talked about how NASA used it in space.
I kept arrow crabs (which spawned often), tomato clown, queen angel, assorted damsels,
cleaner wrasse, horseshoe crabs and local anemones (I was born in Bermuda).
I used plain 'ole fluorescent lights and the sun.

 

[Paul B]

The reef I have now I started in 1971. :smokin: There was only one store in NYC that had salt water and that was (I think), Aquarium Stock Company near the Trade Center. The only fish for sale were blue devils and seargeant majors. They were about $7.00. There was no liquid copper so we had to use pennies for copper. Twenty pennies to the gallon was the dosage. If you kept the pennies in there, the fish would die, if you removed the pennies the fish would get ich and die. It was a lose lose situation until they invented liquid copper. There were no reef tanks and no live coral, not even rock, alive or dead. We decorated the tanks with dead coral skeletons that we took out and bleached every week or two to keep them white. Our animals were not as healthy as they are today but I did manage to spawn those blue devils many times. Powerheads were made of iron and they were not submersible. They sat on the rim of the tank and you had to unplug them to put your hand in the tank or you would get a shock because of the damp salt accumulation on them. There were no GFCI's. I used either NSW or "Lampert Kay's Marine Magic" salt. There were no marine foods and the only frozen food was brine shrimp. The lighting was any flourescent light you had or those long skinny incandescent lamps for fresh water. Undergravel filters was the only thing there was (I still use one) or hang on the back filters with floss.
There was no internet.
There were no salt water stores in Queens at the time but I helped "Fish Town" set up their salt tanks.
I also kept salt tanks in the early sixtees but those were mostly local sculpins, sea robins, flounders, eels etc.
Then I got drafted :tank: and as soon as I came home from Nam I saw those blue devils in the store and I had to have some.
Thats it.
Have a great day.
Paul