Who are you?

[Anonymous]

I was thinking today, as I mowed the lawn, that we are all doing this course together but we really don't know each other at all. I thought it might be useful to share some personal information.

I'll start the ball rolling.

I'm Andrew, and I like Pina Colada and walking in... oops,

I'm 41 and I live in the Blue Mountains about 60 km (35 miles) west of Sydney, with my wife of 15 and a half years, Vicki and are two cats Jennie (15) and Boris (14).

I started keeping marine fish when I was 14 and back then, Live Rock was a Zeppelin concert and we all had UGF. I used to, and still do, catch many of my own fish off Sydney. I learned to SCUBA dive in 1978 and this makes catching fish a heck of a lot easier. I have swum in the NW and SW Atlantic, the English Channel and of course the SW Pacific, but I've only dived locally and on the GBR.

I've only had reef tanks for about 18 months but am really enjoying all the invertebrates, especially the corals.

I have a BSc in Marine Science from the Uni of NSW (that's New South Wales, not Normal Sea Water)

, but I work as a project manager for a very large multinational computer company.

I am the Vice President of the Marine Aquarium Society of Sydney - which means, I think, that I just say stupid things in public and don't really have anything to do unless something happens to the president.

I'm an administrator on Reefing the Australian Way which is a board set up by Dallas Warren (of reefs.org fame).

That's about it for me. I do have a copy of The Practical Guide To Corals For The Reef Aquarium so I already know how old Eric is and what he looks like.

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ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all!! I guess you can see that my name is Scott! I live in Ft Lauderdale, FL about 1/2 mile from the beach. I am a Marine Biology student at Florida Atlantic University and am very active in the local marine community (clubs, aquariums, classes).

I have been keeping aquariums for over 10 years, salt for the past 2 years. I have a great girlfriend and a Siamese cat.

I've traveled extensively throughout Europe and an now arranging a trip to Indonesia for some diving.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, my name is Janna and I live in Altoona, Iowa. I know, not a very exciting place to live, but that's where I am right now. I'm married, no human kids, a collie, two rabbits, 4 reef tanks, a mantis tank, a FW planted tank and a koi pond. I very much enjoy gardening and working in the yard. I didn't think spring would ever get here! Anyway, I'm a technical recruiter for an IT consulting company, hopefully I'll get to keep being a recruiter, the market is really tight in my area, things are pretty slow. This thread was a nice idea, it's fun to know a little about the people in our class. Have a great day everyone!

Janna

 

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I've been reefing for a little over two years, work part-time at an LFS and used to do tank maintenance but gave it up as I was tired of getting called in to "fix" somebody's tank that looked like a sewer.

I've always had FW but moved up to a reef because 1) I've always wanted SW and 2) one of my sons has learning disabilities and he was absolutley taken with the pictures of reef tanks we saw on the web. He now knows the names of the critters about as well as I do

I have a husband, three kids, a cat, 4 tanks and work full-time plus for a property management company, part-time for an LFS. I moderate on a geared-for beginners BB called The Reef Tank and we're pretty active as a family with the school and the Boys and Girls Club and we go camping every chance we get. In my spare time I garden, read and oh ya, sleep!

~Alice

 

[Anonymous]

I'm Dave. My wife, Jemma, and I have two kids ages 13 and 15. We are "unofficial" guardians of another 15yr old boy who's parents couldn't "deal" with him. We live in beautiful South Lake Tahoe(away from the RAT RACE). For a day job, I'm a LAN/WAN/Telecommunications Engineer. I design, spec, deploy data and voice hardware. We have 3 reef tanks(working on another 3), 1 African Grey Parrot, 1 cat, 1 Leopard Gecko, 1 kingsnake, 2 lovebirds, and 2 Jackson Chameleons.

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One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all, and in The Darkness bind them

Tahoereefs.com

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

My name's Carolyn I'm from a village in Scotland called Uddingston, I am a Web/Multimedia Designer for the University of Strathclyde I live with my little boy Joshua and we have one reef tank and a Senegal parrot called Dill

 

[Anonymous]

My name is Greg and I'm a reefaholic...

I live in Tampa, FL, and got hooked on marine life when I started scuba diving about 10 years ago.

I'm currently a blissfully unemployed software developer who is experiencing the same market as Janna, but is enjoying the time off to much to care.

I've been keeping marine fish tanks for about 8 years now, but just started keeping corals last year, so I'm looking to learn as much as I can.

Nice to meet y'all.

PS> By the way, I think Eric was just being modest when he didn't make his book required for the course.

I just picked it up yesterday and I wish I had done so sooner. Excellent!

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-Greg
Visit my website: SaltyZoo.com

I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt
new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. -Abraham Lincoln

[This message has been edited by gregt (edited 25 April 2001).]

 

[Anonymous]

Hi..I'm D*ckT and live in Scottsdale AZ. I'm 65, married (second time), have 6 kids from age 40 to 5, 10 grandkids and retired after 39 years with a major US company. I enjoy golf, fishing, coaching youth basketball and LL baseball (we're 3 and 2 right now). And of course, my tanks. My wife, Sue and I spend a lot of time volunteering at schools. She teaches French and I do computer classes. Sue is from England and I am a native Michigander but have lived all over the US and 10 years in Europe.

I have 3 tanks. 1 FW and 2 SW. My main tank has 7 fish,15 corals,3 clams,1 LT anemone, 2 scarlet cleaner shrimp and a bunch of reefbugs that I haven't been able to identify yet.The other SW has 2 corals and a whole lot of 5 month old Bangaii cardinals that came from a pair in the main tank. The FW tank has 9 fish and a lot of snails.

This course is going to help me do a better job of husbandry because a year ago when I started, I couldn't even spell "coral reef".
I'm an ex-truck guy.
D*ckT

 

[Anonymous]

My name is Ron and lived in Toronto, Canada. I love fish (both keeping and eating).

Been keeping fish for 6 years especially in planted FW tanks. Planted tanks are a special kind of FW setup in which layout rules everything. That's why the planed FW people sometime calls themself "Aquascaper". I am sure there is a lot we, as reefers, can learn from these artistic approaches to layout our instance of ocean.

Started reef keeping about 4 years ago. I have 2 reef tanks and 2 FW tanks now. I am married for 5 years and happly enjoying every moment of it

Beside reef, my brain and my wallet lies in plastic model figure painting (Graage Kits).

I am a B.Eng and work as a software developer for a telephony company.

I hope Eric's course will help us to deminish the "black art" nature of reef keeping.

Nice to know you all, my fellow terran reefers.

 

[Anonymous]

G'day all,
My name in Tehlia, I'm 34yrs, married and have a cat, 2 tanks(one 120g, the other a 3ft clam lagoon-about 20 varities). We live in the heart of Melbourne and I work part time at an LFS. I have only been keeping marines for 18months with no prior experience nor research. Wow! have I learn't so much in the past few months. I have now discovered what my career path should have been earlier on in life-marine biology. Like all I think I've become a marine aholic. It was only since meeting Eric when he came to Melbourne that I seriously decided to study the field further(Andrew, yes Eric is as good looking as in his book photo & a top guy).
Pleased to meet everyone and good luck with the rest of the course, I'm still having a hard time trying to absorb so much, but loving every bit. Tehlia Hunter.

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Tehlia

 

[Anonymous]

Hi! I'm Ray. I've been married for 21 years and have 2 boys 15 and16. We have a zoo @ our house. I've got a 135 gal. reef tank, 55 gal predator tank and 2 20 gal fo tanks in salt, 1 ciclid tank 1 goldfish tank and 1 fw tank. We have 3 turtles, 4 budgies and 1 senegal parrot named mango that never stops talking. We also have 1 cat named tibbles.(we just lost our 21 year old cat 2 days ago). I'm a plant metallurgist and have degrees in organic chemistry, and chemical engineering with minors in metallurgy and management science. Don't remember much of the latter cause what few memory banks are left are for my coral biology!!!!!...don't remember that either!!almost forgot.. I live in Ancaster Ontario(one hour away from Toronto)

[This message has been edited by snoball (edited 25 April 2001).]

 

[Anonymous]

ROFL, thank you so much, I needed the laugh. Eric, you stud! hehe...

I'm James Wiseman from Houston TX. As most of you know, I'm the "admin guy" and figurehead for www.reefs.org

When I'm not wearing my superman pajamas, I daylight as an offshore engineer. I specialize in decommissioning of offshore oil and gas rigs (we call them platforms). I spend about 20% of my job offshore directing projects and the rest in the office as an engineer (planning).

I have had reeftanks since 1993 and am a true "coral geek." I guess I'm also a "fish geek" too. I like all things wet, including diving, sailing, kayaking, fishing, you name it... I am most comfortable in the water - especially since it gets to over 100f here! hehe

I would really like to thank everyone for making maco happen. This is something I'm proud to be a part of, as I know is true for the rest of you. Heck, we are doing something new and amazing here! As you all know, I'm willing to give 110%

Oh, btw, I'm single and at least as cute as Eric, so there!

Cheers
James Wiseman

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Reefs.org Channel Operator

 

[Anonymous]

My turn. Obviously, my name is Yanick (it's French, I was born in Quebec). I'm male and 27.

I live in Toronto, Canada, and work as a Software Engineer for an internet company, working on Peer-to-peer technology. I've been reefing for two and a half years or so. Own a 90 gal reef. Hobbies include the tank (duh), DIY projects, programming and beer drinking

No other pets, even though I love animals.

cheers,

Yanick

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm Lachlan James (Lock) born and live in Melbourne Australia. I'm married with a 2yo son, and another on the way due in August.

Been in sw for about 15 years, and reefs for 5.

During the day I'm an IT project manager.

Nice to meet you all.

Lock

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm Sarah, and I live in the Chicago 'burbs with my hubby and 19 year old son. I co-own and manage a contracting business, and I love camping and traveling. After years of keeping FW, I decided to give reefkeeping a try, and have been at it for almost 4 years now. I have a 200-gallon reef which has become a source of endless fascination for me; this hobby is great! Nice to meet you all

)

 

[Anonymous]

Addendum to my last post...I have no idea how that "embarrassed" smiley got there. LOL...now I really AM embarrassed!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, all.
I've been a reefkeeper for two years and have a 120 gal reef tank with 4 fish and many coral. My wife and I have been married for 25 years and have three sons, the oldest is 22 and the youngest is 16. Mendota Heights is a suburb of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. My youngest son, Dominic, is my reefkeeping buddy and, recently, my SCUBA buddy. I'll be 50 years old this year and enjoy photography, backpacking, flyfishing, amateur radio, and astronomy.
I'm trained in Physics, Biophysics, and Psychophysics (an area of Psychology) and have done research in visual perception and visual impairment. I'll be teaching Psychology 1/2 time in Winona, MN next academic year and may have to move the reef if things work out. I took Ron Shimek's MACO1 class and couldn't help but try to learn more here in MACO2!

 

[Anonymous]

Hello all! My name's Sandy. I live in Goodyear, Arizona with my wonderful husband Dale, four cats a 90 gallon reef and a 30 gallon seahorse tank. I've been reefkeeping for two years now. I work as a financial controller and computer systems administrator/implementation specialist.

My other major hobby is competitive artistic rollerskating. My husband and I skate together in American Team Dance, and I skate solo dance and figures as well. Right now, I'm trying to keep up with my homework for this class while working on four sets of costumes for our regional meet which is at the end of June!

 

[Anonymous]

My name is Doug(surprise) and i sometimes answer questions on the reeftank BB.
I have been into marine aquariums since 75 and reefs going on 4 yrs. I currently have a 75g soft coral tank.
Going on 50 this year been married forever(30 yrs) and have a son and daughter plus a few grandkids.
Nice to meet you all and Shane a special thanks for all the nights putting together "projects" hehehehe
Actually my usual user name is Doug1, for some reason it still has my old one here

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reef as if your life depended on it. Yours might but the sea's does
Doug @ TheReefTank.com administrator

[This message has been edited by geeflipr (edited 26 April 2001).]

 

[Anonymous]

My name is Shane Graber and I go by the nick "liquid" on most of the chat channels and bulletin boards. I'm 29 years old, married to my beautiful wife, Jama, and we have 1 cat named Aspen. Currently, I reside in northwest Ohio about 50 miles west of Toledo (holy Toledo!)

Plans are to someday get a house dog but that's not going to happen any time soon.

I have a BA in Chemistry from Bluffton College and my current occupation is as a research chemist specializing in formulating environmentally friendly ultraviolet and electron beam curable coatings for wood and paper applications. I work for Sauder Woodworking -- http://www.sauder.com/

I've been into freshwater tanks ever since my parents had a 10 gallon guppy tank when I was 10. I started keeping freshwater fish in college about 10 years ago and I just got into reefing about 18 months ago. My current reef tank is a 38 gal all-glass tank and my current freshwater tank is a 30 gal. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this MACO2 class any additional MACO classes.

Have a good one!

Shane