A glimpse of where Reefing came from! The hobby's past and future!

[Flippers4pups]

Great article from Reef builders on the early days of reefing! German style!

Time Capsule of German Mini Reef Aquariums from 1985 | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The reef aquarium hobby has come a long way since the early days of reef keeping but it’s hard to know where the ‘modern’ reef really laid down its roots. One great place to start would be Germany in…

reefbuilders.com

 

[Doctorgori]

Europeans have always seemed to be ahead of us Yanks and for as long as I recall

 

[Flippers4pups]

I started in 1993, much later than the early pioneers did back then. No internet, just books and some good information from some LFS back then.

The "Berlin Method" was what I followed back then and to some extent still do.

My 75 gallon Berlin method tank, circa 1993:

We have come along way since then!

 

[andrewkw]

I love looking at these classic tanks that paved the way for what we have today.

 

[Chrisfish]

What a great article!! Thanks so much for sharing it, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the pictures of those beautiful reefs.

 

[Flippers4pups]

What a great article!! Thanks so much for sharing it, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the pictures of those beautiful reefs.

Your welcome!

 

[Futuretotm]

amazing! west germany I assume...

 

[Jon Warner]

My first marine aquarium, in 1978 had inverts... feather dusters and a few soft corals.

Europeans have always seemed to be ahead of us Yanks and for as long as I recall

Actually, no. Not really.

Coral propagation, captive breeding programs and even the early days of SPS...

All represented heavily by Americans.

EDIT: At the same time as these photographs (1985), Albert Thiel had already started Thiel Aqua Tech here in the USA. He mfg'd reactors, filter substrate, supplements and acrylic wet/dry filters and advised hobbyists on reef aquariums in the 80's...

IIRC, by 1985 the Europeans had very little dedicated reefing equipment...

 

[Flippers4pups]

amazing! west germany I assume...

Yes.

 

[Doctorgori]

My first marine aquarium, in 1978 had inverts... feather dusters and a few soft corals.


Actually, no. Not really.

Coral propagation, captive breeding programs and even the early days of SPS...

All represented heavily by Americans.

EDIT: At the same time as these photographs (1985), Albert Thiel had already started Thiel Aqua Tech here in the USA. He mfg'd reactors, filter substrate, supplements and acrylic wet/dry filters and advised hobbyists on reef aquariums in the 80's...

IIRC, by 1985 the Europeans had very little dedicated reefing equipment...

Shucks...I wont oppose you sticking up for us on this side, but really at the time those Dutch style tanks always looked better than most over here. Maybe I could have bracketed that in past tense...

 

[MantisReef]

I started keeping a Reef Tank in 1991, pure Berlin method. 6500K Iwasaki halide and lots of Kalk powder. It would destroy a poor MaxiJet every 6 months or so, but it worked. Here is my tank from 1995. Looking at the photo, I still have 2 of those corals in my tank today. I ended up fragging that bubble coral up into 4 pieces with a hammer and chisel. All the pieces survived and I ended up selling them at some of the first frag swaps we had in Ohio.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I want to say i used MJ power heads connected to a Red sea wave controller. When they came on using a alternating setting, the power heads would "clack" bad!

 

[brandon429]

1985: the pre dinos era. not a spec.

the epoch ended in about 2004, enter the great scourge of reefing

 

[Flippers4pups]

1985: the pre dinos years. not a spec.

I don't remember any issues with dinoflagellates or cyano back then.

 

[brandon429]

GHA was the concern, and all of you seemingly had that beat as well. it was really selected for, those intense lights, lesser blues, yet those reefs look totally balanced. if any of those tanks were moved to today they'd be of the same quality corals and actually appear about fifty times more diverse considering the live rock benthic details. those reefs were 40 years ahead of their time.

in 1985 i was good at keeping aquatic dwarf frogs only, we used to smuggle them to school in little plastic containers to mess with during class. its truly amazing how you all were able to reef when knowledge and practice were truly restricted to inner circles, natural talent and of course publications but that didnt help with live-time needs like how forums do all the rescue live time nowadays

 

[Flippers4pups]

GHA was the concern, and all of you seemingly had that beat as well. it was really selected for, those intense lights, lesser blues, yet those reefs look totally balanced. if any of those tanks were moved to today they'd be of the same quality corals and actually appear about fifty times more diverse considering the live rock benthic details. those reefs were 40 years ahead of their time.

in 1985 i was good at keeping aquatic dwarf frogs only, we used to smuggle them to school in little plastic containers to mess with during class. its truly amazing how you all were able to reef when knowledge and practice were truly restricted to inner circles, natural talent and of course publications but that didnt help with live-time needs like how forums do all the rescue live time nowadays

Back then it was all "live" rock taken from the ocean. No dry rock was available then. I had tonga branch "sticks" and some base rock. Rock was full of sponges and coralline algae. Halimeda calcium algae was very prevalent as well.

I don't remember bristle worms then, but bobbit worms, crabs and all kinds of Micro fauna.

Cycling was much easier back then too.

 

[brandon429]

And its amazing how each home that did have the reefs looked that way consistently, for those keeping reefs, Im rather shocked to see how today's reefs have been thinned down as much regarding what we get to see beyond just corals. my live rocks are 15 years old and were true cured live rocks before then, but still didnt have all those hangers-on that was a really fun look back

 

[Flippers4pups]

A little explanation of the "Berlin method":

As you can see, so much of this basic system back then, applies today. The calcium reactor could be substituted with Kalkwasser.

It's very much the basic building block of today's modern reef tank.

 

[Lovefish77]

Interesting thread..back in 1990 I was proud I bred goldfish and never thought one in a million I will be that attached to reefing.

 

[Doctorgori]

I started keeping a Reef Tank in 1991, pure Berlin method. 6500K Iwasaki halide and lots of Kalk powder. It would destroy a poor MaxiJet every 6 months or so, but it worked. Here is my tank from 1995. Looking at the photo, I still have 2 of those corals in my tank today. I ended up fragging that bubble coral up into 4 pieces with a hammer and chisel. All the pieces survived and I ended up selling them at some of the first frag swaps we had in Ohio.

Back then it was all "live" rock taken from the ocean. No dry rock was available then. I had tonga branch "sticks" and some base rock. Rock was full of sponges and coralline algae. Halimeda calcium algae was very prevalent as well.

I don't remember bristle worms then, but bobbit worms, crabs and all kinds of Micro fauna.

Cycling was much easier back then too.

ha ha .... 6500 k white light and no algae issues? oh the humanity...as Archie Bunker and Edith sing: “those were the days”
and real ocean rock...remember the undersides? heck the bottoms almost had more interesting stuff than the rock surface
Dang there’s that song again lol