old salt guy
New Member
Been lurking for a few weeks. Time to jump in and say Hello.
Hello !
Beginning to learn what is what in the hobby. It has been many years since I have keep any saltwater tanks. I think the last tank was in 1981, dang that was 40 years ago. Much has changed. Back then there was no live coral, just fish and a few shrimp. No live rocks, no live sand, just a few 40 lbs bags of dolomite to be washed and washed before usage. No bacteria, just a dark sheet to cover over the tank for 6-8 weeks for things to happen on its own. There was no internet or forums to share knowledge or to glean information, just a few books and one or two hobbyists you would bump into to compare notes. Under-gravel filters were mandatory to keep your bacteria cultural alive by drawing clean water down through it, now it is a No-No. We just had nice sized filter boxes with floss hanging on the back of the tank and a return power head to setup a current to circle the tank. Ceramic pieces were just coming into play. Water changes were 20% and done monthly. There was no RODI, just the hard water from the well that you would bump the PH up or down to get it near 8.0, and salt was measured with a floating glass hydrometer to 1.025. My 55 gal. community tank was decorated with reef harvested dead coral. You would soak the coral in Clorox water for a few weeks to bleach and sterilize before placement into the tank. I had an absolutely beautiful 30 gal. tank with a lone clown trigger fish. I had gotten a seed culture of red algae from a shop in the region and left it to grow over everything, only cleaning the front glass. It looked like the trigger was living in a tank lined with burgundy color velour cloth. Wish I had a few photos from back then to help jog my memory.
Regards,
Kent
the Old Salt Guy
Hello !
Beginning to learn what is what in the hobby. It has been many years since I have keep any saltwater tanks. I think the last tank was in 1981, dang that was 40 years ago. Much has changed. Back then there was no live coral, just fish and a few shrimp. No live rocks, no live sand, just a few 40 lbs bags of dolomite to be washed and washed before usage. No bacteria, just a dark sheet to cover over the tank for 6-8 weeks for things to happen on its own. There was no internet or forums to share knowledge or to glean information, just a few books and one or two hobbyists you would bump into to compare notes. Under-gravel filters were mandatory to keep your bacteria cultural alive by drawing clean water down through it, now it is a No-No. We just had nice sized filter boxes with floss hanging on the back of the tank and a return power head to setup a current to circle the tank. Ceramic pieces were just coming into play. Water changes were 20% and done monthly. There was no RODI, just the hard water from the well that you would bump the PH up or down to get it near 8.0, and salt was measured with a floating glass hydrometer to 1.025. My 55 gal. community tank was decorated with reef harvested dead coral. You would soak the coral in Clorox water for a few weeks to bleach and sterilize before placement into the tank. I had an absolutely beautiful 30 gal. tank with a lone clown trigger fish. I had gotten a seed culture of red algae from a shop in the region and left it to grow over everything, only cleaning the front glass. It looked like the trigger was living in a tank lined with burgundy color velour cloth. Wish I had a few photos from back then to help jog my memory.
Regards,
Kent
the Old Salt Guy
