How did you get into this hobby?

[Littlejohn321]

 

[MegabiteOG]

Beautiful tank. Welcome to R2R.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

You should start a build thread for your tank!

 

[PPBlimpy]

Back in 2001, My buddies dad needed work done on his truck, he was going thru a divorce, had to move out in 7 days. Offered me his 155G bow front predator FOWLR tank in trade for work on truck. I don't even remember what I fixed.

He had a giant lion fish, 10" porcupine puffer and a 36+" moray eel in the tank. He kept trying to hatch shark eggs. Just enough rock for the moray to hide.

Sump was a 20G tank with a seaclone skimmer, a 600gph return pump and 300w heater.

I got it, couple buddies and I transported the tank, with he truck I had just fixed, to my house, never told my parents about it, they just got home from work and it was in the front room. Realized he had been doing everything wrong and started fixing.

That was the start of my obsession with porcupine puffers. Have had one in every tank over 125G since.

The first one we named Chevron because he reminded me of the cars from the old chevron gas commercials.

He would come to the top of the tank and roll over ever day when I got home and let me rub his belly.

My Current PP is Blimpy, hence the name

 

[mook1178]

I went to college for marine sciences and took a couple classes on keeping saltwater aquariums. The courses were designed to get certified to work in large public aquariums. I went the more research route, but have been keeping a tank off and on since.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

 

[ColorMeGone]

I have Oldtimers disease and can't remember that far back. lol

 

[lieberca]

Winning a goldfish at the carnival at 5 years old led to countless $$$ in the last 40+ years getting bigger and better. :] But to the OP's first question, I have a lot of love for LFS for so many reasons. Not just the ability to buy livestock and hardware, but there is so much good conversation to geek out on :]

 

[reefer_87]

Well, Craigs list wanted to get a salt water tank and someone offered a hippo tang, flame angel, damsel and 2 clown fish for 120$ along with a 25 cube and canister filter in a fire sale back in 2019. That was the only best and cheap deal of my life since getting into this hobby. Since then I have never spoken about getting a deal with my wife !

 

[MegabiteOG]

Well, Craigs list wanted to get a salt water tank and someone offered a hippo tang, flame angel, damsel and 2 clown fish for 120$ along with a 25 cube and canister filter in a fire sale back in 2019. That was the only best and cheap deal of my life since getting into this hobby. Since then I have never spoken about getting a deal with my wife !

Haha! I know what you mean......

Many new reefers got really good deals from me since I changed out so many tanks in a short amount of time. What got you interested though in getting one?

 

[MegabiteOG]

I don't think I've seen any #Heathens stories in here of how they got started. There's got to be good ones amongst the group.

 

[tbrown]

I went to a thrift store and bought a 75 gallon tank for $5...

 

[vlangel]

I said after going to a lfs but it was actually after working at the lfs that got me into marine/reef tanks. Before that I was strictly FW.

 

[paraletho]

I started in 1976 with a 55 gallon. I worked on a family dive charter boat so I slurped fish on my dives and brought in 55 gallon drums of saltwater from offshore. Fish only very few people were trying coral at this time. Switched jobs to oilfield boats in 1979 so a 25 year hiatus. Then my son switched to saltwater in 2004 and it was on. Wet Web Media and Reef Central. Now I am 74 and can no longer justify having a reef at the house so I maintain a 460 gallon system for the local ISD and teach kids 3 days a week about marine ecosystems and maintaining a saltwater tank. The tank will last twenty years but I won’t.

 

[MegabiteOG]

I started in 1976 with a 55 gallon. I worked on a family dive charter boat so I slurped fish on my dives and brought in 55 gallon drums of saltwater from offshore. Fish only very few people were trying coral at this time. Switched jobs to oilfield boats in 1979 so a 25 year hiatus. Then my son switched to saltwater in 2004 and it was on. Wet Web Media and Reef Central. Now I am 74 and can no longer justify having a reef at the house so I maintain a 460 gallon system for the local ISD and teach kids 3 days a week about marine ecosystems and maintaining a saltwater tank. The tank will last twenty years but I won’t.

WOW! That's a lifetime in aquaria. And you continue to contribute. Thank you!

 

[tbrown]

I went to a thrift store and bought a 75 gallon tank for $5...

Man @MegabiteOG with a story like mine all I get is an emoji? How much more detail do I have to go into?

Ok... Here's the FULL story:

When I was a young lad - a mere boy of around 10 or 11 years of age - my mom had a saltwater aquarium. Back in those days the tanks were primarily FOWWR (Fish Only With White Rock), so no corals in her tank. Her tank, believe it or not was a 75 gallon Aqueon with fake wood trim. In the tank she had a small grouper and a Snowflake eel - they came with the tank, not her choice. She bought the tank for a Lionfish tank but had to get rid of the other two fish first.

My job was feeding said fish. Now there was a LFS/Pet Store about 1/4 or 1/2 mile from my house that I frequented a couple of times a week for crickets and such for my Bearded Dragon named Wilbur. Two or 3 times a week I would buy a dozen or so goldfish for the saltwater tank. When I got home, I'd toss 5 or 6 goldfish in the tank and watch the hunting games begin.

Fast forward to 2007 or 2008 and I'm on my way home from work. A detour takes me through Sun City where I see a thrift store I've never been to so I decided to pop in and peruse the wares. That's where I spotted it for $15 - an identical tank. So I asked and they dropped the price to $5 since they couldn't verify if it held water.

Lights, sump, overflow, etc and I was off to the races! Crashed that tank in just 4 years. Restarted it back around 8 years ago and have gone through several mini crashes, upgrades, downgrades, etc to be where I am today.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Man @MegabiteOG with a story like mine all I get is an emoji? How much more detail do I have to go into?

Ok... Here's the FULL story:

When I was a young lad - a mere boy of around 10 or 11 years of age - my mom had a saltwater aquarium. Back in those days the tanks were primarily FOWWR (Fish Only With White Rock), so no corals in her tank. Her tank, believe it or not was a 75 gallon Aqueon with fake wood trim. In the tank she had a small grouper and a Snowflake eel - they came with the tank, not her choice. She bought the tank for a Lionfish tank but had to get rid of the other two fish first.

My job was feeding said fish. Now there was a LFS/Pet Store about 1/4 or 1/2 mile from my house that I frequented a couple of times a week for crickets and such for my Bearded Dragon named Wilbur. Two or 3 times a week I would buy a dozen or so goldfish for the saltwater tank. When I got home, I'd toss 5 or 6 goldfish in the tank and watch the hunting games begin.

Fast forward to 2007 or 2008 and I'm on my way home from work. A detour takes me through Sun City where I see a thrift store I've never been to so I decided to pop in and peruse the wares. That's where I spotted it for $15 - an identical tank. So I asked and they dropped the price to $5 since they couldn't verify if it held water.

Lights, sump, overflow, etc and I was off to the races! Crashed that tank in just 4 years. Restarted it back around 8 years ago and have gone through several mini crashes, upgrades, downgrades, etc to be where I am today.

For that story I would give TWO emojis! That's awesome! I did have a saltwater tank in Miami before my tanks I've mentioned here from when I was in Orlando. It also was a FOWLR with a lionfish. Don't remember the size, but do remember the hunting games with the goldfish.

Thanks for reminding me of a forgotten tank!

 

[MC Blowfish]

Many years ago, I was in charge of the aquatics department of a Petco. I fell in love with saltwater while I was running the department. I setup my first tank after a few weeks. Unfortunately, it crashed after a little over a year. I took a break until last year.

 

[Science/G]

I was a frag of Karen at Exotic Aquariums in Miami and grown out in their system!

 

[MegabiteOG]

I was a frag of Karen at Exotic Aquariums in Miami and grown out in their system!

No kidding. Isn't that off of Bird Rd.? If so, that has been there forever! I grew up in Miami and remember going to one in that area on occasion.

Question. What's a frag of karen?