How did you Start Reefing?

[SHMG]

Starting a saltwater tank seems like an out of reach dream to me. Did any of you felt similarly when you wanted to enter this saltwater world, and community?
I feel that way, when I started to join this community several years ago, and still feel like I am lost in this excited group. Then I foundi the year’s giveaways, tried to jumpstart my hope, believed in getting a prize that everyone seemed to hope for …I put some faith in one of the giveaways, but did not know why I did not get any notification? What did I do incorrectly? Why were there giveaways that everyone was supposed to surely get a share, but they seemed so far away? I wonder if any of you ever felt similarly when you first started this expensive hobby? How did you start? I am still not sure how and where to start this out-of-reach hobby. Every little bit of component relating to a saltwater tank seems so expensive!
I hoped I could start from scratch by getting something in common that everyone has, but I am not sure what went wrong making me miss the humble goal? I thought I had entered the hopeful ring by asking for some guidance, and following the leads. I hope some community members could relate yourselves to this situation and share with me how and from where you started this expensive hobby, perhaps some years ago. I hope I can get out of the feeling of being lost on the fairground of this zealous community group.
How do you feel about my “new thread”? I am going in a circle, and hope to get good start.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I had family members who had a tank, and I always thought it would be neat having one. Here I am a couple of years later and love this hobby!

 

[Ryan - Serious Reefs]

Back when LFS's were in malls I'd go in every time. The marine area so much cooler than fresh but a saltwater tank also felt unobtainable.

I was 27 years old when I walked into the a LFS for fun and it dawned me "hey I can afford and do this now." Made my first post April 2004 and I was off to the races :) https://forums.reefcentral.com/threads/tbs-the-package.42408/

Fun to go back and look at all the silly questions I asked back then lol.... https://forums.reefcentral.com/threads/is-buying-from-pet-co-really-that-bad.57823/

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

an old jiu jitsu friend gave me his little tank and a few frags. He knew i was into freshwater at the time. I went with it.

 

[saltysal]

I was suckered in by a beautiful clownfish pair (Chloe and Joey). They were so tiny and cute and I heard they would host an anemone which was also beautiful. Skip to today and said clownfish are the terror of my predator tank. I have three salt tanks because those clownfish made every anemone unhappy in the first tank, continued to bury every coral in my second tank so had to get a third tank that could withstand the Bonnie and Clyde of the ocean.

 

[X-37B]

1988 my first wife bought me a 55 hexagon tank. To this day I'm not sure why as it was out of the blue.
Anyway went to lfs and saw reef tanks. Traded the hex for a standard 55 acrylic and never looked back, lol.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Had freshwater aquariums as a child. Started working in a great LFS back in 1992 as a freshman in college (Preuss Pets in Lansing, MI…although this was back in their Haslett locations), and worked mostly in the salt department. Had a fish-only for a few months, but then started doing some coral. I ended up heading the aquarium service department, and started to really push toward doing reefs over fish-only systems. I don’t remember how many reef clients we had when I moved to Chicago, but I remember it was a lot for such a small market.

Anyway, I went from 0 to 100mph pretty fast. My understanding of reef systems has always been from the perspective of making a delicate system succeed with essentially only an hour a week of care being given to it

 

[NanoSteam]

Basically born into it... dad had a 55 gallon when I was born, I got my own tank at 14 and we've been going to the same LFS since I was an infant for 35 years.

 

[BryanM]

Starting a saltwater tank seems like an out of reach dream to me. Did any of you felt similarly when you wanted to enter this saltwater world, and community?
I feel that way, when I started to join this community several years ago, and still feel like I am lost in this excited group. Then I foundi the year’s giveaways, tried to jumpstart my hope, believed in getting a prize that everyone seemed to hope for …I put some faith in one of the giveaways, but did not know why I did not get any notification? What did I do incorrectly? Why were there giveaways that everyone was supposed to surely get a share, but they seemed so far away? I wonder if any of you ever felt similarly when you first started this expensive hobby? How did you start? I am still not sure how and where to start this out-of-reach hobby. Every little bit of component relating to a saltwater tank seems so expensive!
I hoped I could start from scratch by getting something in common that everyone has, but I am not sure what went wrong making me miss the humble goal? I thought I had entered the hopeful ring by asking for some guidance, and following the leads. I hope some community members could relate yourselves to this situation and share with me how and from where you started this expensive hobby, perhaps some years ago. I hope I can get out of the feeling of being lost on the fairground of this zealous community group.
How do you feel about my “new thread”? I am going in a circle, and hope to get good start.

Thank you for sharing!

Saw a tank on TV, popped off to the wife that she'd never want a tank in the house, and she said I was wrong.

Here we are. :)