Hi everyone! Just wanted to update my previous thread. I still have the 180 up and running and nothing much has changed since the last update post. Well, there was one major "upgrade"


Meet Sofia Rose Sebek. She's now almost 9 months old and one of the loves of my life.



Here is a picture of Sofia with her older sister Jasmine who is now 5 years old.

Other than that I can only suggest checking out my build thread if you want the up and up on my tank haha.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hybridazns-180-gallon-build.189795/

And lastly I just want to thank the membership for making this forum so awesome! Without you we would be stuck here by ourselves and it would be boring, I can only pick on these guys and gals so much everyday lol.

 

First Name: Tom

Why You chose your screen name: Have used it since I first started playing online games, and its just stuck since then!

Current Tank Specs: 40g tank that is in the works

Build Thread: Do not currently have one since starting the new tank up Battling an algae problem already

Area of strength in the hobby: LPS/Acans mostly

Favorite hobby outside reefing: Outdoor type things, hiking, biking, rock climbing, SCUBA diving, ect (and video games!)

How long have you been reef keeping: About 6 years give or take

 

How's it going? Things are awesome this way haha.

 

Wow, apparently I never filled this out.

First Name: Bobby
Age: 44
Why you chose your screen name: I've been "Humblefish" for so long now that I can't remember why.

Areas of strength in the hobby: Fish diseases & treatment, clownfish breeding and anything "old school" about the hobby.

Favorite hobbies outside of reefing: International travel, web design, computers, video games and professional wrestling.

What you enjoy most about the saltwater hobby: I am absolutely obsessed with studying fish diseases, conducting experimentation and finding new effective treatments. I feel conquering fish diseases is one of the final frontiers to mastering our hobby. I've kept marine aquariums since age 5, so I really enjoy being able to help new people grow in the hobby because so many have helped me along the way.

 

First Name: Cheryl

Why You chose your screen name: Born and raised in N. Lake Tahoe in 1961.

Current Tank Specs: IM Nuvo 40 gallons, newly started.

Build Thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/giving-up-was-never-an-option.368850/

Area of strength in the hobby: Biology, Identifications.

Favorite hobby outside reefing: Camping, Music.

How long have you been reef keeping: 31 years.

 

First Name:
Dennis

Why You chose your screen name:
It's an old screen name from my mini cooper days.
The "d2" i use a lot because of my two "D" initials in my full name. Friends used to call me d2 or d-squared.

Current Tank Specs:
Elos 120XL (approx dims: 47"x31"x19")

Area of strength in the hobby:
Building a system to fit (aesthetically and proportionally) into the given space, and then piecing that system together from start to finish, keeping it fairly organized and as simple as possible.
I rely on some of the more old school techniques/equipment, trying not to get too caught up in all the new gear and trends, unless I truly see an advantage.
I also have an affinity for a more "natural" looking reef with sponges, gorgonians and interesting inverts.

Favorite hobby outside reefing:
Photography, Cars (currently a Jeep Wrangler), keeping fit (getting into body building this year and in the best shape of my life at 44).

How long have you been reefkeeping:
Dabbled a little previously but in it full time for the past 11 years.

 

First Name:
Bruce

Why You chose your screen name:
I work two jobs - one pays the bills, the other feeds my soul. That one is "Education Lite" at the local Public Aquarium, The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. Thirty years ago, I saw a little storefront office, stepped inside and offered my services as a volunteer. Been there ever since.

Current Tank Specs:
My current obsession ... erm, _tank_ - is a 220 gallon that I picked up when my then fave LFS was in the throes of closing down. There are a brace of MarsAqua "black boxes" hanging above it, and a 40-Breeder underneath it. Inside the 40-B, there are three socks, a block of Marine-Pure with a basket of rubble on top of it, a Deltec 1455 skimmer, a couple of bags of carbon/GFO, and a Fluval-Sea SP-6 to push water back to the display. Once it gets there, there are a brace of Gyre X-50 powerheads to keep that water moving. They're running on one controller, and set to forward/reverse flow mode, with their timings just a bit off, so that the patterns change throughout the day.

There's another block of Marine-Pure buried beneath the right-hand rock formation, which offers a lower flow habitat for ... whatever wants to hide there. Rock in this tank is a combination of Pukani (purchased as "airfreight" rock, but arrived with no sign of multicellular life), "dead" shelf and branch rock, and 60# of _live_ rock from the Florida Keys. That stuff, algaes, hitchhiking pests and all, just makes the tank infinitely more fascinating!

Most corals seem to be doing well: SPS, zoanthids, faviids - even one or two things I can't identify, but _acans_ can't seem to get along here.


Build Thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/zoeys-reef-is-growing-up.271001/#post-3252345

"Kingston & Zoey's Reef" is dedicated to two of my grandchildren, who were stillborn. It's a "warts-and-all" build thread, documenting the bad days and the good.

Area of strength in the hobby:
I think I'm moderately competent when it comes to fish and invertebrate identification and behavior, and I've had to learn more than I ever wanted to about diseases and what makes 'em go away. I seem to spend a lot of time in the disease forum . . .

Favorite hobby outside reefing:
Once upon a time, I spent every moment I could outside; fishing, hiking, biking, hunting, kayaking, Scuba diving and snorkeling. I'm hoping someday, that'll become a passion again. Each year, a group of friends and I head out into the wild Atlantic Ocean for encounters with big, charismatic wildlife: dolphins, whales ... and sharks. That's a fun swim!


I've also loved traveling when I get the chance, but don't often get the chance. My most recent vacation, as of this writing, was in 2010 - but it was a doozey, a visit to Kyoto.

I do like to draw things, and have been fascinated by paleontology since I was a lad, so drew some dinosaurs and illustrated a children's book or two back in the day.

How long have you been reef keeping:
In this most recent iteration, I re-started just about two and a half years ago, with a 65 gallon reef. I had a 55 gallon for a while, back in ... 1986 or so? It's not really the same hobby any more . . .

The 65 stayed up for about a year and a half, with considerable overlap before finally moving everything into the 220.

More Info:
I think I got my first tank when I was about seven. That one had a metal frame, and was filtered by a state-of-the-art plastic box in the back right corner, filled with glass-fibre "angel hair". (Other than being submersible - I don't think _heaters_ have changed very much since then!) That tank, with its steel frame, held fresh water - which is OK, because that's all anyone was keeping in those days. It wasn't until later, when tanks were made from glass and silicone, that saltwater began to take off - and the _colors_ of those blue damselfish!!! Being a kid with a paper route, I couldn't well afford such an expensive hobby, but had plenty of time during the summers to go down to the shore and collect native marine fish, from killies and pipefish to young flounders and blackfish (a cold-water wrasse). We'd even go out to Long Island once a year with the local Aquarium Society, and collect tropical fish that drifted north on the Gulf Stream: butterflies, sea-horses, Boston-bean boxfish, a few different kinds of filefish, lookdowns and even small barracuda.

I've had at least a freshwater tank ever since, but stepped away from salt while my kids were young, and then as my wife became more and more ill. After she passed away in 2015, the reef-bug bit pretty hard - it's probably my version of the "red sportscar".

There's one other thing that keeps me (mostly) sane: two kids (one of each) and two vibrant, delightful granddaughters.


~Bruce, who's utterly fascinated by the natural world, and gets a strong sense of satisfaction from helping others experience that wonder and find success in their own reefing endeavors