My beginning, what is yours?

[John Carroll]

I began my journey into saltwater tanks shortly after returning from a humanitarian mission to the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea in 2004. My first night was spent in a Chinese run hotel in Pyongyang. While staying there I saw a small tank with a large Green Sea Turtle in it. The turtle could swim up and down but it could not turn. There wasn't enough room. That image stayed with me for the next 2 months until I got back to my home in Anchorage Alaska. Shortly after I got back home there was a dollar a gallon sale at Petco. I bought a 55 gallon with stock lighting, a Marineland Penguin 400 filter, a heater, a bucket of Instant Ocean, and 60 lbs of bagged "live sand" (a term that I have never heard prior to this point). They didn't have any "live rock" (another new word) so I had to go to another pet store a few miles down the road for that. That store had Fiji live rock that was $9 per pound for "base rock" (another new term) and $13 per pound for "live rock". Me being the smart and frugal newb wasn't going to let them sell me "base rock". The Petco guy told me "live rock" not "base rock" so this guy wasn't going to trick me. I then saw a rock with a cool looking baby anemones (later learned it was Aiptasia) on it. There were probably 6-10 Aiptasia on this rock and since all of the other anemones in the store cost a lot of money I just knew that buying this rock was the smartest thing that I could do. I also knew that I couldn't afford to buy 55 pounds of rock so I bought that one 9 pound, $13 per pound, Aiptasia infested rock and 3 clownfish. I went home, put the sand in the tank, placed my single rock on the sand, and started making salt water one pitcher at a time straight from the tap. I floated my 3 clowns for 30 minutes and then poured them in. The next week I went and bought a saltwater book. Holy crap, I was fed a bunch of garbage. That is how I learned. I now have multiple tanks ranging from a 6 gallon Mushroom tank to a 125 SPS dominated. I have come a long way and learned a bunch. What is your story?

Instructions given to me that day-
Must have 1 pound of "live sand" per gallon.
Must have 1 pound of "live rock" per gallon.
If you have live rock and live sand you can stock your tank that day.
Aiptasia will eventually grow up and host Clownfish.
Clownfish are best kept in odd numbers to prevent fighting

Things that I have learned since, some fact, some opinion
Bagged live sand should be called wet sand.
White "base rock" should be called wet rock.
The pound per gallon rule really depends on how porous the rock is.
Don't stock on day 1
I still hate Aiptasia
There is no such thing as "Dry live rock".
Rock is either live or dry but not both.
"Dry Live Rock" should be called...rock


John

 

[Brew12]

I began my journey into saltwater tanks shortly after returning from a humanitarian mission to the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea in 2004. My first night was spent in a Chinese run hotel in Pyongyang. While staying there I saw a small tank with a large Green Sea Turtle in it. The turtle could swim up and down but it could not turn. There wasn't enough room. That image stayed with me for the next 2 months until I got back to my home in Anchorage Alaska. Shortly after I got back home there was a dollar a gallon sale at Petco. I bought a 55 gallon with stock lighting, a Marineland Penguin 400 filter, a heater, a bucket of Instant Ocean, and 60 lbs of bagged "live sand" (a term that I have never heard prior to this point). They didn't have any "live rock" (another new word) so I had to go to another pet store a few miles down the road for that. That store had Fiji live rock that was $9 per pound for "base rock" (another new term) and $13 per pound for "live rock". Me being the smart and frugal newb wasn't going to let them sell me "base rock". The Petco guy told me "live rock" not "base rock" so this guy wasn't going to trick me. I then saw a rock with a cool looking baby anemones (later learned it was Aiptasia) on it. There were probably 6-10 Aiptasia on this rock and since all of the other anemones in the store cost a lot of money I just knew that buying this rock was the smartest thing that I could do. I also knew that I couldn't afford to buy 55 pounds of rock so I bought that one 9 pound, $13 per pound, Aiptasia infested rock and 3 clownfish. I went home, put the sand in the tank, placed my single rock on the sand, and started making salt water one pitcher at a time straight from the tap. I floated my 3 clowns for 30 minutes and then poured them in. The next week I went and bought a saltwater book. Holy crap, I was fed a bunch of garbage. That is how I learned. I now have multiple tanks ranging from a 6 gallon Mushroom tank to a 125 SPS dominated. I have come a long way and learned a bunch. What is your story?

Instructions given to me that day-
Must have 1 pound of "live sand" per gallon.
Must have 1 pound of "live rock" per gallon.
If you have live rock and live sand you can stock your tank that day.
Aiptasia will eventually grow up and host Clownfish.
Clownfish are best kept in odd numbers to prevent fighting

Things that I have learned since, some fact, some opinion
Bagged live sand should be called wet sand.
White "base rock" should be called wet rock.
The pound per gallon rule really depends on how porous the rock is.
Don't stock on day 1
I still hate Aiptasia
There is no such thing as "Dry live rock".
Rock is either live or dry but not both.
"Dry Live Rock" should be called...rock


John

My story is so boring compared to that. Not really sure when I decided I wanted a salt water aquarium, but it has been a desire of mine for a long time. With my son finally getting his drivers license I felt like I had the time to pull the trigger. So, I started doing my homework and came across this forum called Reef2Reef. A few weeks after hiding in the shadows on that interesting forum, I found an add for a great deal on a 120g, 6ft long aquarium with all the gadgets, including an Apex.
So, I created a profile and introduced myself.
I asked questions about substrate and rocks. Got pointed to some great vendors here that are also sponsors.
Made a few mistakes cycling my tank, but nothing major. I used a shrimp (as I saw recommended here. Never again).
Got a too small clean up crew, but that was my fault. I didn't understand the advice I was given. So beefed that up recently.
Have been fascinated by the level of knowledge of both Humblefish and Melypr so stocked up with the recommended meds and set up a QT. Actually, set up 2 QT's prior to getting my first fish. That taught me that I really don't like TTM. Way too much work.
Got my first SPS in the tank 5 days after it went wet. I still have that green slimmer frag 3 months later. Kinda proud of that fact.
Finally picked up some fish and started stocking the tank. Everything has been through QT (as far as fish go). No deaths in the DT, I have lost a few in my QT systems.
Thanks in large part to the advice I've gotten here I have only had 2 real problems. First, I have been horribly overfeeding my fish and have the algae to prove it. That is under control now. Second is my skimmer. What a pain. Really wish I had someone local I could rely on to show me the proper way to set it up and what I should look for as far as skimmate goes.

Hmmm... guess I'll post this. Hopefully reading this will help people fall asleep. boring. zzzzzzzz

 

[Salty1962]

My journey began in 1987. I'd been in fresh water for many years and wanted to start up a thing called a "Saltwater Tank". I lived in Atlanta, GA at the time and there weren't many saltwater shops even there. I got a 30L and installed a, get this!!, LOL!!!, under gravel filter. Yes they were still the thing back then. I started off with some Dominos and a Blue Devil. A few years later I updated to a 125 FOWLR, no.. no gravel filter. It was all up hill from there. I didn't get into any types of corals until we moved here in 1997. After a few years of softies I moved up to the big leagues. At the time our local club was on fire and we had frag swaps every month. That's how I got into SPS corals. Today I very blessed to have a thriving reef tank that, for the most part, is flourishing.