POLL: How long have you been REEFING?

[ZoWhat]

I remember the advice on blue actinic lighting in the mid/late 2000s... like 2007, 2008.

Pretty much everyone thought and told new comers that:

Blue actinic light just made the corals look better but did very very little to benefit the coral.

White light was the 99% of the beneficial light to use. Blast 'em with white, enjoy 'em with blues

Were talking the days of Compacts, MHs and T5s

 

[X-37B]

I ran halides back in the day and still do, lol.
I did get an OR3 blue plus light bar and it reminds me of the old actinics.
Using it for dawn dusk viewing as it does not change the look much when halides are on.

 

[Dburr1014]

I had my first reef about 94. Horrible experience. Started again in 2000 until 08. Divorce and started again about 7 years ago. I'm not quitting again, this is it.

 

[blueface]

1986 for my first Marine tank. Technology has really made it a lot easier.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Had my first tank when I was 5 years old. My dad setup my first tank, as it was only natural for him to get me a tank since he had one and he didn’t want a dog lol. It was gorgs and nems from the keys. This was in 1979. I went down to the beach and caught 2 sgt majors for it. One lived and that tank was up and running until I went to the marines and then all contents were transferred to his tank. Been keeping tanks ever since. My dad still is in the hobby and has some corals and nems from way back then.

 

[saltcats]

2 days will be the exact 3-month mark since getting my rock wet and cycling. Just got lights running the week before last, looking forward to seeing how my reef progresses.

 

[mabner]

Started with freshwater around 97, but reefing since the 7th of September :D little over 3 months and loving it! Already thinking of turning my wife’s freshwater into a nano.

 

[srad750c]

Fish tank as a kid, probably 8-9 years old, maintained reef tank in aquarium shop in early 90’s, 2 mini reefs of my own in 1991, 10 gallon Joubert system, 29 gallon mini with 175 MH, with one huge elegance coral, maxima clam, Ritteri anemone with two clowns, 3 royal grammas and coral beauty. 50 gallon mixed reef 1996-2000. No tank from 2000 until 2006. Stored my rock wet during that time. 90 gal LPS in 2006, LPS/SPS in 2014, been that way since then. One slight crash in 2019, still recovering, going to breakdown and restart Jan 2021 bare bottom? I’m going to frag my 3 favorite SPS corals and donate the rest as colonies to my buddy that owns my LFS.

 

[JayLu]

I started about 16 years ago, when power compact lights were popular. There were two books that really got me into this; one by Mike Paletta (The New Marine Aquarium) and the other by Bob Fenner (The Conscientious Marine Aquarist). I threw out the power compact light fixtures a while ago, but still have and admire both books.

 

[bsr2430]

Started in 2003-2004, I was only 11-12 years old, Right when Finding Nemo came out.
That movie forced me into this crazy hobby.
17+ Years.
The rest is history!