Reefing; Back in the Day...

[Neil Fox]

I actually built myself this Bad Boy. Complete with Bioballs and a Filtronics Mag Drive pump that replaced my old Little Giant.

 

[scchase]

Skilter was high tech, I have a Sanders skimmer from the early 90s somewhere in my boxes of junk.

 

[BluewaterLa]

Yup the good ole days, I remember being excited to get a new skimmer that didn't use a wooden air stone.
Remember those pain in the rear blocks clogging fast and needing frequent cleaning.
Crush coral was widely used as the substrate, how far we have come in just the last 20 years is impressive.

 

[steve&mari]

I had a skilter back in the day also lol. Too bad I know I don't have old pictures. Definitely a different time in reefing/fowler then. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

 

[Ljaus]

I didn't start reefing until 2004ish so things had changed a lot by then. I do however have a book that as soon as I open I get sent back in time. I bought it from an old shop that was closing down.

 

[markfmvl]

skilter?!!!! I still have mine and it is still running !!

 

[Purpletank]

Love that macro algae was kept alongside the corals in the display tank. Attempting to do the same in my new tank today.

 

[Todd A.]

Great video. I had no idea how relatively young this hobby is, and how far it has come in the past 15 - 20 years.

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Skilter! What a blast from the past. Love this thread. I'm going to have to dig up some old pics.

 

[Tahoe61]

In 1998 I walked into the Waikiki aquarium and asked if Charles Delbeek could sign a copy of The Reef Aquarium. Not only did he sign it but he spent the afternoon giving me a private tour.



My 150 gallon that same year.

 

[Neil Fox]

That's really cool and great looking tank! Charles actually came to my house around the same time my tank pictures were taken. There were a few reefers in the area at that time and he came from Toronto to see what we were doing. We actually went around visited a number of tanks in the area and also made a stop by Tropicorium to see Dick Perrin. I didn't realize until just seeing the MACNA video that was posted how important to reefing much of that stuff was that was going on back then. We used to get a lot of flack from members of the scientific community who claimed that it was impossible to keep corals for any length of time, let alone grow or propagate them . Really interesting times. I love these old tank shots!

 

[CenlaReefer]

I also have stacks of old photos somewhere, but I had found this one a while back of my first reef tank in the early '90s.



Another tank filled with leathers, mushrooms and polyps; mostly all brown and green.
Using hang on the back equipment, multiple powerheads and running 4 NO fluorescent bulbs using two twin-tube fixtures. I can remember the day upgraded to PC lighting, I was thrilled!!!

Wow. What made you want to go bare bottom back then? I did not know anyone was doing bare bottom in the 90s.

 

[Chrisfish]

Hi all,
I was going through some stuff at my Mom's and came up with these old pics I took of my reef back in 1991 or '92. I thought it would be fun to share them here so I scanned a few. Some are kinda faded but not bad for 25+ years old. Perhaps somebody else would like to add a few of there own.

They look awesome? Thanks for sharing them with us

 

[Chrisfish]

In 1998 I walked into the Waikiki aquarium and asked if Charles Delbeek could sign a copy of The Reef Aquarium. Not only did he sign it but he spent the afternoon giving me a private tour.



My 150 gallon that same year.

Wow, what a great tour!!

 

[jlanger]

Wow. What made you want to go bare bottom back then? I did not know anyone was doing bare bottom in the 90s.

To be honest, I have no idea why it was bare bottom.
Based on the fact that the lighting was still NO fluorescents, this was very soon after I upgraded to the 50gal from a 30gal. I eventually changed the lighting to MH for a short time before the PC lighting was released. When the tank was moved and the PC light fixture was added, I know I had added a sand bed.

 

[Joey waid]

I remember when you wanted algae on the sand bed. Now it's a curse.

 

[Ike]

Some of you may find this timeline interesting to see how the hobby has evolved through the years.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reefkeeping-history.108560/

For me there aren't many big things that have changed since the early 2000's, we've just made improvements and refinements on what was already in place.

 

[Ike]

Wow. What made you want to go bare bottom back then? I did not know anyone was doing bare bottom in the 90s.

Around that time most serious reefers were bare bottom. Guys like Sprung touted bare bottom as if it was essential for success. Then all the sudden a few years later everyone had plenums and deep sandbeds...

 

[mjk250]

Here's a few pics from my library of marine books, still amazingly in good condition since they've been around the hobby for around 60+ years now. Got these from a friend who passed away in 2014.
Wonder if it was easier or more difficult for those whom had marine tanks back then? Less opinions to confuse (internet forums), but at the same time, less info easily available to make you realize you really don't know enough ;-)

 

[Jimbo]

Here's a pic of my 125 from January 2000