Rookie reef: What size was your first aquarium?

[Sharkbait19]

My first reef tank was a Fluval 13.5. My very first tank in general was a 55 gallon freshwater aquarium.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

My first "aquarium" was a bucket full of minnows.

Then I upgraded to a goldfish bowl.

My first saltwater tank was a 13 gallon oceanic biocube

 

[Cherie cook]

When I was a kid you could order seahorses that were pregnant from the back of comic books. They would be delivered with a packet of salt to be be added to whatever water you had available. I hate to even think of the life expectancy of those poor darlings in my earliest attempts at keeping saltwater tanks.

 

[carbasaurus]

My first tank was a JBJ 24 gallon tank. Originally bought for my son but soon became my tank!!! I made every newby mistake despite reading several books as I got started. The worst and saddest was importing brooklynella into the tank which wiped out my first round of fish. Almost quit the hobby, but thankfully soldiered on.

Best memory was the pair of yellow watchman gobies that started breeding regularly.

Funniest memory was getting excited about a small anemone I found growing on the live rock in my new cycling tank. I even feed it some mysis only to learn later that aptaisia was not a lucky wondrous hitchhiker

Moment I realized I was a hopeless reefer. I was at work and we had a moderate earthquake. I called home and my first question was “is the fish tank OK”. My wife will never let me forget that.

 

[BaliReefBox]

My first reef tank venture was in my fraternity house in the late 80's it was a cinderblock wall with 3 tanks in it. Each tank was 48x10x10 - That's right in the old days these were for housing bettas - long small tanks - I had them stacked on top of each other and water flowed from tank to tank to tank to sump - which was full of DLS rolls back in the day.

That tank wasn't successful. So when I moved out of the frat house I got a 75g tall reef. I had the most tick colored yellow halide, that was bought from a company that supplied lights for parking lots. This time we upgraded and had bioballs instead of the DLS rolls.

This tank lasted 2 years and then upgraded to a 125 High. The 125 was a wonderful tank, and while enjoying it eventually Protein Skimmers came to popularity, and at one point it even had a custome fluidized sand filter on it. This tank moved up to 2 metal halide bulbs - and the colors got a lot less *****. This tank also had a motorized pool ball valve on it and every 1/2 hour the water shifted from the left side of the tank to the right side.

The 125 lasted 6.5 years until I got into the colored sticks. It was upgraded to a 360, which lasted a year before the seams started to go bad and was replaced under warranty - but we upgraded to a 400g. The poorly built 400g from the same crappy builder lasted 20 years, before it started bowing too much to be comfortable.

We got nervous about the 400 and in a panic replaced it with a 560g tall on Xmas eve. The was a beautiful tank at 36" tall. Just stunning. But after a double disaster losing all fish and corals within 36 hours the wife pushed me to build my final tank.

So we went to a 750 last fall.

ya rock on the end is loose and making me dizzy watching it go back and foward...nice box ya got there

 

[craiginphoenix]

Read the question wrong, my first aquarium was a 10 gallon like most people probably had as a kid, but my first reef tank was a 36 gallon bowfront that I just upgraded 3 months ago.

I don't even really think of freshwater vs saltwater as the same hobby. It is like playing checkers vs chess.

 

[findingsimple]

~150 gallon - crazy, stupid, both?

Of course everyone tells you bigger is better

 

[JoJosReef]

Fluval Evo 13.5g

 

[SeaShine]

My first freshwater tank was 10 gallons. It was a long time ago, I was about eleven and had lots of guppies. My first saltwater tank was about twenty years ago. It was a handmade AIO from a small shop in Brooklyn with a beautiful bowed front. It was supposed to be ten gallons but I think it's closer to seven. I still have it and use it for quarantine. I had a beautiful aquascape and a yellow sunflower coral that I grew from two heads to over forty in a pretty short time. That was A LOT of feeding. In less than a year my rock was full of holes and I had bristle worms that were the size of small snakes! (well, not really) When I tried to remove them they fought back by spewing something into the water as a warning to the others. I'd never seen anything like it. Clearly, they were not going anywhere and I had to take it down and started over. Although I was tempted when I set up my latest SW, while they're stunning, I decided no more sunflower corals, lol.

 

[Paul B]

My first "tank" was a bucket, but that was in about 1952 or so. My first real salt tank was a 40 gallon tank in 1971.

This one.


There were no "reefs" because corals and inverts came out many years later so it was fish only. It is still running today but the glass has been changed 3 times and now it is in a 125 gallon tank.

 

[jhadaway]

My parents have a 55 gallon with oscars when I was little that got me hooked. My first tank was a 10 gallon with striped convicts. I didn't take good care of them but they were baby makers. I've since had a 55 fresh, a big hex tank that went from discus freshwater to saltwater. Next was a 125 reef with metal halides and coralife actinic tubes. This is the tank that taught me to have 2 of everything. I came downstairs one afternoon and it looked like 125 gallons of milk. I turned right back around and went upstairs. 20 years later I got the reef bug again and bought a 25g waterbox penninsula to test the waters and see if I wanted to do it again and if I could be successful. Soooooo... now I'm in a waterbox 100.3 fighting aptasia and a little hair algae, otherwise it's exploding with growth now acros and all. A Molly Milly blenny is on the way to help me out. I've been eying up some tanks near the 200 gallon mark if I can find a place to put it (and hit the lottery). I also have a 5.5 gallon pico with softies, lps and some sps.

 

[jhadaway]

My first "tank" was a bucket, but that was in about 1952 or so. My first real salt tank was a 40 gallon tank in 1971.

This one.


There were no "reefs" because corals and inverts came out many years later so it was fish only. It is still running today but the glass has been changed 3 times and now it is in a 125 gallon tank.

That's pretty cool right there.

 

[rknapp]

After several 20 to 30 gallon freshwater tanks, my first venture into salt water was back in 1995 with a 90 gallon tank for which I broke most of the rules. It was started up with what turned out to be about 400 TDS tapwater used a canister filter, standard fluorescent tubes, and a hang on back skimmer. I had a lot of death in that tank. I slowly evolved it with better lighting and filtration as well as proper water filtration and flow. Upgraded 8 to 10 years ago to a 155. However, I still have a devils hand leather and cabbage coral from that original tank back in 95 that are now in my 155 and still growing and spawning like crazy.

 

[mattdg]

Where is the "I can't remember back that far" option?

 

[Totlxtc]

Wow...let's 1972 ish. 20 gallon with metal (assume chromed steel) edging everywhere.

Something like this...

Man, ain't that some groovy metalwork. Freshwater - naturally. Corner air filter with floss AND charcoal. Plastic plants, sand colored gravel (for that timeless natural look) and a ceramic tiki hut. Swordtails, neons, algae eater, tiger barbs, an angel fish and a platy I think. No snails, no water changes, and only the occasional cleaning. Kept it for 3 or 4 years. Loved it. Probably get a visit from SPCA today...probably more from the dog chained in the back yard than the fish though.

Same, it was my first freshwater tank on an old Singer Sewing Machine stand. First Saltwater tank was a 75g.

 

[kmzhq]

my first aquarium very small

 

[CoralB]

My first aquarium was a glass peanut butter jar with a small air operated plastic filter the one u put a little floss and a little carbon in . Back when peanut butter came in a glass jar . Can’t remember the brand but it was square and maybe held a liter of water . I had a small crayfish I caught at a creek near the house and a guppy my parents bought for me . I fed the guppy flake for from wardley and the crayfish got a piece of baloney . They also bought the air pump and filter .the air pump was small but was too much for the jar so back to the store to get a brass air gang valve .it was hooked up with air bleeding out one of the valves not hooked up to anything . i think I was 6 yrs old . I think it was a test that if I kept the occupants alive they would buy me a tank which they did I think three months later . A ten gallon metal framed tank with a slate bottom with a heater and a better filter . Sorry got carried away with a fond memory.

 

[vlangel]

My first reef tank was a 40 gallon XH that we bought around 1986 to be a freshwater angelfish tank. It was in the wall, which is a great look but wasn't very maintenance friendly. Around 1997 I converted it saltwater and began adding coral not to long after.
I haven't upgraded volume wise to much more as my current display tank is a 56 gallon column, but it does have a 30 gallon basement sump which makes water changes a breeze. No carrying or lifting water buckets, Hooray!

 

[silent1mezzo]

First saltwater was a 10g halfmoon that I kept at work. I think it was super successful because I kept my hands out of it most of the time.

 

[Reefing102]

26 gallon bow front for me