Tank Tales: What was your first tank like and how did it come about?

[pgravis]

My friend found some glass in his house and made a tank, and his wife was like “no way that’s coming in my house!”, so I took it. It lasted maybe 3 days before the seams failed and I had 50+ gallons of water on my floor. I was a total noob! Dumped maybe $100 bucks into the tank by that point. Anyway-he felt so horrible (and was shamed by his wife for letting me take it!) that he went out and bought me a 55. I started getting more into keeping fish (all freshwater at this point) and ended up at a lfs looking for better lights. From there it was all over and I found a used 65 and haven’t looked back yet!

 

[Evanbardiel]

My first tank for saltwater is this 20 gallon nano iv been building. I actually used patreon and my own money from my job, and bought the equipment over the course of a couple months. Im actually putting together another tank project while im finishing this one. Hoping to have it up and running my december.

 

[The_Skrimp]

I’m just getting back into the hobby after a long while away from it but my first tank I got when I was 20 working a job at the mall. I just saved up a little bit of money and bought a small 37 gal tank with some pretty simple filtration. I had a hang on back filter and skimmer and a T5 fluorescent light on it. I managed to keep it going till I moved out of state and sold it off. This new tank im starting up now is a 50 gal tank and actually has a sump and some decent lighting. I picked it up with a little bit of help from my stimulus check but I’ve been saving for a while cause I’ve wanted to get back into the hobby.

 

[newave]

It was more of an "I had just enough money" situation! Balling on a budget, I gues you could say.

Still on my first tank, slowly testing out the waters with a 3g pico, figuring out what I'd like my niche(s) to be.

 

[Haydn]

My new wife of 6 months bought me my first marine tank (I think she's regretted it ever since ) as a belated 21st birthday present (I'm 71 now and still married to her!)

It was a state of the art 3'x1'x 15" stainless steel framed one - it went rusty in about 2 months. I then bought an all glass 4'x2'x2', the LFS owner said when I got it 'you will never need to upgrade to one larger than that' Oh boy what did he know

What got me interested- easy, a lionfish and a cute little batfish!

 

[Doctorgori]

Was that the place that used to be a roller skating rink? And they had absolutely huge freshwater fish like a couple of feet long swimming around the circumference of the store in a huge row of tanks plumbed together with big tubes the fish could swim through?

Naw; I wanna say its was the old "AA" spot...
Pardon the light plug for my fellow Arizonians LFS; every surviving LFS deserves it, esp. now

 

[madweazl]

1. What was your first tank like?
a) It was a small (29g I believe) acrylic tank that somebody had turned into an all-in-one by siliconing the overflow compartments on to the back. I found it in the local paper about 25 years ago and while it wasn't pretty in the back, it worked. I wanted to have a reef but I couldn't afford the lighting. That coupled with inexperience, led to quite a few dead corals.

2. What was the circumstance that got you into reefing?
a) I walked into a LFS to buy feeder mice for a reticulated python we owned. They had a huge saltwater variety and a gorgeous display reef. I had to have one.

 

[ZoWhat]

There should be Federal and State Laws protecting the general consumer from walking into a LFS and asking, "I'm thinking about doing saltwater for the first time....."

There should be a packet of information, a 1-800 number and an assigned Government Social Worker for ppl to educate themselves that they're about to embark into a world much much worse than any TimeShare contract....

Lololololololololol

 

[Westiereefer]

ive had a few freshwater tanks over the years but my first saltwater tank I found on gun tree while looking for a new turtle tank.

so I bought a run down established tank with live stock a custom 3.6ftx2x2.2 then the saltwater bug bit me and I’m now in my upgrade phase I’m currently in the process of a new build

 

[ElussssvReefSD]

There should be Federal and State Laws protecting the general consumer from walking into a LFS and asking, "I'm thinking about doing saltwater for the first time....."

There should be a packet of information, a 1-800 number and an assigned Government Social Worker for ppl to educate themselves that they're about to embark into a world much much worse than any TimeShare contract....

Lololololololololol

100% this! Not sure it would’ve stopped me though LoL.

I’ve been obsessed with big reef tanks since I was a little kid and spent a summer camp at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago... it was a lost cause after that: had my first goldfish soon after —> betta bowls, —> full-on community freshwater, —> African Cichlids (nothing cuter than a bunch of big-eyed baby African cichlids eyeballing you, felt like a proud Papa), —> my first 75G FOWLR in college, —> 120G FOWLR upgrade, —> a decade of long work hours, and tiny apts w/out room for fishes (I call these the “dark times” haha), —> now finally spec out and planning my dream system!!

Now, what’d I do with that 1-800 number...

 

[dugaldb]

I'd kept freshwater tanks for a few years and kept admiring the saltwater tanks in various magazines. So, with far too little research, I went to Petco and bought a 40g tank and stand on sale, whatever the cheapest canister filter was at the time, and a heater. After cycling I ran FOWLR for a while, then I learned more and got a proper light and skimmer and started adding softies.

My lack of research definitely caused a lot of problems. When I graduated college and moved I dismantled the tank and gave away the livestock. But the addiction was started and I haven't looked back.

 

[Nilo S]

I grew up having freshwater aquariums (those were NOT well-cared for by my dad lol), then I started scuba diving when I was 12 and fell in love with reefs. When I was around 15, I found a reasonably priced red sea max 130 (used) and my parents paid half the price as a gift on my birthday.

I had that tank for 5 years or so, couldn't care for it once I got my first full-time job during college, so I sold it soon after that.

Here's a picture of it at around the 3-year mark:

 

[Rjramos]

I graduated from high school in 1989. That summer I started working full-time as a lifeguard at a beach community, Surfside, here in Miami. Some of the lifeguards there, had set up a 20 gal aquarium in the lifeguard room with an under gravel filter, coral skeletons and broken conch shells. These guys would beach dive and collect all kinds of beautiful tropicals between 100-300 yards from shore. Queen angels, french angels, neon gobies, Pork fish, etc. So, I liked the idea so much, I set up a 29 gal at home same way and started doing the same thing. I also started selling some of the tropicals I collected to local fish stores. Around 1994, I walked into a LFS, and saw a reef tank display for the first time. Basically,Metal halides, live rock and Protein Skimming. No SPS back then, LPS, Zoas and soft corals. I was hooked and had to have a reef of my own at home. I was given a 55 gal plexiglas tenecor aquarium. In 1995 I made a cabinet and hood for it. I Bought an Icecap 430 ballast and 3 VHO bulbs, a 110 Top Fathom skimmer, and a 3mdqx little giant pump. I put everything together myself and then picked up some premium Fiji live rock from a friend that had given up because things got too warm when his A/C broke down. About a year after this, I added a 1/6 horsepower chiller. Since then I have always had a reef tank. As a matter of fact, this plastic tank has been replaced with a 65 gal custom glass tank twice on the same cabinet that I made. It is set up at a Fire Station and is absolutely beautiful! The only major change is that a refugium was added to the system, LED’s were added, and the chiller eliminated. The same Venturi 110 Top Fathom skimmer is still running. Here are some pictures.
1994

Same set up today.65 gal peninsula

 

[CoralVue_Marketing]

1. What was your first tank like?

My first reef aquarium was a Current USA AquaPod with a SunPod Metal Halide fixture. It was 24-Gallons. Here is a picture of me and David Saxby with the tank around 2008. I was (and probably still am) a beginner, so I was stoked when he came over and said I had the best looking nano reef in the office. We posed for this picture and then he pointed out I had flatworms.

For flow, I had a couple of Hydor Koralias. I ran a small Maxi-Jet in the back sometimes. I had a Hydor FLO on the return. For biological filtration, I had real live rock and CaribSea live sand. For mechanical and chemical filtration, I used PURA Filtration Pads. That's it. No skimmer. No reactor. No sponges, bricks, blocks, or cubes. No UV. No scubber. I fed heavy. I did water changes routinely every 1-2 weeks.

I had pair of clowns, a Springer's Dottyback, Midas Blenny, Royal Gramma, and a Scooter Blenny. The corals are basically whatever my friends and coworkers gave me, which is how I've done it ever since (with some exceptions). The only dosing I did in that tank was Prodibio BioKit (following their schedule) and a capful of Purple Up each day. I had a Pom-Pom Crab named Claire. I had a Coral Branded Shrimp (Corey Feldman), a Cleaner Shrimp (Corey Haim), and a Peppermint Shrimp (Cory Matthews). I had a clean-up crew with all the usual suspects.

When I reflect on my experiences keeping this aquarium, I think that the live rock played a huge role in keeping the water clean. I overstocked the tank and fed a ridiculous amount yet didn't have algae issues. There were tons of brittle starfish, sponges, pods, and other mysterious creatures living in that rock. I think that a powerful light in the proper spectrum can make up for a lot of inexperience, both in growing corals but also in not growing algae.

2. What was the circumstance that got you into reefing?

I quit a great e-commerce job with zero commute about 4 years in because I was young and dumb. I worked at a few dot coms after that, but none captured the magic I felt working at Newegg or my college newspaper. In 2007, I accepted a jack-of-all-trades marketing role at MarineDepot.com. They were fun, the building was right next to Angel Stadium, plus my family had kept freshwater aquariums since I was a kid--so it seemed like a good fit! They didn't want their marketing to be inauthentic, so they got me a tank for my desk so I could learn on the job. Although i didn't always follow their advice, I had a lot of great mentors: Ben Ros, Robert Farnsworth, and Scott Brang, to name a few. Royce Suzuki, who heads up marketing now at Innovative Marine, started @ MD about the same time and was a groomsman in my wedding. Marine Depot used to sell livestock back then. If someone ordered and cancelled after we'd already picked up the fish from the wholesaler, it would go into a temporary tank but be sold in a day or two to another customer. Occausionally, though, a fish wouldn't sell ... so one of us would get to keep it! We also had Catalina Water on the premises which made water changes fast and easy.

 

[Dragon52]

My first tank was a 35gl I started back in the 70s after going to work at a LFS. Had some Damsels & clowns in it. Lasted about a yr & then went bigger.

 

[Corals Anonymous]

My first tank was a 10 gallon aiptasia tank, I used to it breed aiptasia so that I could have a steady supply to feed/breed berghia Nudibranchs.

I live in a house with 4 other reefers, I’ve always had the “builder” skill, and they’ve always asked me to do the plumbing, hang lights, build stands, and repair/customize their tanks. I was just doing it to help out my friends, because I had the skill/ability to do so(like in a video game, the archer does the archer tasks, the mage does the mage tasks, the warrior does the warrior tasks).

Then later, one of them had the idea of breeding berghia nudibranchs so we can always have them because they always have aiptasia issues. He bought a book about breeding berghia and the book had schematics on breeding chambers that had a gentle filtration system that won’t kill the baby berghia. I read the whole book, researched online berghia and aiptasia, and went on to build 2 breeding chambers and used an old 10 gallon with its own sump attached to put aiptasia in.

I was told in the beginning that it was a project that all 4 of us would be doing together, little did I know that they were all so busy that it became a project that only I was doing, from start to finish. After 2 batches of 10 berghia that we bought died, I went on to researching just how sensitive salt water creatures are, and managed on the 3rd try to turn 10 berghia into 300 within a few months.

After seeing the success from the work of my hands, I got super interested and because I had friends with knowledge and experience to learn from, I kept asking questions, kept offering to do parameter checks, make salt water, do water changes, feed corals, troubleshoot corals that we’re having trouble, watched hours of videos online, and started building my own reef tank. And have been learning more and more ever since.

 

[Dbichler]

My first tank was in 2006. Newly married and first kid on the way. Told the wife a fish tank would be a great night light. She completely disagreed of course but said fine after about the 1000th time I bugged her. Been hooked ever since her still not too much.

wish I still had that purple with green tips bta

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I started my obsession with my current twenty gallon nano reef. I first was interested in keeping a saltwater aquarium when I saw a beautiful pico reef on Pinterest. Needless to say, I have been hooked for three years. The tank first started out with some sand from Bear Lake (worked great) and a tiny bit of rock, some hermits, and caulerpa macroalgae. Eventually I figured out how to keep the nitrates and phosphates low and my tank then was able to keep corals. It is currently going through a dinoflagellates outbreak but it is getting a little better.

 

[Jen1978]

Had freshwater as a kid and was getting ready to move back to my mothers house to take care of her in her golden years. While cleaning out the basement I found our old aquariums and decided I wanted to use the old 20 gal for a saltwater tank and get a small 10 gallon for freshwater glo fish. Well, before I even moved, my son gave me an empty 55 to set up, my 10 gallon is my QT and the 20 is still empty. I may buy a new stand for the 20 eventually and put it in the grandkids room for freshwater when they get old enough to help care for it when they come over. After 10 months of research, planning, and waiting to move, the 55 is set up and cycling still.

 

[The Fish Tank Hobbyist]

What was my first tank like?

Well, it is actually the only tank I have owned! In fact, I just made it through the first year anniversary and recently I shot a 1 year tank update if anyone is interested.

How did my tank come about?
It’s been interesting to say the least. It actually was an idea I had after loosing both of my parents in a very short time span. I had inherited a wine cabinet and for some reason I thought it looked like it would make a great stand for a fish tank which ultimately turned into a reef tank.

I think I also watched too many episodes of the Animal Planet show “Tanked!” So I decided to get creative with an etched wine bottle that represented my current family at home that sits inside my tank.

My tank is definitely a little creative and so far I have had really good success! (AND KNOCK ON WOOD TO THAT)

All of my rock is actually Marine Pure carved out to look like rock and I have also been dosing “All For Reef”.

As mentioned, if anyone is interested you can check out the video I made from above. Make sure to click HD for the best viewing experience. I appreciate all of the help I have received on this forum and maybe my video can also help a few folks out. I go into the specifics of how I dose the “All For Reef“ as well as how I avoid clogging lines with that set up and I also show a few DIY projects that have helped me out.

Thanks so much reef2reef for being a great resource to us all and reef on everybody!