What got you into reef keeping
- Thread starter Armydogracing
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fish farmer
2500 Club Member
I became fascinated with sharks and fish in general at a young age. A friend of the family who was a science teacher was the fish geek, that got me into fishing and fish/critter keeping.
He gave me several metal rimmed tanks and 60's era booklets on fishkeeping around 1980, when I was 11 years old. I had a pirahna tank first and next tank was a 20 gallon SW he helped me setup. I played with that for a couple years. I then converted most every tank I had(about 4 or 5 tanks) into FW and kept tropical and local FW fish until around college when I tried the 20 gal SW again which I killed off in a semester. My final year of college I figured it out and had a DIY trickle filter on a 38 gallon FOWLR, even though it didn't officially have true live rock, I added some local Rhode Island stones which seeded the tank with pods and algae.
Once I graduated with my Bachelor's in Aquaculture and Fisheries the tank got taken down and I moved onto professional care of fishes. I had a couple of brief FW setups at various jobs sites.
Fast forward to 2000, where I had been settled for several years and making money. I happened to check out a few pets stores in the area and noticed that reefkeeping had advanced since the early 90's. I bought a few magazines with reef articles, I had Albert Thiel's book in my library, plus other marine books and my old 38 gal with trickle filter. I poured through the articles, found online sources of info like reefs.org and stayed up many nights worrying about the money and time commitment that a reef would entail.
I'm still here....and still keeping those dang green striped mushrooms and brown palys alive since 2000.
He gave me several metal rimmed tanks and 60's era booklets on fishkeeping around 1980, when I was 11 years old. I had a pirahna tank first and next tank was a 20 gallon SW he helped me setup. I played with that for a couple years. I then converted most every tank I had(about 4 or 5 tanks) into FW and kept tropical and local FW fish until around college when I tried the 20 gal SW again which I killed off in a semester. My final year of college I figured it out and had a DIY trickle filter on a 38 gallon FOWLR, even though it didn't officially have true live rock, I added some local Rhode Island stones which seeded the tank with pods and algae.
Once I graduated with my Bachelor's in Aquaculture and Fisheries the tank got taken down and I moved onto professional care of fishes. I had a couple of brief FW setups at various jobs sites.
Fast forward to 2000, where I had been settled for several years and making money. I happened to check out a few pets stores in the area and noticed that reefkeeping had advanced since the early 90's. I bought a few magazines with reef articles, I had Albert Thiel's book in my library, plus other marine books and my old 38 gal with trickle filter. I poured through the articles, found online sources of info like reefs.org and stayed up many nights worrying about the money and time commitment that a reef would entail.
I'm still here....and still keeping those dang green striped mushrooms and brown palys alive since 2000.
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