What got you into reef keeping

Armydogracing · Nov 7, 2016

What got me into reef keeping

So I'll start this is a brief reason why I did and Im not very good with telling stories always short and to the point lol

I joined the Army in 99 11B hooah (lol) in 2002 I was deployed to Afghanistan upon returning in Nov of 2002 we had a brief break then was deployed to Kuwait until we went into Iraq in March then returned home in Aug of 03.

When I got home I didnt deal with things very well and consumed myself with alcohol, fighting, ect. I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and a TBI and they medically discharged me in 04.

I continued counseling at the VA for a couple years but decided to stop going cause I felt like it did nothing for me and all they wanted to do was put me on meds. About the only thing that counseling gave me was the counselor said that we should pick a meticulous hobby to help keep our mind off of things.

After some thought I decided on the saltwater hobby. Ive always had a love for the ocean and my go to stress reliever was surfing or just being in the water.

So in 2004 I set up my first 29g reef tank and man I always was messing with something (still do) it definitely helped with a lot of my demons by just keeping my mind busy ect

Today I have a 300DD with a 95g sump and a 60g frag tank all plumbed together.

Im curious to hear your stories and if there are any vets that got into the hobby for the same reasons I did or anyone elses story about what got you into the hobby

Ljaus · Nov 7, 2016

Originally I got into reefing keeping in 2003 and had various tanks until 2011, I did it because I loved the ocean and all it's life, I still do. I was absent from reefing for 5 years, still had the itch for it tho. In 2015 I was diagnosed with a rare, incurable chronic illness, I kept working until the start of 2016 until my illness progressed and I had to quit. That's when I decided to get into reefing again, I'm home all the time so I look at it everyday. Having a reef aquarium keeps me distracted, is a major stress relief and I have the time to enjoy it. I will never be able to snorkel or dive the reef ever again so this is the closest I can get.

troiusmaximus · Nov 7, 2016

Finding Nemo made me think it was actually possible. I'd always heard that saltwater was too hard.

Alfrareef · Nov 7, 2016

Since I can't dive everyday and reefing become more simple I've decided to bring the ocean to my living room.

cracker · Nov 7, 2016

I can say that reef keeping is a big release for me as well. Keeps me busy and is indeed a challenge. I started back in the late 70's in High School. It was a science project. My buddy Mike and I wanted to show that oysters could filter and keep an aquarium clean. Well we didn't get a very good grade but I have been interested in salt keeping ever since. Hey, I hope You Guys find some Peace of Mind and Body ! !

Mussin · Nov 7, 2016

I was always into big Central American chiclids. I had a 75g I kept different species in, from there moved into flowerhorns. Awesome fish but very mean and after a while 1 big fish in a 75 got old. A friend told me to come over and check out his 125 reef tank. One look and I was sold,.

Salty1962 · Nov 8, 2016

Marine Biology.

becks · Nov 8, 2016

I use to do it along time ago with my dad and always wanted my own one, then one day I said I'm going to do it and told my partner. I love it for watching the symbolic relationships, the fish and learning. It's such a fascinating hobby and it's so enjoyable to learn.

aquaman67 · Nov 8, 2016

@Armydogracing I'm glad you found a form of therapy that helps. Kinda expensive therapy - but whatever works right? Cars or motorcycles wouldn't have been any cheaper.

My dad always had freshwater tanks. Discus and Angles.

When I got out of the Army in 1998 I started a freshwater tank. My wife's sister had a 29 gallon tank she gave me. She would get fish and then get bored and let it slide into decline. Then rinse and repeat.

Going to the LFS, my wife wound always want me to get a saltwater fish. Finally I started researching on the internet. Had it not been for all the information and advice available on the internet, I would have never tried. I read for about a year before I started collecting everything I needed.

My first saltwater tank was started in 2002. The clown fish I started with in 2002 are still with me today. I must be doing something right.

Armydogracing · Nov 8, 2016

Yeah probably so but you cant watch cars and motorcycles grow lol. Fragging the corals is just one more task to do when they get to big

tripdad · Nov 8, 2016

Saw my first "reef tank" back in 1983,I was hooked! The sheer diversity of life that is possible in my glass box keeps me interested. I find all of it amazing, especially the oddball stuff.

Paul B · Nov 8, 2016

My family had a sea food business so I grew up in the store playing with dead fish. We also sold live crabs, lobsters and snails so I would put my toy soldiers on the floor and let the crabs crash into them, then I would shoot the crabs with my little cannon. The crabs hated that. On Fridays I would go to the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan to get the fish. They would unload the ships right on the sidewalk and men would pick them up with snow shovels to put in wooden crates. There would also be live sea turtles on the sidewalk that I would play with. They were unfortunately for soup.
I was always surrounded by fish and I always had a tank. Usually I would find something alive in the piles of fish and I would bring it home. Sometimes crabs but occasionally a seahorse.
As for being a Vet, when I got out of Viet Nam in 71 saltwater fish were just being imported. Only one store in Manhattan had them. That is when I got my first blue devils and that was the beginning.
This is one of those first blue devils imported over his nest of eggs, Circa 1972

NHreefguy · Nov 8, 2016

Armydogracing said:
What got me into reef keeping

So I'll start this is a brief reason why I did and Im not very good with telling stories always short and to the point lol

I joined the Army in 99 11B hooah (lol) in 2002 I was deployed to Afghanistan upon returning in Nov of 2002 we had a brief break then was deployed to Kuwait until we went into Iraq in March then returned home in Aug of 03.

When I got home I didnt deal with things very well and consumed myself with alcohol, fighting, ect. I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and a TBI and they medically discharged me in 04.

I continued counseling at the VA for a couple years but decided to stop going cause I felt like it did nothing for me and all they wanted to do was put me on meds. About the only thing that counseling gave me was the counselor said that we should pick a meticulous hobby to help keep our mind off of things.

After some thought I decided on the saltwater hobby. Ive always had a love for the ocean and my go to stress reliever was surfing or just being in the water.

So in 2004 I set up my first 29g reef tank and man I always was messing with something (still do) it definitely helped with a lot of my demons by just keeping my mind busy ect

Today I have a 300DD with a 95g sump and a 60g frag tank all plumbed together.

Im curious to hear your stories and if there are any vets that got into the hobby for the same reasons I did or anyone elses story about what got you into the hobby

Thank you for your service.

Armydogracing · Nov 8, 2016

Everyon

NHreefguy said:
Thank you for your service.

Thank you

Armydogracing · Nov 8, 2016

Thanks for all who shared so far hope to hear some more from others :)

Chrisfish · Nov 8, 2016

NHreefguy said:
Thank you for your service.

+1:)

tankstudy · Nov 8, 2016

Armydogracing said:
What got you into reef keeping

I got tricked one day when I was trying to setup a Ranchu tank to do saltwater instead. 6 years later, still here.

Maritimer · Nov 8, 2016

First off, Armydogracing, my thanks to you and all who stand up to those who would bring harm to America...

I've been into biology of one sort or another since before I can remember. In fact, my very earliest memory is of sitting in my playpen with "The How and Why WonderBook of Dinosaurs", and one of the next ones after that is of being held by my father above the beluga whale tank at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. "Whoosh!" - and three-year-old me with a face full of whale boogers. Coolest. Thing. Ever!

I've had fish in glass boxes pretty much continuously since I was seven or so, and the glass boxes came with steel frames and slate bottoms. Filters were boxes that sat in the corner with glass-fibers to trap the detritus and a little bit of carbon so the water would look less like tea. As I've evolved, so has fishkeeping, and now I can have a tiny sample of one of the world's most diverse and colorful living communities in my living room?

Sign me up!

~Bruce

ReeferMaddness843 · Nov 8, 2016

Started freshwater after I shut down my home studio. Was fun and ended up running, I believe, 6 tanks. Started one small saltwater tank in the mix. A 6 gal jbj. Then got a 14 gal. Someone, not mentioning names cleaned a countertop next to my 46 bow front planted cichlid tank and crashed it. Then had a power outage that finished it off. Was a very sad day. Then a friend offered me a "larger tank" for free. Went to pick up and turned out to be a 90 gal acrylic. Been stuck ever since.
From this:

To this:

Clownfiish · Nov 8, 2016

troiusmaximus said:
Finding Nemo made me think it was actually possible. I'd always heard that saltwater was too hard.

Lol me too. Find nemo and dory is what got me into the hobby but before I loved tank builds and breeding freshwater fish. After this new finding dory movie man I'm addicted to saltwater