What made you realize you love the salt water aquarium hobby

[Gumbies R Us]

There comes a point with almost everyone in this hobby where we start to realize, "I love this hobby and what I do in it". I am wondering what was the moment that made you fall in love with the salt water aquarium hobby! For me, it is when I finally got to set up my tank and got to watch it go from just an empty glass container to a container that has life in it.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I have always loved the ocean and wanted to be a Marine Biologist or Oceanographer as a child. Sadly my path in life didn't take me there, so this is the closest I get. Surrounded by five great fresh water lakes!

 

[_cpate3_]

I have always loved the ocean and wanted to be a Marine Biologist or Oceanographer as a child. Sadly my path in life didn't take me there, so this is the closest I get. Surrounded by five great fresh water lakes!

Literally my same story!!! Except I realized I wanted a pet in college, but not just a goldfish or Betta I wanted more. Sooooooo here I am with almost $1,000 piled into a fish tank that could die overnight! Ahh the choices we hobbyists make

 

[shakacuz]

i really resonate with anything that has to do with the sea. weirdly enough i never wanted to be a marine biologist or anything along the lines. keeping a reef was my way to have a piece of the ocean in my home.

 

[alain Bouchard]

was looking for a way to waste money...

 

[revhtree]

For me it was was 3 things...

1. Clownfish and Anemones
2. Watching Xenia Pulse
3. Watching animals grow in my aquarium

 

[rtparty]

One day, I sprung from my bed and stubbed my toe so hard I thought I broke it. As I sat there in pain I began to like it. Then I started loving it and realized it felt just like reefing!

Been hooked ever since.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

One day, I sprung from my bed and stubbed my toe so hard I thought I broke it. As I sat there in pain I began to like it. Then I started loving it and realized it felt just like reefing!

Been hooked ever since.

That is one way to make you like it haha

 

[Gumbies R Us]

i really resonate with anything that has to do with the sea. weirdly enough i never wanted to be a marine biologist or anything along the lines. keeping a reef was my way to have a piece of the ocean in my home.

I can agree with this! Never had interest in being a marine biologist either, but always loved aquariums and sea life growing up

 

[Jeremy_d]

There comes a point with almost everyone in this hobby where we start to realize, "I love this hobby and what I do in it". I am wondering what was the moment that made you fall in love with the salt water aquarium hobby! For me, it is when I finally got to set up my tank and got to watch it go from just an empty glass container to a container that has life in it.

Very easily could have been the vibrant colors of the fish and corals, but it’s the amount of life you can get in a reef system. A total ecosystem. You can do that with freshwater but it’s just not the same. From the big trigger fish to the copepods I love it all

 

[anabechara]

For me it was a mix of things...
1. Saving my clownfish (Wally was sick when I bought her, I don't know what she had and I don't really know what I did, but she lived! Her mate sadly didn't)
2. The day I brought a GSP home.
3. And he started to grow...

 

[blaxsun]

When my fish spit water at me to get my attention (saltwater fish are basically wet dogs).

 

[christwendt]

I’ve always loved fish and found aquariums relaxing. I was on mushrooms and went to a friends buddies house that had a tank while tripping haha. He let me hold his hermit crabs and touch his torches. I was mind blown that it was alive. That’s how it started

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

When my fish spit water at me to get my attention (saltwater fish are basically wet dogs).

My toby(solandri) used to do that all of the time. He would dance like a bobber at the water line spitting at me if I dangled krill for him

 

[dennislagoon]

Once I saw a bunch of clownfish at the marine section of a zoo when I was still was a kid, I knew one day I would have a salt water tank too.

I have always been into fish tanks, wether it would be fresh or salt water. To have a piece of river, lake or ocean in your own home has always revived the child in me.

 

[Alexraptor]

When I found myself spending more time staring at the rock, than at my corals.

 

[c4haskett]

My passion came from a christmas present to my 4 year old son at the time. I got him (and Me lol) a goldfish tank for christmas one year. This was not the first tank I've had but the first tank where we were on well water. For some reason the water was always cloudy and I was determined to fix it, so I embarked on a YouTube journey. Several hours in I stumbled across Drew's Lagoon 25 gal IM build. From that moment, I never thought about those poor goldfish again. That was about 3 years ago. The passion hasn't stopped since.

 

[christwendt]

My passion came from a christmas present to my 4 year old son at the time. I got him (and Me lol) a goldfish tank for christmas one year. This was not the first tank I've had but the first tank where we were on well water. For some reason the water was always cloudy and I was determined to fix it, so I embarked on a YouTube journey. Several hours in I stumbled across Drew's Lagoon 25 gal IM build. From that moment, I never thought about those poor goldfish again. That was about 3 years ago. The passion hasn't stopped since.

Man Drew’s lagoon is what I followed initially too. Wonder what happened to him.

 

[christwendt]

My passion came from a christmas present to my 4 year old son at the time. I got him (and Me lol) a goldfish tank for christmas one year. This was not the first tank I've had but the first tank where we were on well water. For some reason the water was always cloudy and I was determined to fix it, so I embarked on a YouTube journey. Several hours in I stumbled across Drew's Lagoon 25 gal IM build. From that moment, I never thought about those poor goldfish again. That was about 3 years ago. The passion hasn't stopped since.

I got close haha. My first tank following Drew’s lagoon.

 

[7of9]

I've always found aquariums relaxing and fascinating and ocean life amazing. I'm a very pale redhead, so going out to experience sea life just isn't that easy for me, but having an aquarium allows me to watch the critters away from the evil burning orb that is the sun.

I also love gardening, but again, I burn up in the sun. Along with my houseplants, corals give me something to tend and watch grow away from the sun.

I'm also a big geek and saltwater tanks tick so many geeky boxes for me. I can study the chemistry, the ecology, the biology, and even get into the mechanical systems and now automation.

But how did I know I got hooked? The first time I had live rock in my tank and I was fascinated even by just the tiny life in it, before I'd even added anything to it.