What was the reason you started a tank?

[littlefoxx]

Parents had a pond with goldfish when i was growing up and that snowballed into getting my first aquarium and went down the long and windy planted freshwater aquarium road, but every time I saw a saltwater display or fish online I always thought they had a look you just couldn't get in freshwater. Saw an over the top nano on youtube a couple of years ago and the colors just blew me away, I couldn't believe you could keep live coral in an aquarium at home and I was hooked the second I saw it. There is a very certain feeling you get looking at a marine display or a coral upfront that you just don't get anywhere else it's almost like looking into an alien planet.

Agree 100% I made the shift from fresh to salt and never looked back

 

[Roatan Reef]

Started Freshwater, still have a 125 mixed South American Cichlid tank to this day. Been in Freshwater for over 18 years.

Always loved Saltwater, but thought it was too complex and hard to do back then.

I travel a lot to good snorkeling and dive spots around the Caribbean...and it's my favorite vacation to do. Bonaire, Roatan, Curacao, Grand Cayman, Belize, you name it...I can Snorkel and dive everyday all day when I'm there.

Finally decided 2 years ago, that's it...I'm doing it! It hasn't been without it's ups and downs, but it's all starting to be good and do great.


What I've learned a lot about, especially on R2R is that we have Mixed Reefs with fish and coral that come from the Caribbean, Fiji, Indonesia, Australia, Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico etc.. so it's a challenge at first, but when it all comes together, you literally have the whole wide world of God's underwater creation in a tank.

We never tire of looking at the tank..on the daily....even though we see it everyday, we still spend 20 minutes at a time just sitting in front of our 40GB everyday.

We have a 125 Fresh Mixed South American Cichlid Tank, a 5g Planted Tank, a 40GB, and a 13.5 Evo Saltwater Tank (technically my Nephews tank)

2 dogs. Sister lives with us now and she has 2 cats....

So 2 cats, 2 dogs, 4 tanks...2 Saltwater, 2 Freshwater...and my 40GB is still the star of the house.

It's simply outstanding and awe inspiring, even to friends and family who may not understand everything like we on R2R do, but they appreciate and enjoy it.

 

[steveschuerger]

Well I’ve had freshwater tanks of various sizes for about 47 years. Not all contiguous. Saltwater was something I was always interested in, but not feasible for me for various reasons. Then in October of 2021 I decided to treat myself to a birthday purchase of a 16 gallon Biocube . From there I went progressively larger going 30 to 60 with IM AIO tanks . Then last early fall my 90 gallon freshwater had an incident that saw most of the larger fish die due to the return pump malfunction and fail one night. Decided to make move to the 90 with the reef and I’ve even managed to get my wife interested in more than just the fish. My only regret is I wish I had a larger tank

 

[mucky1957]

My son won a goldfish at a school fair. He was about 5 or 6 ( he's 33 now ). So of course we bought a really small water box with plastic coral and a small filter/pump and it started from there.
I bought a 4' tank and went warm water tropicals and then had a lightbulb moment and decided to go marine. That was about 20 years ago.
Alot of money later and a lot of disasters later my marine tank is covered in sofies coral and I love it.
I never had the money to get state of the art equipment and am always blown away with what filtration some people have. Me, I have a single wave maker, a 300wt heater, a JBL Crita Profi 900 external filter and a Chinese black box for my LED lights...and thats it.
Tank looks great, fish are all good. The number of times I stop reading or watching TV and just gaze at the tank...worth every penny ( and there have been a LOT )

 

[toxicdave45]

My then girlfriend was obsessed with clownfish so we did some research and set up a 20L and got a clownfish pair after it cycled and after that I just got hooked into the hobby and upgraded my tank and gradually got more fish and added corals over the past year

 

[Paul B]

I had freshwater since they invented them (that was right after WW2) and they were sold in a toy store and were called "Toy Fish". My Dad owned a seafood market so I grew up on the saw dust covered floor playing with dead sardines and live lobsters and crabs.

I used to set up my little army soldiers and the blue claw crabs would run through them and "kill" them. I used to shoot the crabs with a cannon loaded with toothpicks. They hated that.

I came home from Nam in 1971 and thats exactly when salt water fish started to be imported into the US. I cleaned out my freshwater catfish tank and went to the only store in New York with salt water fish. They had blue devils. I bought some and they were expensive.

I still have that tank running.

 

[stalkem]

So...

One day a friend approached me (because all the best stories are a friend's fault)

Ditto... a friend gave me his BioCube after he moved to his new house and was able to reestablish his large tank. It's been a fun experience, but a lot more work than my wife thought. She always says that we need to "thank" that friend for such a gift!