Community Question: Who (or what) got you into reefing and how?

[REEFTIDE]

Give them some love and throw a shout out in this thread!
We’d love to hear the story behind it!

​

 

[FL_Reefer27]

Growing up in south Florida gave me a lot of opportunity to experience the ocean. When aquariums stores started using more LEDs that’s what caught my attention with coral. Started my first tank when I was 15… I’m 30 now. You have to have a good appreciation for sea life to truly enjoy and respect the hobby. My lfs is Fintastic Aquariums, Carl is phenomenal!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

No one specifically got me into reefing. It was more of a gradual build up due to extremely supportive parents who were not at all into fish. I started with some goldfish won at a grade school carnival and eventually moved to freshwater fish. Our first trip to Hawaii I fell in love with saltwater fish, spending almost the entire vacation in the tidepools collecting or snorkeling. When we got home I set up my first saltwater tank (2.5g). By high school I had 3-4 tanks in my room from 20g to 60g and all sorts of fish and reef creatures. The internet didn't exist so my knowledge came from books and hanging out in pet stores. Tropical Fish Hobbiest magazine!!

Through all the spills, leaks, jumpers, and (personal from odd jobs) money burned, my parents never questioned it once. they did however need to replace the sub floor and carpeting in my room when I moved out for college. ;Woot

 

[LaxFrags]

I wanted a dog… my parents let me get a reef tank! Looking back now I think the cheaper option would have been a dog!

But now my dads back into it after many years so it worked out well.

 

[Karen00]

Mother Nature herself. I have had (and still have) FW tanks but snorkeling as a kid in tropical places is what gave me the desire to do SW one day. Having said that it was many moons ago that I did those vacations so it's more a natural progression from FW tanks that I now find myself with my first SW tank.

 

[clownfish07]

Seeing a video of clownfish in a beautiful anemone is all it took for me, and Now that I get to see that beautiful relationship whenever I want is amazing.

 

[Freakmachine01]

I have always been fascinated with the ocean and all the life that comes in it. Growing up I've had many of freshwater fish tanks and I've always wanted to try to get into saltwater but I just didn't have the means or the money at those times. Then approximately 8 to 10 years ago a friend of mine decided to get out of the hobby and give away his tank. He gave all of his equipment to me. It wasn't the best but it was a start I immediately set it up and started creating my own little world that I could stare at all day long. Since then I have made many many many upgrades and I plan on doing this for the rest of my life. I could stare at my tank for hours and if you look at my build I'm always taking pictures the beauty that is underneath the sea is just amazing

 

[Reefing102]

For me, it wasn’t a who but a what. The movie Finding Nemo got me into the hobby. I was 12 when it came out and I wanted one ever since. Started out with a 12G JBJ Nano Cube with PC lighting. Upgraded to a 26 Gallon Bowfront with PC lighting. Went down to a 20 Gallon with T5 lighting. Then 10 gallon with T5. Then 3 gallon Pico then my current 65 gallon.

That said, my first LFS was Petco that was ran “correctly” back in the day. They would freshwater dip their unhealthy fish, mark tanks or for sale if sick fish were in them, wouldn’t sell fish to big for your current tank, honestly not bad. Then I moved on to bigger and better LFS, did a lot of research on Reef Aquarium Guide and Reef Central and yea. Here we are today still in the hobby. Going to large public aquariums always keeps me remotivated to do better in my tank.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Growing up, I idolized my brother and did everything he did. He got a motor cycle, i got a motor cycle. He followed some clothing trend, so did I. He kept a saltwater take from 2010-2016 and I admired it (jealous) every time I went to his house. He had none of the specialty gear. He had no idea about water chemistry. He couldn't keep corals..but he had a saltwater tank and I liked it. So when I finally got my 'final job', I decided to reward myself with a gift to myself and chose to pick up where my brother left off and carry on the tradition. Now he is jealous of mine!!

 

[TriggerFinger]

My dad. He set up a 75g tall in our living room when I was a kid/teenager and he had it for about 10 years. I fell in love with his gold stripe maroon and her anemone. I stayed up late at night to watch this tank. Long story short, he had a green brittle star that got massive and started taking fish. He was frustrated by the amount of bubble algae and he couldn’t get the brittle star out so he had a local store come tear it all down and that was the end of his tank days.

Some years later I was at my home with my daughter on maternity leave and the show “tanked” was on ALL THE TIME…my salty itch had begun again when I realized I had my own grown up job and money. And here we are after having a 29g, 90g, 40b…I’m working on a 180. I hope my kids have fond memories of my tank when they grow up. My son is really into it and loves watching the tank with me and helping as much as a 2 year old can.

I’m in deep now. Every time my dad comes over he does have a long gaze into the tank and tells me it looks good. He then Points out the bubble algae ;Hilarious and asks why I’m still wasting money on this stuff.

 

[90's reefer]

Mid 80's ex wife bought me a hexagon 55 I think it was. Still not sure why as I never mention or kept an aquarium before, lol.
Well went to the store to pick it up, saw reef tanks and traded it for a standard 55.
The hobby lasted longer than the marriage, lol.

 

[G Santana]

No one, I saw plenty of saltwater fish tanks in the 80s in various LFS and slowly I aquired the info and the nerve to jump in.
I in turn got two of my close friends hooked. Wish they were still in the hobby.

 

[Dryanimtt]

My 4 year old daughter wanted fish, but she said there were no pretty fish in lakes. She said she wanted fish from the ocean. I said ok cool, let's make it happen. I had no idea what I was getting myself into lol. Then one thing led to another and I went from a 13g fish only tank to a 100g tank with fish and coral. To be totally honest, if I would have known what was involved with everything from the beginning, I'm not sure that I would have started at all, but now I'm vested.

 

[kittenbritches]

Give them some love

My ex-husband. I'll keep my love to myself. LOL

I grew up with freshwater tanks, but his was the first saltwater tank I'd really been around. He's setting up a nano now. I might frag swap with him if he's nice.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Always loved saltwater. My brothers started biocube 29s (two twin brothers) which led my dad into a 60 gallon cube. He got an engineer goby. Well I’m an environmental engineer. His goby started getting huge and I jumped on the chance to take him. Started with a 20 gallon from Petco and now o have a biocube 32 and biocube 16. That engineer goby lived about 12 years all told. Dude passed on me last year and was 18” long. Candy canes below were my first non-zoa coral. Started with 2 dead looking heads.

 

[ColoredRock]

My uncle and my cousin.. Went up to LA from San Diego every chance I got to dive Santa Cruz and Anacapa

 

[jazzfisher]

Mom took me to the beach ever since I was born. (San Diego). Had goldfish as very young. Unfortunately got moved to the Midwest at a young age away from the ocean. But always had at least a 10 gal freshwater from elementary through college. After graduating from college worked at a pet store, we had everything from parrots, cucktoos, coyote pups, skunks, ferrets, snakes, puppies, kittens, raccoons and of course freshwater & saltwater.. so it was quite an experience. So my 1st saltwater tank was probably in 78 or 79! Under gravel filter and all! I

 

[GHOSTLY]

My Uncle who got me a biocube 10 months ago! I accidently broke it sadly but my evo is now doing well

 

[elcapitan1993]

After my fahaka puffer passed away I was looking for a new fish to put into my 90 gallon, I couldn’t find any that really spoke to me until i saw saltwater fish and coral at a pet store, they really caught my eye, little did I know it was 20x more expensive than freshwater lol, I now have a tank full of coral and fish

 

[54Dutchman]

LFS they had a great 1000 gal SW display which I saw each time I came in the store