MaxTremors
2500 Club Member
- Review score
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Reef Pumpkin 21
Build Thread Contributor
I had always been into animals as a kid (had all kinds of exotic pets), and as a teenager (around 14) I started keeping FW aquariums, ended up having 5 or 6 different tanks going. I always looked at the small SW section at the small little local pet store, they didn’t ever have much, but I always enjoyed seeing what they had. One day, I saw a leopard wrasse at the pet store, and that’s when I decided to finally take the plunge.
When I was 15 I got a small insurance settlement (a couple thousand) and decided I was finally going to start a SW tank. My parents made me get rid of the FW tanks before they were going to let me start a 55 gallon saltwater tank, but while I was finding homes for all the FW fish, I started a 10g nano. It was pretty low tech, even for the time, it had standard fluorescent lights (actinic and 50/50 bulbs), a skilter (a power filter with a crappy skimmer built into it), and a little maxi-jet powerhead. It was just live rock, some mushrooms that came on the rock, a firefish, and a yellow tail damsel. It did surprisingly well, no fish losses and the mushrooms didn’t look great for the first couple months, but they pulled through. This was when cycling with damsels was still recommended, luckily there was still Fiji, Marshal Islands, and Tongan live rock readily available, so knowing what we know now the fish were probably never in any danger (other than my inexperience).
When I was finally ready for the 55 gallon, I drove (with my new license) 2 hours to the nearest city (Spokane, WA) and bought an acrylic 55g tank, stand, lighting (VHOs!), sand, live rock, pumps, a HOB skimmer (Sea Clone!), everything I needed to set the tank up. I brought it home, set it up (with tap water!), and then the next day I went about 2 yellow tail damsels and a 4 stripe damsel to cycle the tank. For the most part everything went pretty well, but I did lose a couple fish due to ignorance. A few months in I got the leopard wrasse, a fish I had for 5-6 years until my tank was crashed by an incompetent house sitter (upgraded to a larger tank by that point).
Anyway, that’s how I got started in the hobby, been obsessed ever since, only went without a tank for a total of 3 years since 1996.
When I was 15 I got a small insurance settlement (a couple thousand) and decided I was finally going to start a SW tank. My parents made me get rid of the FW tanks before they were going to let me start a 55 gallon saltwater tank, but while I was finding homes for all the FW fish, I started a 10g nano. It was pretty low tech, even for the time, it had standard fluorescent lights (actinic and 50/50 bulbs), a skilter (a power filter with a crappy skimmer built into it), and a little maxi-jet powerhead. It was just live rock, some mushrooms that came on the rock, a firefish, and a yellow tail damsel. It did surprisingly well, no fish losses and the mushrooms didn’t look great for the first couple months, but they pulled through. This was when cycling with damsels was still recommended, luckily there was still Fiji, Marshal Islands, and Tongan live rock readily available, so knowing what we know now the fish were probably never in any danger (other than my inexperience).
When I was finally ready for the 55 gallon, I drove (with my new license) 2 hours to the nearest city (Spokane, WA) and bought an acrylic 55g tank, stand, lighting (VHOs!), sand, live rock, pumps, a HOB skimmer (Sea Clone!), everything I needed to set the tank up. I brought it home, set it up (with tap water!), and then the next day I went about 2 yellow tail damsels and a 4 stripe damsel to cycle the tank. For the most part everything went pretty well, but I did lose a couple fish due to ignorance. A few months in I got the leopard wrasse, a fish I had for 5-6 years until my tank was crashed by an incompetent house sitter (upgraded to a larger tank by that point).
Anyway, that’s how I got started in the hobby, been obsessed ever since, only went without a tank for a total of 3 years since 1996.