I would like to get an idea of the expierience around here…How long have you been in the hobby and what size tank do you have?
I can start
6 years in the hobby
300 Gallon reef
12 Gallon nano
Well, my name is Jared, and my Girlfriends name is Lindsay to start.
We have been in the hobby for a bit over 2 years. (saltwater hobby)
We have set up at this moment:
37g, w/ a 30g sump that acts as a second tank
14g Biocube that we have gutted and put a sump on 
Also have 2 10g’s w/ broodstock we will be breeding once we have the room (And have a breeding pair of occ. in the 37 who’s babies we raise)
11 years in aquariums total.
3 years ago (the '07 in TimH07) iswitched to salt water.
Started the hard way with a 26g nano.
Now have a 75g over a 55g sump (total 130g system volume) SPS reef that is 1.3 years old.
I’ve kept aquariums for about 9 years now. Saltwater for the last 5 (I’m guessing).
75g mixed reef, 29g sump, 20g fuge.
29g FOWLR
3 years btw fresh and salt, 150 sps
Since 1975…
2 125 gal fowlr
1 40bdr quasi reef
1 75 gal mixed
worked in several lfs in the new york area in the 70’s & 80’s.
owned an aquarium maintenance co in the 80’s called- state of the art aquarium services.
7 years total aquariums. itll be 1 year of salt in november
29 gallon
20 gallon long
I had my first saltwater tank in 1994, a 29 FO tank, no live rock, just an UGF. Been around the club since 04? maybe
I grew up around fish and tanks, my mom had a 55 gallon freshy tank since I was about 4 but stopped when I was about 12 due to my cousin taking a toy metal gun to the side of the tank and flooded the room so that was the end of that, other then a real small 5 gallon gold fish tank I had. In 93 I got married and my inlaws gave us a 60 gallon octagon, so began my saltwater keeping. My currant tank I’ve had for almost 12 years but has always been a reef tank but has been moved twice.
Currant tanks
180 mixed reef clam dominant
39 mixed reef
Custom tank in the near future more then twice the size of my large display tank.
My parents bought my first freshwater aquarium when I was around 6 or 7; I had a saltwater tank at the age of 11. I was reintroduced to the hobby a little over two years ago. My current 55 g mixed reef has been set up for a 1.5 years.
about 11 years saltwater for me. started out with a 10g FW. i left a bucket of minnies under a tree after a late fall fishing trip back then. i noticed the bucket still sittling there in a foot of snow mid january. i broke the ice and found 4 fat killies still in there and brought them in and gave them a home. spent a year overstocking the 10G with 42 FW fish of 23 different spieces including a six inch gold algae eater and pleco and lots of plants.
then i bought a 75 on sale and started a saltwater reef after discovering GARF.com. the rest is history. the 75 is still running with plenum sandbed and old TIDEPOOL Biowheel sump, and Seaclone skimmer, and a couple other 2 and 3 tank frag systems of home made acrylic tanks, totalling 100 gallons each system, and some fish only tanks raising the last of my spawned Occelaris babies.
thats about it.
Its great to see people that have been in the hobby for a decent amount of time. If some of the “old timers”, and I don’t me age… had one thing they would do differently, if they were starting out again what would it be?
I just moved, the tanks were broke down and put into storage, and the new house is being built. So, I am starting out again, eventually.
What would probably be MOST beneficial would be to find someone to talk me out of starting again … lol.
[quote=“ronert, post:13, topic:3250”]
I just moved, the tanks were broke down and put into storage, and the new house is being built. So, I am starting out again, eventually.
What would probably be MOST beneficial would be to find someone to talk me out of starting again … lol.[/quote]
Ted starting over is a horrible idea - you don’t need that level of stress and aggravation. I’ll be down Saturday with tthe truck to get the tanks off your hands so you’re not tempted.
If I were to start over I would probably use less rock - or at least choose my pieces better.
I recently had the luxury of starting over (sorta) with my wife’s 29g - I started using RODI water from the first drop and have yet to introduce ANY tap water at all. I can honestly say I did have a little tinge of jealousy because her tank never had a diatom outbreak or any other “new tank syndrom” algaes.
Hey, I’m John… i’ve always had at least a FW tank setup since i was 10, so 27 years now. i did a couple salt setups through the years, mostly FO, we just switched our 125 from cichlids, to a full mixd reef bout 5 months ago, and just setup a 30g reef/frag tank.
had a pair of laying then eating the fry angels when i was 10, 1955, a 125 after college w/a 18" arowana and a tub of 100 feeders in the basement. tried salt in the late 70’s and no success, could not keep some amazing animals alive, [mating triton trumpets, yep that’s correct] and gave it up until 2009.
I have had numerous small (10-20 gal.) freshwater tanks over the years, and decided to go salt after diving for a few years. As someone else said, I went the hard way with a 20 gal. tall. My softies are doing great and since I won my RODI at a DRC meeting, my algae outbreaks have really disappeared!!! GolfC I will be trying to thin out my Pulsing Xenia and Anthelia, since they are doing so well.
Looking forward to getting back to an upcoming DRC meeting!
Been in the hobby for about 20 something years. Started out with FW tanks cichlids, got hook into breeding all sorts. Got into SW tanks about 15 years ago after reading about it and saw an Occelaris clowns with an anemone, hook, line and sinker from there. Went from 30 gal, 55 gal, 100 gal to current tank 120 gal DD mix reef. Larger thank in the future if room and money allowed.
Near future project: have a 40 gal tall sitting in the garage, looking to start a seahorse biotope tank and maybe breeding them.
Been in the hobby about 7 yrs, fw for about 2 yrs before that, currently have a 70gl reef ( 2.5 yrs old ) and a seahorse tank about 8 months old. been throught two complete wipe outs and learned alot from them( like using rodi water only, and the importance of tempenture contol).