Fine work from Austin's own Roger!

Thunnus · #1 09/09/2004, 03:21 AM

I enjoyed your article. It must make you proud of the products that you sell knowing that they played such a crucial role in how our hobby developed. I have a feeling that the growth rate of this hobby is about to boom. I am looking forward to finding out what else there is that we need to learn. Well done! Jason Farrar

rvitko · #2 09/09/2004, 01:02 PM

Norbert Tunze is one of my heroes, he is one of the best people I have ever met, kind of grumpy, kind of reserved and just a very logical, practical person with a creative mind. It really is amazing that someone who started out fixing the radios of American soldiers during WWII in US occupied Germany could start a company that did so much from the ground up, completely on his own. His son Axel is one of my best friends and equally brilliant and yes, I really enjoy working with Tunze.

Thunnus · #3 09/09/2004, 05:21 PM

I guess that the powerhead should be on "Tactical to Practical" on the History Channel! Is Norbert Tunze still alive? I guess not only Americans can live the dream of starting a business from nothing. You and I both know that!

rvitko · #4 09/09/2004, 05:50 PM

No, unfortunately he passed away last March. It was a rare time in Germany, the economic boom of the 60's which was part of the post war recovery that made this possible. It was really a story of being in the right place at the right time with the right ideas. While it is possible to have the same success in Europe as we enjoy here it is far more complicated and slower to happen. For instance AquaTek could never have made it in Germany. We would be to new to have respect and up against shops that are 20+ years old. Businesses in Europe last almost forever, look at Weihenstephaner, this company is nearly 800 years old and is considered the oldest business in the world. Imagine having to compete with them.

charlesgreiner · #5 09/15/2004, 02:26 PM

I really enjoyed the article. As a child I began keeping freshwater tropical fish in the 1950's. The one thing I disagree with is the "start" time frame for TFH magazine. I believe it began publishing in the 1950's. I had issues from the early 60's until just a few years ago when they were destroyed in a fire.

Charlie

rvitko · #6 09/15/2004, 02:36 PM

You are correct Charlie. TFH was first published in the 50's as a quarterly magazine. I think 1950 exactly, I was featured in the signatures of supporters section 50th anniversary issue which came out in 2000 I believe. It just lacked saltwater info until the 1970's when it took up the slack from Saltwater Aquarium. Mr Cal Adger gave me his collection of magazines and books for parts of my research. Their is so much more that could have been covered but I wanted to touch a little on everything and still get my work done and keep up with household chores

charlesgreiner · #7 09/15/2004, 02:44 PM

I do want you to know how much I appreciated the article. Every now and then it is fun to look back. We seem to spend so much time going forward that we fail to see just how much progress has been made. Maybe a more in depth article for TFH would be in order when you have the time. There are probably quite a few who would appreciate the opportunity to look back. As I read your article I even remembered a LFS we used to go to regularly in the late 50's called "The Golden Guppy". Name may sound corny today but it was a great shop in its time and the name spoke for the owners passion - fancy guppies. I kept and bred Kribs back then.

Charlie

reefkeeper1 · #8 09/16/2004, 12:34 PM

Thanks for the great article. I love history, and it's interesting to see the origin of the powerhead, heater and other aquarium devices.

I remember the first time I saw a wet/dry or trickle filter and thinking it was the coolest contraption ever made for the hobby. I've been keeping freshwater fish since the 70s, but by the time I decided to start up my first reeftank in the late 90s, the wet/dry was seen as a nitrate factory. Today, I don't have a wet/dry, but I think the support equipment for my tank still looks like a Rube Goldberg device with the lights, calcium reactor, ph controller, sump refugium, peristaltic pump for water top-off, etc. My main concern is that people new to the hobby upon seeing all the equipment for a reeftank might feel a little bit intimidated and so overwhelmed that they don't start a tank at all.

Sometimes, with all the equipment futzing around I do with my tank, I have to tell myself to just sit down and enjoy the inhabitants of the tank. It was great to see my 18-month old son run to the side of the tank one morning and look into it with interest for a minute before running off to another endeavor.