reef history

[fishstudent]

hey there
im a student currently writing a dissertation on reef aquariums
and part of my dissertation includes information on the history of reef tanks, when they were first kept, how they were kept etc. i need to go back as far as possible so if any knows when the first reef tanks were kept or could offer me some info then i would appreciate it alot.

Cheers

[alligator]

Most basic reef books will have this information. I don't think any of us would have been around long enough to know this information personally.

Good luck!

[Vpham97]

Some German guy Kept LR w/ Aitapsia back in the 1800, and seem to enjoy the Aitapsia.

[CF]

i think there was/is a guy named
Leng Si? who kept corals with only
NSW and an airstone?

[CF]

i think there was/is a guy named
Leng Si? who kept corals with only
NSW and an airstone? although that's
probably not the first, it maybe a stepping stone

[studboy36]

Hi,

You might want to check out:

www.ecosystemaquarium.com/html/News.html

They have an interesting article by Mike Paletta on the history of reefkeeping.

Some more links to articles that might help you:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/aa031399.htm

http://www.masla.com/beginner/history.html

Most basic reef keeping books don't really have this sort of information, or it may be very generalized. You'll have to draw you own conclusions from the material you are able to find. The Paletta article is a very good starting point.

Reef aquariums as we know them today go back to around the 1960's. Lee Chin Eng was one of the early pioneers with his natural system approach. The keeping of aquariums goes back centuries, but it sounds like you are interested in reefkeeping specifically. The 1960's-70's seems to be the time period for people trying to keep inverts with fish in an enviroment that tries to recreate a reef type setting.

I have a book that is no longer in print that talks in great detail about how to set up a tank based on the natural system principles. This book was published in the early 70's.

Robert Straughen(sp?) also did some early work with using live rock and sand collect from Florida waters. His book the saltwater aquarium in the home is very interesting to read. That book is no longer in print and some thing that is a prized addition to my library. in the mid 1970's, Peter Wilkens work started to appear in the magazine the marine aquarist which is no longer published. I have some back issues that have his articles which is pretty interesting stuff. I am sure if you look hard enough you will find plenty of material. Most of the early reefkeeping work was occuring in the 1970 in europe so a lot of the stuff you will find is in German.

There is a ton of stuff in FAMA and TFH back issues. It's not easy to find, but if you have a large library to draw from you may be able find what you need. Most of the material that I have has been collected over the years and a lot of the books are no longer in print.

I did a term paper on this subject, and it was a lot of fun digging for information.

Good luck researching! :)

Regards,

Efrain

[gregt]

fishstudent,

[welcome]

[coralite]

definitely research Lee Chin Eng, he was the first reef keeper. Peter Wilkens is responsible for translating alot of German know how for the English speaking audience and in many circles is considered the father of modern reef keeping. For history's sake, it would be a sin to miss the 2 part dupla articles that appeared in MFM in 88' and really epitomizes the moment reef aquarist took a big step forward in getting scientific w/ their tanks. This was the introduction of the "trickle filter" and the responses to the first part in the following issue do a great deal to demonstrate how novel this technology was then.

Fishstudent, I have 1953 and 54 volumes of "The Aquarium" and there is no mention of "reef tanks" because they were still trying to keep fish alive and they definitely had an antibiotic approach back then. Mentions of large water changes and "gravel rinsing" is frequent. Let me know if you might want to use them as sources.

[RalphP]

Hello
I believe it was back in the good old days(1985 or 1986), there was an article in FAMA magazine by a man named Smitt talking about dutch minireefsI know he wasnt the first but it was the first article I had seen on it.Tanks back then were very nutrient rich.Turf algae grew everywhere.I had my first tank a few weeks later,soft corals lots and lots of gonniopora(dying of course).Actinic bulbs I believe were originally used for copy machines I bought my first bulbs from a copy store.My first box of lr cost me 100 bucks with shipping(over 100 lbs). Dont know if this helped but it was nice looking back

[fishstudent]

thanks to all of you, your help has been invaluable to my research, fingers crossed my lecturers think so too. :)