Introduce Yourselves Please!

[Reefcherie]

Last night at the SEABay meeting, we talked about trying to build some SEABay community spirit and interest by starting to use this forum. I thought a thread where we introduce ourselves might be fun and help us connect with each other a bit.

I suggest telling us something about your tank(s), how long you've been in the hobby, and posting a picture or two or three. Share anything you'd like us to know about you. I will ask that a Moderator make this thread a "sticky" so that it stays at the top of the forum.

[Reefcherie]

I'll start this off I guess.

I've been in the marine hobby six years now. My husband and I started off w/ a standard 6'x2'x2' 180-gallon tank, 30-gallon sump and a 40-gallon refugium sitting on our bathroom counter (bathroom behind the wall the 180-gallon is against).





Unfortunately, the eurobracing on that tank split apart about a year ago. We repaired it as best we could and that lasted a while, but this spring we setup a temporary 100-gallon, bare bottom tank and we are taking the 180-gallon tank down.

We also have a 20-gallon zero-edge clam tank lit by a Giesemann pendant with a 250W DE HQI lamp



I guess you could say I'm really involved in this hobby! I am a Program Director for SEABay, President of the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America, and I'm a Moderator here on Reef Central.

[CalHumu]

It all began when I was six years old... I asked my parents for a dog and they compromised with a less "care intensive pet" (or so they thought)—a 10-gallon FW tank.

About 5 years later I decided to do saltwater. I bought a 55-gal and set up a fish-only tank. Looking back, it amazing how ignorant I was about the hobby. The 55 had poor circulation and cyanobacteria blooms but also held some of my favorite fish. A Picasso Trigger, Porcupine Fish, and a two-foot Engineer gobi had long and happy lives there.

When I was thirteen, I started working at Seascapes (under the in/famous Rick). I learned most of what I know about the hobby there. When Rick gave me a old 100-gallon tank, I decided to take the plunge into reef husbandry.

My initial set up was:
100 gal display, 30 gal sump, 4x110 W VHO, ~70lb live rock, ~300gph tank-sump circ., assorted power-heads from my previous tank. I had a protein skimmer, but it was more trouble than it was worth so I took it out.

I would have liked to have had a better set up but a 14-year-old's budget is tight. 90% of the corals in my tank are from SEABay and BARE. The ones that did well in my tank (xenia, kenya tree, polyps, mushrooms, colt coral...) fragged, grew, and sold to LFSs for food, supplies, etc.

These are two half shots of my tank after it had been running for about 1.5 years.




Look for the Regal Tang, Scopas Tang, and Percula Clown that are still with me. You can also see algae covering all my rocks and the several leather corals and a colt coral that have done quite well over the years.

In 2006, I made several changes to my tank. I installed a small in-sump Euro-reef skimmer. I am incredibly happy with it. Euro-reefs are definately worth it! The stuff they pull out is disgusting! I also replaced the 4 old powerheads that hung by there cords with 4 Maxijet 1200s on a wavemaker. I like the Maxijets because they are powerful for there size and come with a hook that clips onto my overflow boxes (suction cups suck). The wavemaker is very nice because it provides random circulation and much fewer dead spots.

Here is the tank at 3 years old.



The unicorn tang is the latest edition.

I went off to college in the fall of 06. My tank takes care of itself for the most part. I pay my brother to feed the fish and clean the plexi when I'm gone. I change the water when I come home. ~ once every 3 months.

I'll upload current pictures soon.

[Reefcherie]

Very nice CalHumu! Thank you for sharing your story! My entire first setup came from Seascapes. While some folks may not have gotten along with Rick, we did and in retrospect I realize what a good job he did starting us off right in the saltwater hobby.

I hope some others join in this thread!

[mushroom hater]

Hi, I'm Bill Smith and I've been Seabay's VP for the last couple of years and I've been in this hobby for over 16 years. I started out in the hobby with a used 45 gallon tank that was given to me by a client of mine as well as all of his old powerheads, lighting, stand and hood. Back in those days there were no protein skimmers or calcium reactors and we mainly had just fish. Coral started being sold in the LFS's and nobody had the understanding of how to keep it alive nor did we have the technology we have developed since then so bleaching was common after it was destined to die. It's been exciting to see this hobby grow from its infancy.

I saved my money and grew into a 240 gallon TruVu and moved over my first and only anemone which I still have today in my big tank. It's grown alot over the last 14 years. It's a rose/bubble tip and supports a pair of Pecula clownfish.

I had bought different varieties of mushrooms since they were the first easy corals to survive back then and they quickly overtook the 240 gallon tank. I couldn't seem to control their populations and they wouldn't die off naturally so they became a scourge. (This is why I have the RC username of "mushroom hater"). I also had a lot of green zoanthids which also quickly got out of control too. I had that tank running for 12 years which led to the prelude to a new tank two years ago when we rebuilt our old home.

I've spent three years designing and constructing my current 600 gallon reef tank. I started designing the plumbing for it on a napkin as I explained it to a friend of mine.

I also maintain a refugium and a quaranteen tank. I store 200 gallons of C-Pure water for water changes out in my garage in an old Catalina Water storage tank that I bought from a LFS that was going out of business. My water is delivered by the C-Pure water truck just about every two weeks.

I'm using an Ocean'sMotion powered by a Reef Flo Hammerhead pump plus two Dolphin 3000 pumps for a total of 13,000 GPH of water circulation in the main tank. I have an outdoor self-starting generator in case I loose power to the house/tank. The generator will keep power to the house indefinately. I also have a 1 HP outdoor chiller to keep the tank and refugium from getting too hot.

I'm controlling the tank with the Neptune AquaController III Pro version. I have the ability to monitor video of my tank on the web and can control my hardware and see the perameters on the web as well.

[vtrieu88]

I setup my first 40g FW FO tank in the first month of my sophomore year from my summer job saving and passed it on to my younger brother in my second year of college.

I always dreamed of owning a little piece of the reef some day after mesmerizing with my former boss 180g reef tank in Portland, OR. If I recalled correctly, his was the first mix reef tank of the month on Reefcentral around ’95. My dream came true about 11 years ago when my girlfriend (now wife) called and informed me that I had to find a way to take the 55g reef tank by Saturday that she had just won from work. Little does she known how much this has affected my life since. I have quickly from a 55g to 2 of the 125g shortly after we moved back to the bay area. One FW FO and the other was reef, but quickly moved to 2 of the 180g with a year.



Due to my obsession and quick expansion in this hobby, my current and final tank is 300g mix reef. Beside the tank, skimmer, external pump, T5 lighting and sands, the rest are DIY which made it that much more enjoyable for me.

[Reefcherie]

Bill and Van

To the SEABay Forum!

I know there are some SEABay members that will be new to posting in forums or at least on Reef Central. If anyone would like some tips on posting photos, check this out..

I also forgot to post that I'm Cheri Phillips. The whole idea is to get to know each other better, so let's start associating our RC names w/ our real ones.

Cheri

[rexn]

My name is Rex Niedermeyer and I've been keeping tanks since I was in high school (30+ years) and was into it sufficiently that when I went to college it was with thoughts of studying marine biology. I spent a couple of years as a biology major only to eventually switch to engineering when I really started looking at job opportunities in marine biology and decided I liked eating meals on a regular basis. My continued participation in this hobby is a testament to my ongoing interest in this area even though I did not pursue it as a career.

My current reef tank is a 150 Gal unit primarily stocked with corals and invertebrates. Currently only have a single fish (Rabbit fish) but traditionally have very few fish as I do not feed the tank on a regular basis since my work can take me away from home for several weeks at a time so any fish in the tank have to fend for themselves which means very low fish loads.



Other tank details include 1220 watt lighting (10K MH + VHO act), CO2 & Nielson reactors, skimmer and 15-20x turnover/hr circulation in tank. Most everything is hooked into an aquacontroller and pretty much runs itself as again, I'm occasionally away for prolong periods.

I recently had to find a new home for my large Derasa clam (as show in the picture) as it had grown from 4” to about 15-16” (took about 5-6 years) and was literally in danger of getting too big to remove from the tank (not to mention the messes it was making by spraying water over the top of the 24” deep tank). It ended up in B. Smiths 600 Gal reef tank so has much more “elbow” room now. Its place was taken by the smaller clam in the picture which is a Gigas and is now close to 8-9" itself.

On a more personal note, I've helped organize the local SEABay group now for over 10 years (including two West Coast Marine Conferences) as well as acted as its newsletter editor.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Hello,
My name is Jeff Kung and I've been out of the reefing hobby for a few years now but I want back in REALLY REALLY BADLY!

In the past I've had a 37 gal, 10gal, and a 6 gal. I eventually merged all my nanos into my 37 which crashed on me after a power outtage that lasted a couple days.

I tried to get the tank back to what it used to be but I just couldn't keep up with such a huge loss. Here's a pic of my tank before the crash.

So I've been reading up on reefing again and all the new stuff that's come online since I've stopped reefing. I'm hoping to make it down for a Seabay meeting soon and talk with you all in person!

Oooh, I was at the Western Marine Aquarium Conference in Monterey a bunch of years ago! I wish there was another event like that. I remember it being so much fun!

Anyway, hello!