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How Did You Discover Nano Reef Keeping?


Christopher Marks

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reefernanoman

Well, as a kid, I always liked to have fress water aquaruims, and was pretty good at it. Later on in life, I decided to go back to my old hobby by buying a used 75 gallon tank and stand, and making it an african chiclid tank.

When I went to the LFS, I always saw thier nano tanks there with lots of marine life. Since I don't have enough room for two tanks, I went for a nano tank.

It was explained to me that it was real easy to start up. I just bought the 10 lbs of live rock and sand, put it all together, added beneficial bacteria, and in two days had fish in it with no problem! Damsels make a great starter kit, but are verry agressive(they sort of remind me of my chiclids). It has been a month now, I added my first coral= yellow tulips. I think that a tank without a lid is better. That way you can add an efficient skimmer, instead of finding a way to modify something into a closed lid nano tank. But at least there is less water evaporation! ;)

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I've had freshwater tanks as long as I can remember. My partner at work had a 10 gallon sw with a anemone and clownfish. He wanted something bigger and asked me if I would like to buy his 10g. I went to look at it and I was hooked. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I knew nothing about sw so of course it didn't last long. Lack of proper lighting and maintenance, I'm sure. Tried seahorses after that, again no idea what I was doing. I saw a bumblebee goby in a brackish tank at the lfs and a google search including the term goby led me to NR. Once I researched and read everything I could, I started getting it right! No turning back!

Edited by clifford513
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  • 2 weeks later...

Like many people that have posted I have always been into FW keeping Oscars, Africans, and Discus....So with my love for FW and a $1500 bonus check I jumped into SW. And the rest is history!

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started with FW of course, still have a 33g community tank, if it wasn't for the 2 blood red parrots I would probably tear that tank apart and change it over to SW. Read newsgroups and hundreds of $$ worth of books for a few years before I finally tore apart my 10g planted FW tank and made the change over. Hope to be at it for a long time yet. If only I had more money!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

my obsession of saltwater and reefs got me into aquarium keeping, then i wanted to get a nano b/c a 14yr old can only afford so much(tank is still coming this spring though)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I saw an artical in Practicle Fish keeping here in the UK. A NC was featured and i thought cool i have one of those maybe i can get into saltwater. Then i read steelhealr's forum and now i can't wait to get going!

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a boyhood love of the ocean/whales/sharks/fish/shells lead to...

years of aquatic life research...

1/2 gallon betta bowl...

months of research later...

10 gallon female bettas...

months of research (and several additional betta tanks) later...

set-up a little betta breeding program...

had several successful broods of bettas...

10 gallon cherry barbs...

10 gallon cichlid growout...

after seeing an imax documentary titled "coral reefs adventure" (or somthing like that) I was decided to pursuit my life-long aquatic dream... a marine aquarium...

years of research...

exstensive internet research brought me to this great website...

months of research...

finally set up the 55 gallon sw aquarium... it's still doin' great...

now the saga continues... I'm working on a customized 2.5 gallon pico...

and hopefully the future holds a custom 100 gallon mixed reef (got the schematics... not the money) :rolleyes:...

 

I don't know what I'd do without this webstie or the reefkeeping community. Thanks NR.

Edited by aquaman7
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I was at a pet store picking up supplies for my frog when I noticed a 12 gallon aquarium on the counter. I looked at it and asked the clerk, "are those corals in there?!" The rest is history.

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By chance.

 

I walked into a LFS to buy a tiny FW tank for my son. As I was hanging out, I noticed the 6g JBJ NanoCube. It was all over at that point. Even though it looked like crap at the LFS, I knew... I knew in my heart it was for me.

 

The fact that I have never done salt before is no never mind.

 

Oddly, though, here I sit with a 2.5g pico, and am STILL (despite the masterful CCJung's expertise) getting ready to light up the (now 12g) NanoCube. Soon! Soon... (and that's what they all say).

 

The 2.5g pico, although a royal pain sometimes, is a constant source of wonderment for me, as it sits on my desk. I think EVERYONE should have on their desk.

 

david

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I used to work at good old 'World of Water' garden centres in England back in the early 90s from when i was 15-20 part-time - I was more into Discus and south american catfish tanks, although i also kept malawian cichlids - I had great fun ordering all the rare stuff straight from the book and when the boxes of fish came all the way from Singapore every week I felt like it was christmas! Then we set up three marine tanks which ultimately lead to failure as they running at a loss after 6mths seeing as they were just the same freshwater tanks with salt water, no increased filtration or lighting and no centralised system back in those days! But, it made an impact on me then and I was more in awe of the complete diversity - I was more into aquascaping than I was just keeping fish to say i had something exotic, and reeftanks had more draw than planted tanks -

 

My first reeftank had black mollies in it! They bred like crazy and then i took them back and bought a damsel, a clownfish, a mandarin fish [i remember wondering why it died as it looked so healthy.....!], a tiny panther/barramundi/polker-dot grouper and a pufferfish. My polkerdot was my fave, my puffer ended up sucumming to my anemone [which ate it - NS! BTW i kept the poor anemone for 6mths under normal flourescents like it was the thing to do! It never died, just shrank considerably] and I had to dismantle the tank to go to uni in 1994.

 

Then I started Scuba Diving whilst travelling about; on the ningaloo and barrier reef, NZ, Indo and malaysia and it took my breath away! To see that much life perched on the edge of nothing and its significance... i remember i cried when i saw 150 bannerfish all swimming in a shoal down a reef wall in fiji - like your nanoreef? GO DIVING!

 

Set up my first proper reef tank abt 7mths ago, alas only a nanocube24, but space permitting [i live in downtown appartment], I think ill turn my next abode into an underwater escape, partner permitting.

The internet has been the key to any sucess and to identifying my failures as the amt of information here on nanoreef and elsewhere is fantastic, esp as im a lover of cross-referencing and not believing any single source.

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I discovered Nano Reef's when a friend of mine told me a Pet store had small Saltwater tanks, so I went there and saw 4 JBJ Nanocubes (2 24's, 1 12, 1 6). And than it began, I started researching, and I found this site, I now have (thanks to this place) a 2.5g pico working, and I'm slowing getting together the stuff for a 30g (+10g sump.) [i have always wented to do a SW tank, but everyone has always (and still) told me they are too difficult. Of course, after my research, I really don't think they are, worse than FW, but not impossible.]

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I'm the same guy as reefer9391

LOL a thin wallet thats great after I saw my neihbors tank I had to have one they were SWEET but I started looking and researching and finnaly knew what I wanted a 300g with EVERYTHING and figured out I couldnt even afford the tank :) so i halfed that gallonage ( is that a word?) and still couldnt try a 90 same thing. I searched small reef aquriums on google you guys poped up and I was hooked.

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Julian Sprung’s 15-gallon mini-reef tank back in the early 90’s really inspired me. That was one incredible tank for it’s time. :wub: He would show pics once in a while in FAMA.

 

Trying to find the right lighting for a nano reef was the thing that kept me from starting a nano. Then Custom Sea Life came out with 6500K and ACT power compacts in the mid 90’s and that got me going on my 1st nano reef. :naughtydance:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77773

 

Rick

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I had gotten into African Cichlids and was in the market for a 75g Tank on a budget. I found a great deal on a tank and stand on ebay with a buy it now of $200! I jumped at the deal and it just so happened to be 1hr 1/2 drive away, in a city my wife had wanted to visit! "Surprise honey, we're taking a road trip for the weekend and we are leaving in 30 min!!"

 

When we got to the guy's apartment, he was really great and his girlfriend happened to be there chillin. My wife got to chat and socialized while we figured out how I was going to get the tank and the stand in my Xterra. When we were looking at the tank I noticed this blinding little light hanging from the ceiling suspended over this tiny little cube shaped tank in the corner. I noticed a clown swimming around and some corals. It was all on a broken down old desk/book shelf thing covered with salt creep and surrounded by all the paraphernalia of a salt water fiend.

 

When I asked, he said, "Yeah man that’s why I'm selling all this other crap... to fund my nano reef"...4 months later after establishing a 75g African cichlid tank I began a Google search for nano reef....

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HisReeferness

I've been into freshwater for most of my my life, so I've alway had tanks around the house. But, the saltwater thing didn't come about 'till I was eight or nine.

 

:WARNING: Long, boring story about my first saltwater fish tank.

 

I had been breeding guppies and mollies for a few years and selling them to the LFS and saved up enough money to get another tank, but didn't really know what I wanted to keep in it. Then I had a stroke of genius. I was going to fill it with mud and put fiddler crabs in it. :lol:

 

Later in the week I went to an undisclosed location with my brothers and some friends to collect the crabs and anything else that looked cool and lived in mud. And apparently such activities are prohibited by law in said undisclosed location, according to the guy that made us let them all go. He was nice enough to "let us off with a warning," so I was going to repay the favor and wait till I couldn't see him anymore to put them back in my bucket, but he seemed to think we should go with him to the boat dock and ask people if we could "play with thier left over bait."

 

At the boat dock I had another genius idea. Silversides and rocks would be cool as 'ell. We did manage to snatch a bucket full of rocks and some snails and such after the wildlife protection guy left. So I did get a crab. I kept the bait only with live rocks theme for a few years. It is still one of the coolest tanks I've had. Definately better than the pimped out 50g goldfish tank. Even though I did get more than twice as much for the goldfish tank when I had to get rid of them.

 

:End of boring story:

 

Anyway, my fist reef tank was just an extention of the silverside tank. I came up with that checking out a new LFS store to get some salt mix.

 

I didn't really have any problems when I went to reefing. I had always been one too keep up on water quality. Even in my goldfish tank I kept perfect water. I did have a small problem with PH at first, but that was caused by poor quality salts that mixed differently from batch to batch. After I started using better salt, I didn't have to worry about it much.

 

Really it was just a natural progression. Since the time I won that goldfish (Charlie) at the carnival, I've been on a path that can only lead to a 10,000+ gallon reef tank. So far I haven't been able to break the 50g mark on any tank, but that may be coming this summer when I can finally get another reef tank going. I will also be working on a smaller, probably 10 gallon at the same time, so when I start that I'll be actually posting in the forums more often instead of just hiding in the shadows and watching everyone elses tanks grow up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Like 'most everyone, I always had a FW tank growing up. But, being an artist, the amazing colors and fantastic shapes of the SW world dazzled me. When I got married my husband gave me an Eclipse 12 and I got a book and decided I'd try it (my pre-internet days). Of course all the lfs's said it couldn't be done, but I started out FOWFC (fake coral) and had great success! And there was that "one more fish". I remember it like it was yesterday....(dream sequence) That little Catalina Goby lookin' at me with those bedroom eyes just beggin' me to take her home.... Then, death & destruction.

 

So I went back to the lfs to find out why. I thought they were experts, silly me! (btw, I now know my temps were too high- God bless the internet!) And the Eclipse is a complete set up so I didn't have to do anything to it.... Anyway, at least the lfs got me going with live rock and some shrooms. Lots of bad choices of fish and gargonians. Again, complete ignorance, I was depending on the lfs guys to help me make those decisions. But I ended up with a great Flame Hawkfish, one HUGE gorgeous iridescent frilly mushroom and lots of inverts.

 

Because of a move I had to break it down and find homes for everybody. But now I'm back and starting over from square one. I thought a small reef could only be done to a limited degree (LR, a fish or two and a mushroom), but then I found this site. The people on this site are so encouraging and motivating with their beautiful tanks! I read Steelhealr's thread (God bless him!), other sites, bought a couple more books and I'm not buying a tank until I sell that monkey on my back stupid house! I'm just itching to start, but as a wise man has said, "beauty happens slowly, disaster happens quickly."

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One Eyed Bunny

I started after finding a link. I'm a poster for a number of forums so I figured one more wouldn't kill me. (RC, HVRK, & Reef Talk) So I figured one last forum wouldn't hurt.

 

There wasn't anything difficult about signing up other than a huge "Join now, free." Free membership with the choice of upgrading is certainly the best way to attract members. I have recently just upgraded to a Premium Membership because I believe in supporting forums such as this. You all do good work and try to spread what you know. That is certainly a well spent $24, although $24 for only a few features such as that is a bit... pricey. I'd certainly say cutting the cost would bring more premium memberships.

 

As for what I'd do differently with the forums, I'm not too sure. If I think of anything during the time of this thread, I'll post.

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Obsessed Reefer
How did you discover nano reef keeping, and how did you get started? Was it Nano-Reef.com, a friend, or a local fish store? What was hard about getting started? What would you have done differently?

 

My cousin posted around here as 'crazyfishdude'. He first told me about it. He never mentiond NR.com. I found this place myself. I had a 2 gallon for 2 years with a clown. She died. Now I am ordering a 12G NC DX very soon.

Edited by Obsessed Reefer
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I have always been fascinated by aquariums since as long as I can remember. but as for nano-reefing, walking into many local LFS i kept seeing the JBJ 6 gallon with a clown and a bunch of corals. i was saving up to buy one but I stumbled unto this site and learned about the amazing world of picos and started a 2.5. but what pushed me to do it even more was how anti-nano some people are. *cough*aquahobby forums *cough*. theyre just full of envy so they gotta be jerks about it. :P

Edited by nanoDarth
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