How Did You Discover Nano Reef Keeping?

[TheCarTech]

A friend of mine had a 180 gallon tank dumped on his by a rich friend who was moving out of the area. This tank was complete with coral, fish (including a Crosshatch Trigger), liverock, sand - everything. Probably $3000 worth of stuff. Needless to say the tank is awesome and we used to sit there staring at it for literally hours and end without speaking a word to each other.

 

He had so much fun with it he bought his wife a Cube Masters 12gal and set it up in their office. They got the nano looking as good as the big tank and because of it's small size and relatively small price tag I knew I had to get one. It took me about 8 months before I bought JBJ 12gal DX. In the mean time I researched as much as I could (on nano-reef.com) . That combined with watching his mistakes help me learn what not to do.

 

Now I have got my mother addicted. The difference between me and her is she's got money and I see a lot of nice corals and a larger tank in her future.

[mullingitover]

I made a 3-gallon pico almost 15 years ago when I was in high school. I had started out with a FW tank and was really interested in it, but I was totally blown away with SW tanks I saw in my biology class. I went to the library every day for a few months and read everything about saltwater tanks I could get my hands on. I also regularly interrogated my biology teacher, who was an avid fishkeeper. I remember my biology teacher thought I was insane when I told him I wanted to start a 3 gallon saltwater tank. All on my own I developed the same strategy that everyone is using here, frequent water changes. With a 3 gallon tank it's pretty trivial work, and it's crucial to keeping the nitrogen in check.

 

Since I was a broke 14-year-old I went with the pico setup out of financial necessity. I had the absolute cheapest tank I could find, and I used a little rock I found at the beach (living on Oahu had its benefits!). I cycled the tank for a few weeks and then when things were stable I added a blue damsel. I ended up giving the tank away when I left Hawaii, but I have some pretty fond memories of it. Saltwater fish have so much personality, it makes them really endearing.

 

I was really happy to stumble upon this forum a few years back and discover that so many people were into this crazy idea. It's great.

[Marasol]

Wow, This really made me think. Im surprised I never saw this post before. Almost 20 years ago now (wow) I worked at a pet store named Diamond Pet in Saint Charles Illinois. The owner, her name eludes me, was one of the best salt keepers in the area. We had people from all over comming to see her. In the back of the store we had a 90 gallon reef that wasnt really visable to the public. I was in love with that tank. It was a simple reef, Lots of life, very few fish. I was obsesed with learning everything I could about it. 60% of my wages went right back into that store. I was a fanatic. I had reptiles, ferrets, hamsters, mice (to feed the reptiles) birds and freshwater fish. But I couldnt afford salt water. It was off the charts as I remember it, not recomended in anything less than 55 gallons which was still frowned upon. My being an "el cheapo" diy kinda guy I put a 29 gallon tank together. HOB overflow to a rubbermade tub. Custom homemade skimmer. I was using a DIY metal halide before it was even thought of (I like to think). I had about 1.4 quadrillion bio balls, the cleanest sump you could think of and about 10 pounds of live rock. It wasnt the best but I did it. I had that tank running with its origional occupants until the day I moved from that apt. I think it ran for about 3 years. I gave all the rock and fish to the new LFS (Diamon had gone under) It was a very time consuming project. Twice as much as the one I run today. I said I would never do it again but last year I got the bug. I found Nano-Reef while looking for DIY ideas. I dont post much because Im not a big forum kinda person but I lurk alot and read just about everything. I love reading everyons post and I feel like I know some of you even though Ive never even written to ya. lol.

 

Jeremy

[LaceySaysMeow]

like almost everyone else I started out freshwater. I'd had betta bowls since I was a kid, gradually working my way up to guppies and then kinda skipping to my rams & puffers, and I always remember loving saltwater. Years ago I started looking on LiveAquaria and saw a really adorable goby (it was a red-striped or high-fin one I think) and decided to turn a ten gallon hex I had into saltwater. I had everything planned out until I went to my LFS (the one I work at now actually, and everyone is very old fashioned when it comes to saltwater...) and they told me there was no way I could do it. I was crushed, but I accepted the fact and moved on.

Then, about a month or two ago I decided to take a trip to a fish store about an hour away cause I heard they had an amazing fish setup. Not only did they have a huge saltwater tank, as well as numerous fresh water tanks, they also had a 12g biocube. I was dumbstruck. I asked. A friend of my boyfriends works there, and she told me her brother who was in college had one set up and it was doing amazing, and obviously so was the stores.

So, I went home, googled and came here, which just amazed me more. I fell in love with picos, and about two weeks later I had one. yay! (that store has now become my LFS<3 at least for SW)

 

(There's just something about saltwater. my brother stopped in tonight, looked at my pico and said "wow that is an awesome fish tank! is it saltwater?" and was amazed. which is saying alot, because my brother really doesn't like fish, and is often telling me "you spent that much on fish? you're stupid")

[i have crabs]

I was supposed to visit my ex in China, then I decided not to go so I needed something to spend the money on.

[usssturgeon187]

to keep it short & to the point ! my friend set up a 55gal & i was hooked . i didnt want to deal with all that water so i did some reserch & got a 10gal nano . never looked back !

[14GNANO]

My uncle, he has a HUGE reef tank in his house with tons of corals, fish, snails, crabs, every thing...he gives my small corals from his tank and it works out well

[dmattlin]

I have always loved saltwater tanks.. but never knew anything about it.. at all...

 

One after noon I was in a business meeting, I was in a personal office and behind the gentlemans desk was a pico tank (probably no more than 3 or 4 gallons) all that was in it was a beautiful piece of coral, at least thats what I thought it was. I couldn't keep my eyes off of it and I am sure I missed half of what was said because I was so interested in that tank. Now that I have learned more I am sure there was a lot more in there, I just didn't see them.

 

I knew one of my friends was very much into SW tanks, so I mentioned it to him.. he told me "When you get home google Nano Tanks".. Well, I did and the rest is history.

 

I have spent countless hours on Nano-Reef.com just reading and seeing what people are doing and I didn't even have a tank. I just enjoyed learning about it.

 

Well, the day finaly came where I bought my first Nano Reef Tank and today is that day..

 

I am finaly beginning my journey into this world for Reef keeping and I am very exited to finaly be apart of this growing community of Nano Tank owners..

 

Thats how it started for me..

[Morn]

I made the mistake of walking into a lfs with a girlfriend that hates fish tanks. The only one that she liked was my little tank and bam here I am!!

[el fabuloso]

Last year I was entertaining the idea of putting together an Amano style iwagumi tank so I was browsing online for an attractive little tank I could use. That’s when I found the Picotope on Drs. Foster & Smith and was surprise to see that it was also recommended for saltwater. Coming from the old school of thought where anything less than 20 gallons was considered less than ideal for saltwater, I was instantly intrigued. It had been over ten years since I kept a saltwater tank so I had a lot of learning and unlearning to do. I did a lot of reading and more research and I found NR and the rest is history. I should probably get around to putting that iwagumi tank together but it’ll be hard with all my effort and interest focused on my meth addiction pico.

[JPF]

I have been keeping fish hardcore for 39 years. I rediscovered salt water after trying it for 6 years in the late 70's. That didnt go so well. Not really my fault. The basic formula for success was just not tweaked yet. I got on line and stumbled across this site. It had success stories, pictures to match and friendly people. I remember only three names form that time: Christopher Marks, Lunchbox and DaveESPI who was a bit of over caffeinated. I lurked and eventually asked some questions. I finally bought an Eclipse system, live rock and placed and order from GARF. Everyone contributed to an enthusiastic atmosphere and my system worked and even flourished a bit. I finally crammed a second bulb under the hood of my Eclipse and added a fan. I graduated to a 20L then a 28 bowfront and finally a 29 for about 5+ years.

Last year a fantastic salt water only LFS opened in town and now I can buy first rate critters coupled with solid advise whenever I want. I just recently returned here and started posting again after a long dry spell. It will take a while to repay the karma I took as a noob but it will happen.

[BKtomodachi]

I was doing some FW Mod work on a smaller FW/SW Combo site, and I heard Tinyreef yammering on about N-R at some point. So I think I followed him over here, and rest was history.

[bigfun]

A friend of mine at work was talking about his reef tank and I questioned him about it. I did not get involved with this hobby because I always thought it was way too difficult! He helped me get started and gave me some great advice! Then he told me to do a search on the net and I found this great place!

This site has been a great source of information for me! I appreciate all of you out there!!

Thanks!!

[fish.freak]

I was a cichlid geek and stumbled upon thereeftank.com, and the rest is history.

[Kimberly63]

One day I was playing around on the net - bored and should've been working when I stumbled onto that one website - rate my fishtank or something where you scroll through peoples pics and rate 1-10, then I got lost clicking links until I found reefkeeping.com and a section where they have tank of the month. A guy at my work had a 75g in his office that was a fish only tank and I was always so fascinated with it and took extra time to pass his office. I was too shy to walk in and drool over his fish. So anyway I was looking at all the tanks of the month at reefkeeping.com and getting a little discouraged because I'd never be able to set up 50+ gallon in my apartment or probably ever in my life until I came accross this tank. I was infatuated! I couldn't believe you could keep a tank so small! I read through his information and how his equipment was run and it was a foreign language to me and figured I'd never be able to do it.

 

I think that searching tank pictures on google or something brought me here and I signed up and messaged someone how much I liked their tank and that I had an empty 55g that I'd like to start but was really scared I'd put all that money into it and have everything die. So he told me just to get my feet wet, start out with something small, see how it goes, then upgrade later. So I went to the lfs and bought myself a biocube 8. I did a lot of research before, but not enough because one of the salesman suckered me into a lot of stuff I didn't need and I didn't know better. He told me I needed a 20lb bag of sand for my biocube (i barely used half), I didn't need 9 gallons of saltwater, all the live rock he talked me into didn't even fit in my tank, talked me into a $25 book that I could've gotten cheaper anywhere else on the planet, and anything else he could add to the pile.

 

I really don't have any regrets though because through my experiences I can help others out.U probably would have gone a little bigger because it's only been a few months with my 8g and I'm already upgrading.

 

He doesn't know it but Louis Tsai's nano reef (from link above) was my inspiration in starting my tank.

Edited May 1, 2008 by Kimberly63

[Smurf]

The Screensaver of my windows 98 computer.

[CarterNichols]

Girlfriend bought me a tank for FW because i always liked her beta, then i took Oceanography and my teach had a SW tank and i just loved SW so much more, then browsing around the internet to find thinks about setting up a SW tank originally just FOWLR i found reefs, and the addiction is worse that crack.

[FyrFighter2004]

Was into FW for a few months, found a new lfs, during my browsing I walked over the the ever so daunting sw side. I saw a jbj nc, and said theres no way, its too hard. One google search, 6 months and a few thousand dollars later, here we are.

[DC84]

How did I discover Nanos?

 

My dog died earlier this year (got him when I started the 4th grade, back in 1994), so a few weeks later we bought a new puppy. We had to go to the pet store to stock up on puppy stuff, and I ended up wandering into the freshwater fish section. I thought "Wow, I need to keep some fish!".

 

So I ended up browsing online at FW fishtanks, amazed at the Amano tanks...but then I stumbled across Nano reef tanks (and this site), then eventually bought and set up my first SW tank.

 

yay.

Edited May 28, 2008 by DC84

[CorvetteJoe]

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?

 

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?

------------------------

By accident I guess. I didn't even know it was a "nano reef" until I found this forum.

My buddy was trying to get me to convert an extra tank I had to salt and take some of his random stuff in his extra tank. So I did. It was a 10gal hex tank.

 

It wasn't until after I set it all up that I found this forum and realized this was very common, look at all the people on here with tanks around the same size!

 

He got me started quickly, a Shotgun Start I call it.

I got water, sand, live rock, critters, a fish and even an anemone later from him. Since it was just basically a tank move, I got to jump right in without the whole process of selecting all the right stuff, waiting for a cycle, etc.

 

I'd highly recommend to any n00bs to buy an already established tank from someone getting rid of theirs.

 

 

What was hard about getting started?

------------------------

Nothing for me, other than all the research I put into finding what fish were compatible (thanks to the ultimate fish guide in the beginner section).

Once I started adding corals, the other hard part was finding room putting them all and realizing that without big bucks on equipment, I couldn't keep quite a few that I really liked the looks of.

 

 

What would you have done differently?

------------------------

probably not have gotten an anemone and an urchin.

I love them both, but the anemone takes up a lot of real estate and the urchin knocks stuff over constantly (I am not ready to glue my frags down yet). My tank is like a zen garden, I am always rearranging stuff until it's just perfect in my eyes, so I am hindered by some rock movement because the anemone is firmly planted in a hole in one rock and the urchin is always knocking everything down or running off with it.

 

I also would have just gotten a 29gal cube from the get go if I had the money and knew how easy it was going to be to keep a reef tank. I was under the impression that it took a lot of money and skill, boy was I surprised. Doing 3 tank upgrades in the few months I have been reefing was not a fun task, but upgrades are only available as I have the money... and even then, its always purchased used, usually off CraigsList which is hit or miss any given day of what there is available.

Edited July 14, 2008 by CorvetteJoe

[bassman7]

When I Saw my friends 29 gallon tank no corals though and now that he saw mine with corals he is getting a nanocube he has a marienland eclipse so no corals

[thecowkid]

um I saw the ocean and said I can keep that in a little glass box. BOOM instant nano reef. Well nano in respect to the ocean.

[skimlessinseattle]

I wanted to do a nano tank the first time I saw the marine section of a really big LFS. That was about 20 years ago when it was "impossible" to do salt in less than 30 gallons...

[rafapepa]

My best friend bought his girlfriend a goldfish bowl for her birthday and I'd been looking at exotic pets such as snakes and lizards so I decided to ask my parents if I could get a fish tank (i'm 15 by the way - not a 30 yr old still living with parents!!) and they said yes so I got a couple of goldfish and decided to expand from there into the wonderful world of nano reefs!!

rafapepa

[Kraylen]

I really wanted a firefish.