[GracieLou]

Originally Posted by RDNanoGuy

My father built my first aquarium for me I was 5 years old. We made it from old window glass and bathroom caulking and it had a wood frame. I would say it was about the size of a 29 gal tall. Filtration consisted of a small box filter powered by a tiny diaphragm pump we ordered from the sears catalogue. Since there was no lfs in ft. Mac in the 70's my livestock consisted of whatever I could catch with my net in the creek and pond behind our house. I kept minnows, sticklebacks, newts, tadpoles, and mudbugs of all kinds. My dad taught me to catch daphnia with a nylon stocking on a stick as a food source. I got very good at keeping things alive in that little tank!

Later in the early eighties a lfs opened up and I started keeping regular tropical fish. I was content with that till we moved to Red Deer in 1985. I had to leave my little tank behind.

Once in Red Deer I found a lfs and was introduced to FAMA magazine. I saw pictures of all the beautiful saltwater fish and knew I had to have some! I bought a used 55 gal at a garage sale with my paper money and started to plan. Back then Berlin systems were just coming in and nobody knew what a skimmer was. I knew about live rock and so I ordered some from a Florida company called Tampa bay saltwater. I think I got 25lbs. It cost over $350.00! I set that first system up with an undergravel filter with a powerhead, an aquaclear 250 filter and a heater. Salt was IO and I had a floating hydrometer. I had various coral skeletons I had collected as decoration. Gravel was dolomite. I learned to keep a few different animals in that tank. I remember having a yellow tang, a regal tang, clown fish, damsels, featherdusters, hermit crabs, etc. I tried an anemone once but it didn't last long. All that time I used no test kits and fed the fish flake food! I had that tank till I was diagnosed with leukemia in 92. By the time I got home from the hospital 14 months later everything had died. I didn't venture back into the hobby again until 2007.

Good to hear everything worked out for you and your back at it. Must have been neat seeing the advancement in saltwater after a 15 year break!!