What drew you to SW aquariums

[Ross]

Snorkeling in Maui is what drew me.
I set up my first marine tank a few days after getting back.

First tank was my in wall 9 gallon nano, upgraded to a 33, currently have a 67 and wanting a 180 or 230.

[jorjef]

I won a 40 gallon set up, tank. lights, stand and bottom drilled for a canister etc. as a door prize at a local fish auction and thought I would give salt a try...3 years later I don't really consider this "free" tank so free anymore.... Should have filled the damn thing with guppies!!!

[magikof7]

A close friend of the family had a big Saltwater tank when I was young. I think I was around 9 or so. (mid eighties) I spent the whole night sitting in front of that tank and was hooked.
I think it was a 90 gal. he didn't have it too long before he downsized to a smaller tank. It was so expensive and the mortality rate then was so high. He had Corals and Seahorses, fish.
I remember the Wonder I felt, I'll never forget it.
So after so many years of longing I got started 3 months ago with my 29 gal. I LOVE it. I don't think Ill ever be without one now. I love watching my kids see something move and run over to the tank to see what's going on. Even my teenage Daughter enjoys it. (just Mom gets all the work )

[kien]

Way back in 2002.. My sister's boyfriend was big into salt water tanks and convinced me that it wasn't that hard! One year we hit up the old Big Al's (at Heritage) on boxing day and by the end of that weekend I had a 90g room divider cycling in my living/dining room :-) That first tank was just a FOWLR but I did experiment with various softies. Like all first tanks that one didn't last too long. I moved, got married, had kids.. fast forward a few years and the wife and I took a trip to Maui. That Maui trip instantly rekindled my love for the reef tank and this time around it was all about the Mixed Reef.

The first thing I did when we got back was dig up my first 90g that was in storage. Drilled it and slapped on an external overflow box, made a sump and got some new lights. This was the result.



I also reconnected with that friend that first got me into salt water and asked him how his tank was doing. He referred me to Canreef and after spending days creeping I set off on another adventure that ended up with this..

[Reef Pilot]

Bought a house just over 2 years ago, with a 100g SW tank and downstairs sump room already in place. Used to have FW tanks many years ago, so thought I would give SW a try.

Since then I have added another 135g tank, plus thousands of dollars of equipment incl LED, controller and pumps. Not a cheap hobby, that's for sure, and lots of learning. But I love the challenge, and still working on improving things.

[lastlight]

snorkeling on honeymoon in mexico. all i wanted was a school of those sergeant majors lol.