What brought you into Reefing?

[super7]

I bred african cichlids for a while, then came upon a book that sparked an interest in keeping a reef tank.

[Patrick1]

I was into Cichlids for a long time, but felt I wasn't being kept poor enough with that hobby. I needed something that could consume my entire pay cheque in one stop at the store.

[sphelps]

Everyone told me not to do it, that it couldn't be done. Mahahaha

[kwirky]

I got into reefing because of stuff I read online. I was interested in the challenge because I get bored of fish quite fast. There was an old internet article kicking around (that one in green text and black background) that described the reef tank kinda as "an aquarium you'll be staying up all night fretting about as you perform a careful ballancing act constantly." Right up my alley

Gotta say I've come back to/sticked with it because of the forums. Haven't been able to find much for planted tank enthusiasts in Canada really.

A good community makes any hobby/past-time exciting really and the forums have been great.

[Keri]

I've had FW since I was a kid and I've always loved SW but thought it was "too difficult". last year my vet office went over to the vancouver aquarium for fun and Drew and I decided we really wanted to get into SW so we bought an 8gal nano. That lasted about 3 months till we bought the 65 then Drew built the 27.......next tank will be...90? 125? we shall see
The 8 gal is still running...as a QT

[Mikee]

Ever since i was in my early teens i had FW.. my dad and brother had always had an obsession with Discus and Angelfish so slowly i got into that started breeding and raising both. I always loved SW..whenever we went to our LFS i always wished i could keep SW..but i knew it was far to much money so i stuck with FW. Finally school was done, and at that time i found many reef forums and was inspired but all the amazing tanks. I did not want to jump in with a VERY large tank right away (although i wish i did now) but like with many hobbies you never know if you really like them or just get bored with it after a few months. So i bought my 90g set it up, and now after almost 2 years i am still here! I have had some ups and downs along the way but i have never thought about quitting..it only makes me want to learn more and try to improve hopefully have a tank one day like those that first inspired me. Next tank (maybe next year) i am thinking of a 180 4x3x2' .

[JDigital]

I had never been into keeping aquariums at all as a kid. None of my friends had them, and I never really heard about them. About 1.5 years ago, I went to a buddies place for a BBQ and saw this HUGE (atleast I thought it was at the time) 90G Reef tank. But never thought I couldn't do it after hearing about all the things he has to take care of it. It had the clowns w/ anemone, coral, etc etc.. and I was amazed by it every time I went round his place.. I am now living in a house with another friend that was into FW before i moved in.. and it was cool, found a 55G Starter kit for a great price at Petland one day, and decided to start a FW (becuz I thought SW was gonna so difficult, I wanted it, but just didn't know much about it).. So anyways, started the 55G FW about 2-3 months ago, and as I started that, my roommate started his 20G Nano Reef... well geez, now I had to look at his tank everyday, and it finally got to me and I caved... Was gonna do the 54G sumpless, which ended up being the 75G RR Tank I now have going... and I just picked up a bunch of parts to start a 23G SPS Nano.. Build thread coming soon.

I guess I can blame being broke on my friends..

[globaldesigns]

I am now 40, but started in freshwater when I was about 12... Anyways about 9 years ago, I bought a new house, moved everything including my tank, eventually I noticed a crack and paniced as I had a tank blow before... So I dismantled and got rid of everything...

About 3 years ago, my brother bought my daughter a 4 gallon tank, I set it up as a freshwater, and I got hooked again... Shortly after I bought myself a 28 gallon JBJ nano (saltwater), then got my son a 4 gallon saltwater... then got myself a 300 gallon (saltwater) setup...

As you can see, went crazy with tanks, but LOVE IT!!!

[Key Equine]

I had a freshwater tanks on and off for years, never considered saltwater because I thought it would be too much work and too expensive.
Then I went on the tour of the Ocean Rider setup in Hawaii, where they raise captive seahorses and sell them directly to hobbyists (unfortunately not to Canada I was amazed by the seahorses and the idea of getting captive bred really appealed to me. I came home, sold my freshwater livestock, and converted to my current seahorse species tank! That was only about six months ago, so I'm still a newbie! But I'm loving it...

[fishoholic]

5 1/2 years ago Steve (my boyfriend) wanted a FW tank. I always thought tanks were noisy and annoying, but he really want one so we got a 20g FW tank. I started to like the fish and after a short while we added a 15g, a 8g and a 5g (all FW tanks) into the mix. We admired my friend Lee's (aka bulletsworld) SW tank but it looked complicated and living in a smallish condo we didn't have a lot of room to set one up. Fast forward almost a year and we sold the condo and bought a house. In the house we kept the 20g FW tank and set up a 110g brackish tank. On boxing day 2005 we bought a 60g tank that was intended for our FW fish that were outgrowing the 20g. Started thinking about Lee's SW tank and started to ask her many many many questions about how to set one up. She told us about canreef and we ended up selling all our FW and Brackish fish and took the plunge into salt water.

Since then this is a list of tanks we've had: it all started with the 60g, then came a 10g mantis tank, then a 10g JBJ Nano Cube which turned into a 15g long tank which turned into a 30g cube tank. Then we thought we'd combine our 60g and 10g together in a new larger tank with a sump and refugium area for Mr. mantis. So the 60g and 10g turned into a 120g with a 50g sump. Then we realized the 120g wasn't nearly big enough for our tangs and we were tired of topping off our 30g cube all the time. So the 120g and 30g turned into the 230g reef tank (that I have now) and we ended up using the old brackish 110g tank that we had for a sump. We added baffles to it but the baffles we put in it blew out shortly after setting it up, so 2 rubbermaids became makeshift baffle/refugium compartments. Stared liking angelfish more and more so after buying a few two many for the 230g reef tank we have, we added another tank and set up the 230g fowlr tank that we have know. Also at that time we changed out the 110g sump for a proper 90g (with baffles and real compartments) sump.

So here I am 3 1/2 years into the SW hobby and many tanks later, with the final tanks (so far) being two 230g tanks all plumbed together into a 90g sump. Ironically the only SW inhabitant that I still have from the first few months into the hobby is my mantis. My CBB is a close 2nd who came a few months later.

Hummmm...... a 60g-80g cube frog/toad fish tank might be nice.........