Historical Reefing

[Seawitch]

Recently there was a thread about what has changed in reefing in the past 10 years.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-has-changed-in-the-last-decade.527148/

I'm interested to hear from those who had a reef tank 20+ years ago. For an article, if you had a SW tank more than 20 years ago, tell me what has changed, and what has changed in your practices.

Kindly reply in this thread, and I'll quote you in the article.

THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

[garbled]

The cutting edge stuff was plenums. People were just starting to talk about using fine sand, as opposed to gravel, and if it would cause a sulfur volcano in your tank or not. Powerheads were these big bulky disasters, and were mostly good for blowing the flesh off nearby corals. Lots of bizzare fiddly flow devices were coming out, like the powerhead sweeps that had a mechanical device inside to make the head move back and forth, or this wierd flow switching device I have hanging around in a box that would flip the flow between two outlet lines when hard plumbed in. Flow was super hard to achieve back then.

The height of lighting were either big metal halides, or massive VHO tubes.

Not everyone ran R/O water. My original tanks were just tap water dechlorinated. Most SPS tanks were just collections of brown sticks. Lots of people were spiking kalkwasser with vinegar to keep up with calcium demand. (I wonder if anyone knew they were carbon dosing, hrmm?)

AEFW and black bugs were practically unheard of. One or two people would get them, but they were very uncommon. I suspect fragging has actually increased this pest in our hobby.

 

[Dan_P]

Recently there was a thread about what has changed in reefing in the past 10 years.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-has-changed-in-the-last-decade.527148/

I'm interested to hear from those who had a reef tank 20+ years ago. For an article, if you had a SW tank more than 20 years ago, tell me what has changed, and what has changed in your practices.

Kindly reply in this thread, and I'll quote you in the article.

THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS

Here is some raw material, maybe others will fill in the gaps.

One big change in reefing is the internet. It seems that ideas on maintainence and animal health can evolve quickly and be implemented more widely very quickly. What hasn’t change is we still subsist on anecdotal data and much conjecture on how and why things happen. The nuissance alga area is a good example where you can find qusetionable information.

Water purification. Bioballs were the in thing then they were not. Aquarist have always been great believers in the silver bullet, the magic cure. Adding all sorts of thing to an aquarium to cure and improve the appearance continues unabated today. Carbon dosing took off with little provocation from data. And just like human probiotics, the hobby became fascinated with the miracle of adding bacteria.

Analytical chemistry has improved with better methods becoming available with the advent of cheap sensors and electronics. The Hanna Checker is one example. The availability of ICP testing is another.

Controllers and dosers once nice to have equipment now seem like must haves.

“Aquarium supplements” must be proprtionally as big in the hobby as nutritional supplements are for humans and with the same amount of science to back up claims.

Where we haven’t changed is that on average we probably stock our systems too quickly and unnecessarily endanger aquarium inhabitants.

Hope this helps a little.

Dan

 

[Seawitch]

Here is some raw material, maybe others will fill in the gaps.

One big change in reefing is the internet. It seems that ideas on maintainence and animal health can evolve quickly and be implemented more widely very quickly. What hasn’t change is we still subsist on anecdotal data and much conjecture on how and why things happen. The nuissance alga area is a good example where you can find qusetionable information.

Water purification. Bioballs were the in thing then they were not. Aquarist have always been great believers in the silver bullet, the magic cure. Adding all sorts of thing to an aquarium to cure and improve the appearance continues unabated today. Carbon dosing took off with little provocation from data. And just like human probiotics, the hobby became fascinated with the miracle of adding bacteria.

Analytical chemistry has improved with better methods becoming available with the advent of cheap sensors and electronics. The Hanna Checker is one example. The availability of ICP testing is another.

Controllers and dosers once nice to have equipment now seem like must haves.

“Aquarium supplements” must be proprtionally as big in the hobby as nutritional supplements are for humans and with the same amount of science to back up claims.

Where we haven’t changed is that on average we probably stock our systems too quickly and unnecessarily endanger aquarium inhabitants.

Hope this helps a little.

Dan

Thank you. That helps A LOT.

 

[Seawitch]

Thank you @garbled

 

[JimFuller]

Recently there was a thread about what has changed in reefing in the past 10 years.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-has-changed-in-the-last-decade.527148/

I'm interested to hear from those who had a reef tank 20+ years ago. For an article, if you had a SW tank more than 20 years ago, tell me what has changed, and what has changed in your practices.

Kindly reply in this thread, and I'll quote you in the article.

THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well, This is quite a request.

In 1974 I started a Fish Only Saltwater Tank. It was 55 Gallons. We used under gravel filters with the latest power head drawing water from below. Instead of sand or gravel, we used oyster shells to help keep the PH balanced. We only worried about the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate cycle. We used mollies to do the cycle with. If we could come out with above 15 ppm Nitrate we were great. We, also, thought hair algae was wonderful. We would attempt to have it on the back and side glass. While helping keep the Nitrate below 50 ppm, it provide food for the fish. the lights were florescent ( not HO or VHO) and some tried Metal Halide. For Fish. Most popular were the Yellow Tang, Blue Damsels with yellow tails, clown Fish. If you were really good you could keep an anemone.

Around 1980, I moved to a 75 Gallon Tank. This was drilled and a "Trickle" Filtration sump was setup. By now Metal Halide was becoming main stream, but expensive. You had to be able to handle the heat issues. I was able to acquire some softies and LPS corals. These were not to bad to keep alive. The algae was moved into the sump. We were able to keep the nitrate below 10 ppm. Anemone and Clown fish were often paired up and the center of the tank. More varieties of fish were available. We, also, learned by placing rock in the display tank, we could have more fish.

In about 1984, I was introduced to the wonderful device called a protein skimmer. It took about a month for me to build and get a working unit. By having a sump, it could be put below the tank and out of sight. Plumbing was mainly soft hoses. This caused an interesting drop in the nitrates. This was a great thing. In Billings, Montana, we never could get the latest stuff.

Unfortunately, This was when I have my first tank crash. On Christmas, in 1984 my daughter thought the fish were hungry. being young, she just assumed that a large glass of milk would be the solution. We woke up to a foul smell with all the tank inhabitants dead. We took a few month off before putting in a new tank.

I have seen a bunch of changes over the 44 years I have been at this, but have to go back to the family for today. May write some more later.

 

[ca1ore]

The fundamentals haven’t changed, but of course the way that we accommodate them has changed completely. When I set up my first reef tank in 1987 or 1988, the memory fades, the equipment choices were incredibly limited. Minimal internet, so books or LFS word-of-mouth were the way to learn. George Smit’s series of articles in FAMA in 1986 jump started the reef hobby for me. But equipment was horribly limiting; Tunze was about the only skimming game in town, so DIY becomes a necessity. Then I happened into my favored LFS at the time and met Albert Thiel. He was setting up a Dupla-based reef system based on the principles advocated in the book, The Optimum Aquarium. That, and Peter Wilkins’ books in the early-1990’s remain among my very favorite books. Here, at last, was the kind of equipment that made aspiration a reality.

I find it funny how folks complain about the rapid changes in LED technology, yet that was exactly how metal halide was in the late 1980’s. Reef purposed bulbs had yet to appear, so we were stuck with using things like the Osram PowerStar. Wavemakers were non existent, so prehistoric switching devices were used. Both revelation and revolution, the calcium reactor appeared in the mid-1990’s. Could not say who first invented then for reef tanks, though my MTC ProCal unit bought in 1997 remains in service on my tank today.

For reefers today, we have the massive resource that is the internet. Sadly that’s meant mostly the end of the reef book publishing industry - a shame, on many levels, not the least of which is the internet’s ability to further misinformation (as well as information). There are countless equipment manufacturers making a bewildering array of both affordable and premium gear. Some of it is even really innovative. While I suppose some might view the often nakedly capitalistic practice of hobbyist-turned-frag-hawker as a negative thing, I’d view it as almost entirely positive as it’s made corals available to just about anyone who aspires to them.

I’ve got old pictures if you would care to use them. Some in an order thread I had here on R2R.

 

[Seawitch]

The fundamentals haven’t changed, but of course the way that we accommodate them has changed completely. When I set up my first reef tank in 1987 or 1988, the memory fades, the equipment choices were incredibly limited. No internet, so books or LFS word-of-mouth were the way to learn. George Smit’s series of articles in FAMA in 1986 jump started the reef hobby for me. But equipment was horribly limiting; Tunze was about the only skimming game in town, so DIY becomes a necessity. Then I happened into my favored LFS at the time and met Albert Thiel. He was setting up a Dupla-based reef system based on the principles advocated in the book, The Optimum Aquarium. That, and Peter Wilkins’ books in the early-1990’s remain among my very favorite books. Here, at last, was the kind of equipment that made aspiration a reality.

I find it funny how folks complain about the rapid changes in LED technology, yet that was exactly how metal halide was in the late 1980’s. Reef purposed bulbs had yet to appear, so we were stuck with using things like the Osram PowerStar. Wavemakers were non existent, so prehistoric switching devices were used. Both revelation and revolution, the calcium reactor appeared in the mid-1990’s. Could not say who first invented then for reef tanks, though my MTC ProCal unit bought in 1997 remains in service on my tank today.

For reefers today, we have the massive resource that is the internet. Sadly that’s meant mostly the end of the reef book publishing industry - a shame, on many levels, not the least of which is the internet’s ability to further misinformation (as well as information). There are countless equipment manufacturers making a bewildering array of both affordable and premium gear. Some of it is even really innovative. While I suppose some might view the often nakedly capitalistic practice of hobbyist-turned-frag-hawker as a negative thing, I’d view it as almost entirely positive as it’s made corals available to just about anyone who aspires to them.

I’ve got old pictures if you would care to use them. Some in an order thread I had here on R2R.

Yeah, if you can point me to them when you get a chance. I'd love to see that.

 

[ca1ore]

Hmmn, cannot find it. Had an ‘Ancient History’ thread from 2016 over on RC that I thought I’d replicated here on R2R ..... but perhaps not.

 

[JimFuller]

@ca1ore what you say is true. I am glad to see someone kept better history than I have.

 

[KrisReef]

In the early 1980's live rock was shipped in similar styrofoam containers as today, but the rock was freshly removed from the reef. It came with luxurious coverings including Halimeda and other algae, sponges, crabs, worms, and barely living hard corals (porities, maze brain, and others) wrapped in newsprint. Most of this life died in transit or shortly after arrival and the smell was a fair indicator of the time that the rock had been out of water.

In this era, one LFS in San Diego sold dinner plate sized French Angelfish for $25.00, or was it $40.00? No one who wasn't here will believe me if I stick with the lower number, and $40 will probably still sound low for a retail price? My memory is kinda low.

Someone mentioned the undergravel filter with oyster shells, but the nicest (looking) gravel ever available for a fish tank was the Puka shell gravel that was put in potato sacks on a beach in Hawaii and sold here in California. Imagine golden little pearls slightly smaller than bb's that glowed underwater and made the fish tank look incredible. That gravel supply stopped before the marine fishery import did.

You could also get Florida live rock, it wasn't very porous but it was pretty. Also for $100 retail you could get a massive (+5lb) rock covered in Ricordia. It was called "mushroom rock," and you didn't get one polyp it came covered with a colony of Rics.

The Indonesian and Phillipean rocks and fishes were dynamite! That is the native fishermen used dynamite to collect live rock and cyanide to collect the fish. Those fish always had a sunken stomach and never ate because the exposure to collection chemicals destroyed their internal organs and they slowly died, usually lasting less than a week, or up to a month maybe.

In spite of all this, the trade in aquarium fishes provided an economic reason for suppliers to improve animal husbandry. Many advances in fish keeping equipment and technics came because hobbyist figured out how to overcome challenges to keeping fish and corals alive. The idea in this last sentence is a fact that Indonesia doesn't seem to grasp. Hobbyists have a vested interest in keeping wild reefs alive and healthy.

But enough of politics, I'm supposed to be drying dishes.

 

[jrill]

I see several folks saying we didn't have the internet in the 80's fir reefing but we did. News groups were starting up on AOL and CompuServe. Albert Theil was king at first with his line of dumps and equipment. Slowly the news groups turned on his method and he lost favor.
Early 70's and late 60's we only had undergravel filters with airstones until power heads came on the scene.
I started my first reef in the early 80's. Coral losses were high for most of use.
Turbo snails were touted as the magical cure for hair algae. Florescent tubes were placed over the tank in shop lights or with plastic end caps that were supposed to be water proof.
Live rock was incredible with tons of live and pests were common.
Protein skimmers moved away from air driven to pumps drawing in air in a vortex. Oceanic made the nicer drilled tanks.
Astrea snails were added after turbos around then. If you were really serious about water quality you bought lamotte test kits.

 

[ca1ore]

I see several folks saying we didn't have the internet in the 80's fir reefing but we did. News groups were starting up on AOL and CompuServe.

That may well be, though I don’t personally recall it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say ‘minimal’ rather than no internet then. My earliest recollection of credible and usable internet information was Reef Central around 1999, but i don’t doubt that there were earlier incarnations. I was, and to a degree still am, much more of a fan of books and magazines - they require an ‘investment’ in time and knowledge. A forum post or a youtube video requires neither. They’re equally facile at disseminating misinformation as they are useful knowledge and information.

 

[IgnatiusRath]

I was on the freshwater side of fishkeeping in the 90's, and i was still a kid, but i do remember the awe i had for the salt section of the lfs.

The first time I saw a Trigger in a little display with the huge hot lights, I was hooked and wanted a salt tank. The LFS's were different back then and seemed to be run by grumpy old men who knew their stuff. Those grumpy guys who snapped at other kids tapping on tanks, always made time to answer my questions and point me at good books to learn from. They also talked me into keeping fresh water until i was older and ready for salt.

I can't speak to the technology changes like some of the other folk, but to me i think a big change is those old timers aren't the primary gate keepers and stewards for introduction to the hobby like they used to be. When you can get everything online delivered to your door to start your first tank, you can miss out on the community and knowledge a good LFS can provide.

 

[reefwiser]

I started and had a mentor in the hobby that would fly saltwater from the keys every week for water changes in the 60's I had my first Sanders air stone protein skimmer in the early 70's what I advancement that was.
I was a Mod on Fishnet starting in the early eighty's with the start of computers on the internet. With Fishnet the sharing of information developed the first network of hobbyist sharing their learnings from around the world.
Many of the members of Fishnet went on to write books and give talks. Julian Sprung ,Martin Moe and a host of others shared their thoughts on a daily basis. We learned of the use of Live Rock from German Hobbyist and started doing that here in the states and the keep of reef tanks developed. With Steve Tyree on Fishnet we developed the keeping of SPS corals. MACNA's developed from clubs communicating with each other to host speakers and have get togethers once a year so we could all meet in person and spend a whole weekend talking and learning from each other. Today we are getting more fish breed and also just starting to culture corals. Many many things need to be done.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What has changed?

Types of salt
Salt measuring devices as there were hydrometers and floating glass hydrometers
Power heads then and circulation pumps now
Types and varieties of test kits as we only had strips and/or dip methods
Lighting- NO Doubt. Shop lights were the thing as was MH units
Sumps- everything was hang on the back units- yuk with lots of salt creep
Tanks- back then was metal frame or a non reef ready tank with everything possible hanging on the back
Heaters were screw-on mount with the glass tube eventually getting salt inside
Food..... There was flakes an brine shrimp as a delicasy

 

[Rukk]

Let me set the time period. No Internet, no cell phones, no pagers, these were all things of fantasy.

I had piddled around with freshwater during my younger years. Then I saw some saltwater fish (early 20's now) and there it started. I used an undergravel filter, plumbed it with cpvc for one big ugly powerhead reverse flow, pumping the water down under the filter and up thru the crushed coral I used for "sandbed". I kept damsels, dominoes, flame angel, coral beauty and a pretty good variety of fish over the 12 years I kept it going before quitting the hobby.

Used fluorescent lighting, think grow bulbs here and shop light fixtures, after some time I could get actinics and the shop lights started to rust, didn't even think about tainting the water, eventually MH came around but way too much heat for me to deal with. Started up another tank, same MO and got crazy and decided to put some coral in the tank. The one fish store happened to get some coral and well I had to have it. Didn't have "rock" like we think today. I was able to buy actual dead pieces of real coral, blue, etc. that were large. Apparently that is no longer possible these days and rightly so, though it was beautiful.

Over the years, success was come and go. I read books and tried to learn and actually I would say I learned a lot, unfortunately mostly from trial and error. The fish store guy was learning like we were. After 5 or 7 years I did buy a wet/dry filter that was the new thing and supposedly a must have, though the fish store used pictures of my tank at the store with the undergravel filter for many years. Had great success with flames, beautys, clown fish, damsels, and blue tangs, might have been others. Many of these fish lived for many years. Of course, they are hardy types as well. Had a black ribbon eel that lived for many years. I killed it accidently. I'll skip the how, but needless to say I was not happy with myself.

Unfortunately, some fish ate other fish, or just wouldn't make it. I didn't have a good understanding of what fish would be compatible with each other. The corals I am sad to say now for the most part might survive for a year or two, but that was about it. Had an Elegance live for many years, along with a "brain" some leathers, and anemones like carpet types. There were many others. Had a couple of clams make it for several years too, but eventually they passed as well. Never heard of SPS back then if I remember correctly.

All this on untreated well water and limited water changes. About the time I got out, I was starting to hear about protein skimmers but never had one. Despite what I consider now to be failures, for the day and time I was generally considered a successful, innovative hobbyist. So many things happened, this summary leaves out many, many things, but I don't want to type a book, and I doubt anyone would be interested anyway.

I've recently gotten back into the hobby after about a thirty year hiatus and my previous experience has been very helpful. Needless to say, the equipment and knowledge today, and how my experience helps me now, well that is another story.

 

[fish farmer]

I remember the choice of bioballs or DLS(double layered spiral) for your trickle filter.

 

[jrill]

I remember the choice of bioballs or DLS(double layered spiral) for your trickle filter.

Yes, I think dls was first. Bio balls were the innovation. Gosh I feel old all of a sudden.

 

[Zuma]

@ca1ore hit the nail on the head; FAMA and the various articles they were publishing on reef tanks at the time were the best and most current info available other then Sprung/Delbecks book the Reef Aquarium. Like so many other things the internet is what has changed the hobby the most in my mind.