How have you seen reef keeping evolve?

[k2parkstar]

So lately i've been seeing people talk about how reef keeping has evolved. Specifically in the "How old are you" thread. Hearing that people could hardly keep SPS, or the times before MH lighting or protein skimmers, just seems like that stuff has always been around. So now i'm interested in hearing about the evolution of reefing. What changes have you seen(fish, coral, dry goods? If you can provide what year things started coming out too, that would be cool. (example: 1994 protein skimmers started being used)

I haven't been in reef keeping as long as some so I would say the only thing I can think of is LED's becoming more popular in the past year or so.

Other things i'd like to know:

When did reef ready tanks with overflows start being used?
When did starfire glass start being used?
When did sumps start catching on?

 

[WesF]

I got into the hobby back when people started moving away from the DSB low tech method. Those famous heated DSB vs Barebottom vs SSB were really intense. Nobody seems to give anyone a hard time about sand depth anymore and that is a good thing.

Another big change i have seen: Back in my early days, the good skimmers costed a fortune and the cheaper skimmers were junk.

Now you have several affordable skimmers to choose from that perform very well.

 

[k2parkstar]

Bump

 

[MIKE NY]

When I started up my 90, which is an O'Dell for those who remember and it's my fuge now, in 1990 undergravel filters with crushed coral with a skilter filter was the filtration along with a UV....then came the SeaClones with the airstone mods...LOL My lighting started with plain multiple T12 flourecents and then PCs. There was no R2R or other online info sites like today..everything was done on trail and error and for me there was alot of $ wasted with error on fish and coral. We've come a long way....

 

[swissgaurd]

we sure have come along way.
24 yrs ago i started off with an undergravel filter and crushed coral. Dead coral instead of live rock for decorations
then a wet dry setup with a hangon overflow using bio-blocks,skimmer was a wooden airstone
then went to a jaubert system and liverock.
undergravel system was lit by 4 x 40watt bulbs
jaubert lit by VHO
then deep sand bed 11 yrs ago with metal halide
lighting changed to T5 half way through
presently still deep sand bed but with LED lighting and marco rock
for me what has evolved the most in this hobby is the lighting.

vic

 

[FaviaFreak]

from pulsing xenia being the coolest thing you've ever seen to $2000 1" chalice frags being bought and sold and from VHO being the best lights you could get to LED lighting

 

[Techbiker]

Well, I am still new to this , and i think I have succes just because of the all equipment mention, but I have been in a couple of houses that they dont use anything, besides something call algae scruber, and they have sps lps and anything you can imagine, no skimer, no fancy ligthing, no a or b, so if they can do it with just that, why is so hard for other hobiest achieve this level of natural care.
i am speaking about me, because even that i see how well it works , I wont take my skimmer, or stop dosing on my tank.
probabli just a different aproach

 

[mcarroll]

I think you (or they) may be misunderstanding the algae filter. It does not have any role outside of nutrient removal.

 

[lizardfish]

I started reefing when I was 11 now I'm 21 back then a 10g reef was "to hard" and to small for fish and you where crazy if u thought you could keep a 3 gal but I did it, a refugium with out a skimmer was crazy talk, blue lights "did nothing for growth only white light did" LEDs wer a joke. Sps in a 30 gal was "impossible" you "had " to have a Dsb, I didnt listen to any of that, turns out I was right lol all that bad info comming from ppl who said I was to young to keep a reef turns out I ended up giving them advice haha

 

[turbo21]

I remember when brown zoas and palys were awesome to have especially when they had a green glow under the vho actinics. My berlin turbo skimmer was one of the best there was and sps couldnt be found anywhere in this area (except for the porites christmas tree worm rocks). Those were the days. Nothing but green glowing everwhere

I had a buddy stop one time and he told me how awesome the zoas i had were. He said with just the purples on he could see 5 colors in the disc. All i saw was brown and green haha nothing like the colors of today

bob

 

[swannyson7]

I had a buddy stop one time and he told me how awesome the zoas i had were. He said with just the purples on he could see 5 colors in the disc. All i saw was brown and green haha nothing like the colors of today

bob

Yeah, but there were different shades of green & brown :wink:

 

[jonbar1]

I remember when the only foods easily available were flakes and pellets or something homemade for the advanced keeper, now there is something nutritious to feed from oyster eggs to genetically engineered copepods. I feel food is a very important aspect of keeping corals that most people ignored for the longest time focusing on light and water quality advancements. Those are very important too, but I think the future successes of currently difficult species will come from even more diverse foods.

The breeding and especially raising of more species of fish is another big leap I've seen. Heck, we now have clownfish going the way of the goldfish, guppy, and betta where we can breed for traits we find desirable.

 

[mallorieGgator]

I'm fairly new so the things I've seen evolve are :
LEDs coming on to the scene
Biopellet reactors

 

[Trex]

Mine are similar to "swissgaurd's"

Tank started off with undergravel filter -- though I went hightech and used reverse flow.
Had to pull the dead coral decorations out every month or so to bleach them clean.

One thing I do miss -- when live rock first became available -- locally, around '93 -- it was of great quality, the life on there was hands above anything that I see now-a-days.

 

[k2parkstar]

Great info, I couldn't imagine the days that coral didnt glow, or just wasn't even common. I'd be lost with out my skimmer and all my other niceties that make my reef keeping easier, more effienct and fun. I've heard other people mention the quality of live rock in the past. You'd even be lucky and get coral that was already on the rock. Anyone else got some fun facts about reefing in the "old" days?

 

[Ace25]

Personally, I think we have come full circle since I got into the hobby at the end of the 80's. I progressed over the years to new methods and equipment, only to find myself dumping it all and going back to the methods of the 80's, just more refined today so it works better.