Let's talk about the good ol' days in reefing!

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Southdown Sand - stupid cheap.
Live rock from Fiji - wrapped in wet newspaper.
Face 2 Face - clubs.
No internet as we know it today, dial up BBS and USENET.
Read books.

I was telling someone this the other day. We got our info from books and other hobbyist. I strait up wore out a copy of Marine Fishes.

 

[marinesnow]

These are some of my favorite books from back in the day. I love youtube, but nothing beats a good book IMO. I still pick these up from time to time, especially the Corals one for scientific names + learning where some corals are found in the wild (e.g. for lighting requirements and flow).

The New Marine Aquarium
Aquarium Corals
Clownfishes

 

[marinesnow]

You bought small coral colonies not frags...instant gratification!

THIS

 

[marinesnow]

I go back 41 years now and it was your basic tank with undergravel filter and a maxiJet power head on each stack with dolomite opposed to now sand and a floating thermometer, and screw on heater, lots of salt creep and a large hood with compact fluorescent bulbs and tap water with tetra safe water additive. Everyone had damsels and condylactus anemones. I can go on 20 more lines. have I seem change!

Ah yes the good old condys. I remember buying one and my clownfish stayed away from it, I thought it would host it until I found out they're from separate oceans in the wild and that they could actually sting them.

What's a screw on heater?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ah yes the good old condys. I remember buying one and my clownfish stayed away from it, I thought it would host it until I found out they're from separate oceans in the wild and that they could actually sting them.

What's a screw on heater?

the type that clamp onto tank rim

 

[marinesnow]

the type that clamp onto tank rim

I remember those! I had one on my freshwater tank as a kid. I remember thinking…if I don’t top off my tank to the MIN line, the heater is going to explode

 

[vetteguy53081]

I remember those! I had one on my freshwater tank as a kid. I remember thinking…if I don’t top off my tank to the MIN line, the heater is going to explode

You know it

 

[dennis romano]

My first marine tank was around 1972. It was one of the first all glass tanks. The problem was that the framing was real wood held together with pin nails. The lighting was a stainless steel incandescent strip light sitting on a sheet of plastic, couldn't afford the new plastic fluorescent strip lights. The decor was coral skeletons and a big conch shell. Around 1980, went big time, a twenty high with dolomite and filtered by a Supreme PME HOB filter. I considered myself a fish god when the inhabitants, blue devil, purple pseudo, black and white damsel and a coral beauty all hit two years of age. Yes, they all lived together in that twenty. My first "reef", in the mid 1980s, was a ten gallon with a big piece of live rock covered in zoas, bivalves and tube worms. The only fish was a goby that my buddy caught in Hawaii and brought back in a soda bottle. Filtration was a generic undergravel filter. I made a protein skimmer out of a soda bottle from a print I saw in FAMA. That is when I knew that I had hit the big time.

 

[DanATL]

Feeding my $20 Yellow Tang romaine lettuce in a clip. Frozen first to break down the fiber.

 

[Acroconut]

1998 for me. Bought my first set of metal halides from the only local LFS that sold coral and the owner told me "Now you have the finger of God and can grow anything you want" but neglected to say anything about the heat they produced. LOL I no longer use it but still have that fixture in my possession today. Went on to use metal halides and discovered the beauty of a chiller.

 

[topjimmy]

What year did you start reefing? What was great about that time?
Bonus question--knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I'll go first... I started my first reef tank in 2008. It was a ten gallon petco tank with a aquaclear HOB filter and a soap holder for chaeto. Owning reef was something I dreamed of as a kid, and starting my first reef felt like a coming of age. For me, upgrading meant my next tank was a biocube--ended up getting an AIO from advanced acrylics.

In the good ol days I remember when designer clownfish first started to appear, it was a magical time.

If I could go back I would have banked my corals with friends. I had a few tank crashes along the way, and took a hiatus. Coming back to the hobby I would have loved to have corals with lineage from my early days in the hobby.

My first tank was a 75gal with a Jaubert plenum, all the rage in the 90s

 

[topjimmy]

1998 for me. Bought my first set of metal halides from the only local LFS that sold coral and the owner told me "Now you have the finger of God and can grow anything you want" but neglected to say anything about the heat they produced. LOL I no longer use it but still have that fixture in my possession today. Went on to use metal halides and discovered the beauty of a chiller.

Built mine from Grainger, 65k 175w with vho actinic