ylreefer
Active Member
OK so I wanted to put this out there and get some of your thoughts and experiences.
Allow me to rewind to 1993 when I started my very first job back in the UK, manager of an aquarium. At just 18 years old and being fascinated by anything alive in the ocean I saw a quaint little newly opened aquarium in a small residential district. It was the only shop on the street and I just happened to walk past. It Was closed but I told my father ill be coming back here tomorrow [emoji4]. I went back and again it was closed. In fact I went back everyday until iq found it open.
Eventually it was and in I went. I had no aquarium of my own at the time, so seeing all six saltwater tanks in this mainly freshwater shop was amazing. They were 24" cube tanks on a metal rack over 2 levels. I stared at the beautiful fish for so long the owner wanted to close and go home.
He asked me if I wanted to buy anything and I replied no I want a job lol. As you do.
He handed me the keys, showed me how to turn off the alarm and said come in tomorrow and open up 10am. Wow. I was over the moon. And this was the beggining of my fish keeping life.
All six tanks were simple undergravel filter trays with aquaclear 402 powerheads (remember those [emoji23]). They had 4" of coral gravel, each had a selection of about 8 to 10 fish with a few inverts, anemones and minimal coral. We used T5 lights with a 1.5" 40w true actinic bulb from Phillips.
I did weekly 20% water changes, gravel vacuum and we bleached all rocks. And as alive as I am today I swear we never even owned a single test kit lol, i feed frozen mysis once a day.
We got all of our livestock from the what was then and may still be today the top livestock seller in the country, cheap? Not at all, but I can tell you we never lost a single s/w fish in the time I worked there.
Given yes it was a retail outlet and stock came and went, but this shop was opened one day a week and was actually set up as more of a place for the owner to have his hobby rather then a business, the majority of income was from mobile aquarium servicing which he and I did when the shop was closed, so stock rotation was very slow, I remember a beautiful achillies tang we had for over 6 months in which time it grew about an inch before he was purchased [emoji22].
That was 26 years ago when the most technically advanced products were UV and Ozone.
Obviously things move on in the hope of producing better results with less effort, and I do believe we have come along way with tech in this hobby which is great in our busy lifestyles.
So my questions are, have we or do we overcomplicate the hobby now? What's, the most basic set up you would run and why? Or why not?
Would be interesting to hear others points ov view on this topic and hopefully demistify the fear of the hobby for anyone considering taking the plunge [emoji4]
Happy reefing everyone. Keep them fed [emoji106]
Allow me to rewind to 1993 when I started my very first job back in the UK, manager of an aquarium. At just 18 years old and being fascinated by anything alive in the ocean I saw a quaint little newly opened aquarium in a small residential district. It was the only shop on the street and I just happened to walk past. It Was closed but I told my father ill be coming back here tomorrow [emoji4]. I went back and again it was closed. In fact I went back everyday until iq found it open.
Eventually it was and in I went. I had no aquarium of my own at the time, so seeing all six saltwater tanks in this mainly freshwater shop was amazing. They were 24" cube tanks on a metal rack over 2 levels. I stared at the beautiful fish for so long the owner wanted to close and go home.
He asked me if I wanted to buy anything and I replied no I want a job lol. As you do.
He handed me the keys, showed me how to turn off the alarm and said come in tomorrow and open up 10am. Wow. I was over the moon. And this was the beggining of my fish keeping life.
All six tanks were simple undergravel filter trays with aquaclear 402 powerheads (remember those [emoji23]). They had 4" of coral gravel, each had a selection of about 8 to 10 fish with a few inverts, anemones and minimal coral. We used T5 lights with a 1.5" 40w true actinic bulb from Phillips.
I did weekly 20% water changes, gravel vacuum and we bleached all rocks. And as alive as I am today I swear we never even owned a single test kit lol, i feed frozen mysis once a day.
We got all of our livestock from the what was then and may still be today the top livestock seller in the country, cheap? Not at all, but I can tell you we never lost a single s/w fish in the time I worked there.
Given yes it was a retail outlet and stock came and went, but this shop was opened one day a week and was actually set up as more of a place for the owner to have his hobby rather then a business, the majority of income was from mobile aquarium servicing which he and I did when the shop was closed, so stock rotation was very slow, I remember a beautiful achillies tang we had for over 6 months in which time it grew about an inch before he was purchased [emoji22].
That was 26 years ago when the most technically advanced products were UV and Ozone.
Obviously things move on in the hope of producing better results with less effort, and I do believe we have come along way with tech in this hobby which is great in our busy lifestyles.
So my questions are, have we or do we overcomplicate the hobby now? What's, the most basic set up you would run and why? Or why not?
Would be interesting to hear others points ov view on this topic and hopefully demistify the fear of the hobby for anyone considering taking the plunge [emoji4]
Happy reefing everyone. Keep them fed [emoji106]
