ReeferRoo
Well-Known Member
I have been hiding in the shadows since i was encouraged to Sign Up at Reef-A-Palooza, NY this year.
I am a 35 year old husband of a loving like minded wife and we are proud parents of two daughters, 1 @ 3.5 years old and the other @ 1.5. We have 2 dogs, my wife has 2 ivory headed cockroaches (yes thats right, she keeps roaches as pets, she loves insects and inverts) and a freshwater tank with glow fish, freshwater shrimp and an electric blue crayfish. Every year i start a veggie garden with a custom built hydroponic setup and i also dabble in Christmas light shows (synchronized christmas lights on my house) around the holidays.
I have been in awe with saltwater tanks since i was a kid, but only ever kept fresh water. About 10 years ago i started to seriously entertain the idea of diving into the world of saltwater until i read an article about a mated pair of clownfish that exceeded standard actuarial expeditions and lived nearly 25 years in captivity. That story, which in hindsight may or may not have been entirely truthful and i cannot remember the source, at the very least gave me pause about the scope and responsibility of husbandry in this hobby and realized that taking something like this on needed to be done when i was settled and not building my career and wanting to eventually start a family.
About 7 years ago after i got married and we took our honeymoon in Vieques, PR and spent time snorkeling in the many reefs and swimming in their bioluminescent bay and i knew i would pickup reefing. However, with upcoming moves and babies on the horizon I decided to keep my involvement to research until life allowed the time.
After our second daughter and decidedly our final child was born last year i started to get really serious and started looking at tanks. First at Deep Blue and Marineland reef ready tanks. Then after reading reviews and realizing how determined i was was to succeed and how committed i was to getting into this hobby, since growing corals is like hydroponics on steroids, i started looking at the benefits of a custom build. Long and short i settled on Coast to Coast Aquariums (for reasons i can expand on at another time) but the sticker shock pushed me off for about another year until this past June when they held a sale and I pulled the trigger and ordered a custom 120 tank (details in build thread to come) which was completed this past Friday and i will pickup on 8/29, 2 days before my 36th Birthday!
There is a ton of work to do and a lot of decisions to make before i actually get the tank running as i am building it into a family room that used to be a small unfinished section of our basement. I am shooting for January to actually add water to start its cycle.
Well, Thats my nutshell!
Hello Reef2Reef!
- ReeferRoo
I am a 35 year old husband of a loving like minded wife and we are proud parents of two daughters, 1 @ 3.5 years old and the other @ 1.5. We have 2 dogs, my wife has 2 ivory headed cockroaches (yes thats right, she keeps roaches as pets, she loves insects and inverts) and a freshwater tank with glow fish, freshwater shrimp and an electric blue crayfish. Every year i start a veggie garden with a custom built hydroponic setup and i also dabble in Christmas light shows (synchronized christmas lights on my house) around the holidays.
I have been in awe with saltwater tanks since i was a kid, but only ever kept fresh water. About 10 years ago i started to seriously entertain the idea of diving into the world of saltwater until i read an article about a mated pair of clownfish that exceeded standard actuarial expeditions and lived nearly 25 years in captivity. That story, which in hindsight may or may not have been entirely truthful and i cannot remember the source, at the very least gave me pause about the scope and responsibility of husbandry in this hobby and realized that taking something like this on needed to be done when i was settled and not building my career and wanting to eventually start a family.
About 7 years ago after i got married and we took our honeymoon in Vieques, PR and spent time snorkeling in the many reefs and swimming in their bioluminescent bay and i knew i would pickup reefing. However, with upcoming moves and babies on the horizon I decided to keep my involvement to research until life allowed the time.
After our second daughter and decidedly our final child was born last year i started to get really serious and started looking at tanks. First at Deep Blue and Marineland reef ready tanks. Then after reading reviews and realizing how determined i was was to succeed and how committed i was to getting into this hobby, since growing corals is like hydroponics on steroids, i started looking at the benefits of a custom build. Long and short i settled on Coast to Coast Aquariums (for reasons i can expand on at another time) but the sticker shock pushed me off for about another year until this past June when they held a sale and I pulled the trigger and ordered a custom 120 tank (details in build thread to come) which was completed this past Friday and i will pickup on 8/29, 2 days before my 36th Birthday!
There is a ton of work to do and a lot of decisions to make before i actually get the tank running as i am building it into a family room that used to be a small unfinished section of our basement. I am shooting for January to actually add water to start its cycle.
Well, Thats my nutshell!
Hello Reef2Reef!
- ReeferRoo
