Reefing before the internet

[Krzydmnd]

As a new guy in this amazing, complex, frustrating and rewarding hobby, I have found that much of my knowledge, and most likely the only reason I could have gotten into it, is because of the internet as a source of knowledge.

Hats off to those of you that have been doing it before Al gore even invented it! (wink wink) and thanks to dedicated forum creators, and all of the community that supports it!

 

[Mr. Bill]

We did have books at the library, even in school.

 

[Krzydmnd]

We did have books at the library, even in school.

Sure! But it isn't even a small percentage of what is available at your fingertips now. I'm impressed with anyone that took this on then! How much more trial and error, and tank crashes did you have to go through to learn what I can look up and find answers for immediately at the first sign of distress.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Yeah , I remember trying to keep a salt water tank back in the 80 something. I failed horribly, we had books on it. However the information they contained was so basic compared to what we have now. With the internet I feel we are all in it together. It's so much more fun now.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The net lacks depth. Sadly.

But if you dig and fact check you can learn a lot.

 

[Krzydmnd]

The net lacks depth. Sadly.

But if you dig and fact check you can learn a lot.

Exactly, if you research enough you see commonality. That's on the hobbyists to find, but the right info is out there.

 

[bif24701]

This is a great video explaining the progression of the hobby through the decades.

 

[Tahoe61]

Read every book I could get my hands on. Hung out at the local fish stores and talked to anyone that would listen. Learned from my mistakes, still do every single day.
Things were not as complicated back in the day, the industry was much smaller with not nearly as many products available. When the KISS method is the only model you have the hobby is a lot less cumbersome.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I think some hobbiest like myself like it a little involved. As it gives us something to tinker with. Or some new product or equipment to buy. Although the kiss method is more than likely the safest method.

 

[Fudsey]

Frequenting LFS and becoming friends with the people there is how I started. Bought a couple books and read, but mostly it was learning from others who already had some know how.

 

[sneub]

Subscriptions to a few marine magazines also helped.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Anyone here active on Compuserve Fishnet in the day?

That's when I was getting started in reefing.

 

[mfinn]

I set up my first saltwater tank in 1985 and all I had in a small town was a chain saltwater store and a few magazines for information.
I didn't even hear about clubs until the early 90's

 

[Rod's Food]

Anyone here active on Compuserve Fishnet in the day?

That's when I was getting started in reefing.

RAMR (newsgroups), Fishnet (CS) petchat (AOL) #IRC (internet relay chat/channel #reefs.org #reefcentral #whateverJT started ;-)

 

[AlexG]

I started in the mid 90s when I was a kid. Unfortunately I had a lot of bad experiences when I started despite reading books we took poor advice from a LFS which led to years of failing with a tank being run on quicksand filters and magnum 350 canister filters. When I got access to the Internet and discovered reef forums along with more knowledgeable LFSs my tanks started to turn around. I am glad that we have such a great community at R2R as there is always something new to learn or share about this hobby.

 

[theMeat]

Have been in hobby a long time. Think in the last 10 years or so the progress and knowledge has improved dramatically, and think the internet is mostly the reason why. So easy to share info

 

[cracker]

I was keeping marine fish before Folks had Pc's in the home. Read books & talked to people at the shop. They were mostly fresh water with a few saltwater fish. Man what a surprise at the wealth of info to be had these days . The internet has improved my skills 100 times over .

 

[flsalty]

Anyone here active on Compuserve Fishnet in the day?

That's when I was getting started in reefing.

I remember that kept getting mentioned in one of the magazines but I didn't have a computer. I didn't have a computer until 2000

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

This is a great video explaining the progression of the hobby through the decades.

Thank you for the link! I did read an article recently about how reefing forums were some of the first websites ever on the internet.

 

[tripdad]

I started in the days of bleached white coral skeletons, undergravel filter plates, and crushed dolomite for substrate with a fowler. Only we didn't call them fowlers, we just called them salt water tanks. The books and magazines got us thru. We made mistakes but learned. Yes, it is a lot easier to find info now but much harder to know what info is "good".