Saltwater History

kcpike11 · Jun 6, 2018

In response to the Red Sea Challenge I'd like to start a discussion on the history of reefkeeping. I haven't been able to find too much on the topic of early reefkeepers other than it seems like it really started in the 60's and all the required equipment was invented around that time.

I know there are some veterans on the forum and I am wondering how much the hobby has changed or has it merely been upgrades to existing technology. Anyone out there running a tank with 70's equipment in it

Sierra_Bravo · Jun 6, 2018

I know you meant modern reefkeeping, but I was just reading the other day that the first public aquarium (Fish House, London Zoo) was opened in 1853. The first I had seen documented for a saltwater aquarium in the sense that we know it was 1838. It also mentioned the first coral kept in aquaria may have been in 1847:

"In 1838, Félix Dujardin noted owning a saltwater aquarium, though he did not use the term. In 1846, Anne Thynne maintained stony corals and seaweed for almost three years, and was credited as the creator of the first balanced marine aquarium in London."

The genus she kept was listed as Madrepora.

Fish House, circa 1875:

mcarroll · Jun 7, 2018

I posted this article on Aquarium History to my blog last summer.

There are some excellent free (as in archive.org) book links on there for anyone interested in...say...the first marine aquarium handbook?

mcarroll · Jun 7, 2018

Sierra_Bravo said:

Just curious if this article is where you got the pics/info?

https://www.zsl.org/blogs/artefact-...e-at-zsl-london-zoo-the-first-public-aquarium

The ZSL just posted that a week ago and I missed it!

Sierra_Bravo · Jun 7, 2018

mcarroll said:
Just curious if this article is where you got the pics/info?

https://www.zsl.org/blogs/artefact-...e-at-zsl-london-zoo-the-first-public-aquarium

The ZSL just posted that a week ago and I missed it!

Yes it was - or part of it, anyway. I was on another blog/website as well and merged the information together. The photo was what led me to the blog - I was looking up "vintage aquariums" because someone had posted a brass one on Craigslist.

I am nothing if not a cornucopia of useless facts and trivia. . .

ca1ore · Jun 7, 2018

Peter Wilkens .... His books can still be found if you look hard enough. Cannot recall when the two were published, but I've had them for decades. Along with Stuber, really the pioneers of the modern reef hobby.

ca1ore · Jun 7, 2018

As to equipment, it's changed in form and function but not in underlying purpose. Stuff from the 70's for me was all FW and long gone. I do have a few bits and pieces from the 80's, though mostly just collecting dust. My oldest piece of still operating kit is my MTC ProCal which I bought in or around 1997. Even that has seen pretty extensive modifications over time though. My best purchase probably was an iwaki pump bought in 1988 and retired after 20 years of continuous operation in 2008. Now THAT's reliable!

ca1ore · Jun 7, 2018

mcarroll said:
I posted this article on Aquarium History to my blog last summer.

That's pretty cool! Had no idea.

NY_Caveman · Jun 7, 2018

@Paul B has some old stuff I bet.

mcarroll · Jun 7, 2018

ca1ore said:
That's pretty cool! Had no idea.

Me too....I was floored when I read that material for the first time. I couldn't not write up a piece on it.

ca1ore · Jun 7, 2018

My first tank was a metaframe - aluminum corners (wider at the bottom which gavecthectank an odd look), a slate bottom and sealed with tar. An absolute monstrosity ...... and I consistently regret that I didn't keep it, if only for posterity.