THROWBACK THURSDAY!! What was your first reef aquarium?

Daniel@R2R · Oct 11, 2018

For today's #TBT tell us about your first tank! What size was it? What did you keep in there? How long did you keep it? Any pics and details are awesome!

ndrwater · Oct 11, 2018

1989, 90 gallon display with a HUGE Elephant ear mushroom that I fed goldfish..
Elegance coral when they were easy, flame hawk and a gold spot morray
Lit by 6500k MH and T12 actinics.
This was back in the day when live rock was like $2 a pound and I still had hair....

Daniel@R2R · Oct 11, 2018

Mine was a 30g tank I bought on Craigslist. I had decided to set up a saltwater aquarium while I was in Naples, FL on vacation. I got home and went hunting for deals on used equipment (I was new, so I wasn't sure about making a huge investment that quickly). I found a 30g tank on Craigslist and bought a cheap HOB CoraLife skimmer (also found on Craigslist) to go on it. I put some kind of cheap T5 over it and called it a day. I bought a blue devil damsel to go in it, and my first coral frag was a toadstool coral.

This tank didn't last me but a couple of months before I upgraded to a 75g (which I stocked with livestock that i bought from someone else on Craigslist who was selling off their 90g). I don't have any pics of the 30g, but here's one of the 75.

LOL It was definitely still very much a budget/sketchy build. The next upgrade was a lot nicer.

KrisReef · Oct 11, 2018

Home-made glass tank, appx 60 cube (way ahead of it's time!) no skimmer, water changes only, fish, yellow polyps and a few mushrooms.
Pictures? I don't think cameras were invented yet? LOL.
Florida live rock!

Lostreefin · Oct 11, 2018

1980's had a ~40 gallon tall seahorses tank. Had it for a few years, it hooked me on saltwater forever.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 11, 2018

29 gallon Oceanic biocube. Tank was trouble free and easy to maintain. Once I realized success, I then moved up to a 38 gallon Non-reef ready ( mistake) which made me realize any future tanks would need to have overflow, etc

Daniel@R2R · Oct 11, 2018

vetteguy53081 said:
I then moved up to a 38 gallon Non-reef ready ( mistake) which made me realize any future tanks would need to have overflow, etc

LOL YEP! Did you notice the aqualifter sitting on my HOB overflow box in the pic above? SO. MANY. FLOODS. ALL tanks after that one were reef-ready.

dbl · Oct 11, 2018

Does it count if your current reef aquarium happens to be your first reef aquarium?

Geebs19 · Oct 11, 2018

29 gallon curved front. Boy oh boy did I not know what I was doing. It was filled with live rock and 1 day after water went in I got a maroon clown. That guy was tough as nails. My water change consisted of letting the water get low and would dump distilled eater in and dump some salt and measure with a hydrometer. Had a few mushrooms in there. Went through a couple of different fish but the maroon lasted forever. I feel bad now for how much his life probably sucked with me not knowing how to run a tank. But that was 16 years ago.

dbl · Oct 11, 2018

mdbannister said:
...I had decided to set up a saltwater aquarium while I was in Naples, FL on vacation...

Daniel, the next time you're in town, give me a call.

MTBake · Oct 11, 2018

55 gallon kit from Petco back in 2004. Had a Sea Clone skimmer, Coralife PC lighting, heater and some cheapo power heads that I can't even remember the brand. All the good stuff

Wish I had pics of that tank. It got me going into the hobby and was a constant upgrade.

andrewkw · Oct 11, 2018

15 gallon nano reef setup end of 2005. Haitian Lettuce rock, I got it at a brand new reef store that had 5000+lbs in fact all they had was live rock, no dry goods, no other live stock. It was pretty overwhelming picking out a few pieces. The owner suggested we clear a 24x12 area in one of the vats to play with various pieces. I still have those red mushrooms on the left. I wish I still had that fiji yellow leather. Indo Acans long before Australia opened up.. As mentioned I started this tank in 2005 but by 2006 I upgraded to a 112 gallon which I am still running today (it was down for a brief time when I upgraded to 180 but that tank broke when I moved).

Eventually this tank became a reservoir for my dehumidifier my old basement had so many saltwater tanks lol.

PS I love these throwback thursday threads!

Mark Gray · Oct 11, 2018

1967 A 20 gallon fresh water, my first salt water tank was a 30 gallon in 1974.had that one a long time. Set up with the latest and greatest. Under gravel filtration and manual top off

vetteguy53081 · Oct 11, 2018

mdbannister said:
LOL YEP! Did you notice the aqualifter sitting on my HOB overflow box in the pic above? SO. MANY. FLOODS. ALL tanks after that one were reef-ready.

Oh no way- I see it in Pic. Yes, never had so much seepage and salt creep in my life

Lowell Lemon · Oct 11, 2018

55 gallon All Glass tank with glass trickle filter built off of George Smit's reef aquarium article in FAMA magazine many years ago. Stand was also All Glass particle board and only lasted about 6 months before moisture ruined the stand. Had a 4 lamp 48" shop light fixture above the tank for light. I was afraid I was going to have a tidal wave in my living room so I took it down. Good thing cause the stand was about to fail. To this day I can not understand anyone using particle board or MDF for any kind of aquarium stand or cabinet.

Started as a distributor for Mini Reef USA and then the re-incarnation Reef Lake Systems. So my next tank was a 125 gallon with trickle filter and rotating spray bars over DLS filter rolls from Reef Lake. Eheim 1260 pumps for circulation. Reef Lake System air driven protein skimmer that did not work very well.

PDR · Oct 11, 2018

First reef tank Jan. 2015. 10 gallon with hob filter.

March 2015

July 2015

The tank was torn down Jan. 2016. I can't tell you how much I regret turning these fish in, my single biggest regret to date

- (that tomato was from another tank)

cracker · Oct 11, 2018

My Friend Mike & I setup an aquarium as a high school science project in 1979 to prove that oysters could filter & maintain a tank. It was a miserable failure ! The teacher demanded we get it out of the class room cause it stunk so bad ! LOL

Js.Aqua.Project · Oct 11, 2018

I had to go back through 4 years of Google Photos to find this shot of my original 14gal Coralife Biocube. We had cleaner shrimp, some softies, and a Duncan before we moved to a 125 about a year later.

TexasTodd · Oct 11, 2018

30 gallon, piggyback overflow down to a 10g homemade sump. Hagen802 return "pump". Hand drilled drip plate. NO normal output florescent bulbs with open wire sockets wired to ballasts hanging on the wall we purchased as parts from an electrician. Saved up to get a skimmer driven with air pump and lime wood "stones" on the ridged tubing to hold them under water. Some rock, thrilled at keeping anything alive and remember FEEDING aptasia and watching them grow! Ha ha 1991. I was in college and also worked part time at a LFS and a fly fishing store.