What made you want a reef tank?

Mine started out in my college day.Me and my roommate were at some friends house.We were experimenting with mushrooms and was watching the old Alice in wonderland.The peoples house we were at had a big tank woth nightlights on at the time.I remember the part when Alice walked into the garden the whole room felt so amazing like we were in an actual garden.Well I looked at the fish tank and I Immediately fell in love with it.To me it looked so peaceful and refreshing.After that night I always want to start my own tank.Now that I have one it feels even better on those nights when I eat goodies.

 

My couzin who is on here had a few tanks with a dori tang and clownfish and i was like, I WANT THAT! So i got my first tank when I was 14 for my birthday. And now i have an amazing little 29g biocube reef tank. And i work at a LFS. The saltwater hobby has been great for me.

 

my friends dad completey failled at his reef and he told me it was to hard for me to do and to expensive so i had to prove him wrong

 

I had a 10 gallon tank with an oscar about 20 years ago, had him for a few years and then as I went in the lfs to get some food I saw a clown fish and I instantly got hooked and said I wanted him. I then took my oscar to the lfs to get credit as I spent a ton (back then) to get a 90 gallon set-up as a reef. The hobby has come a long way! I took 5 years off from it, because I was moving around. I will always have a strong passion for the reef!

 

Catching baby Pompano in the surf while surf fishing made me want a tank to have saltwater fish

 

Watching Jacque Cousteau as a small child. Where I grew up it was not uncommon for snow to literally get to such depths it reached the roof. At a very young age of 5-8 the ocean seemed like the most magical place in the world and it still does many decades later.

 

The way things look and grow. I have four fish and lots of coral. Fish are pretty but a pain in the but coral are cool as long as you like watching paint dry because that's how long some take to grow. But the wow facter is worth it.

 

I've just always felt home and relaxed near the ocean! Now that i live in Ohio, and am a single dad of a young boy who loves the ocean more than i, I thought i'd bring a little sliver of it to us, and teach him a hobby i've loved for many years! No matter how stressed i get, the ocean can calm me down, and the tank does pretty good too! can't wait to go to my little home outside tampa this spring and checking out the reef club down there!

 

Thats very similar to my reasons for being in the hobby cosmo.First is my utter facination and love of the ocean,lived in Honolulu Hawaii for four years and San Diego for three years,now in Ohio,I miss it in the worst way imaginable.Second, my wife and kids love my hobby almost as much as me.Except my wife don't care for my constant spending habits so I always have to tell her "but i bought this fish for you"

My 2 year old knows the names of my all my fish,he can't say all thier names,but he can point them all out,as well as several corals,he also knows all the inverts in my tank by names,so we may have another up and coming 3reefer in a few more years.So in short,i do all the work,but the whole family enjoys my efforts.

 

I got started when I was in the hospital and there was a fresh water tank and there were studies how it improved blood pressure, people with heart conditions, children/adults with autism, adhd, and in my case chronic pain. I started my first tank 1 June 2009 and i have cut my medications down to half, I am in somewhat better shape(you would too lugging many 5 gallon water jugs for water changes), and less pain. I am still fighting the high blood pressure but the relaxation it gives you just cant be beat.