FarmerTy Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Alright folks, bring 'em on! Let's see your first tanks and tell us a bit about them! 12-gallon nanocube 2004-2009 Mainly softies and LPS Killer of many mandarins, SPS, and sponges PC lighting - 48 watts of fury coming at you Refugium in back middle chamber Rocking an upgraded Minijet 606 pump Had hydor rotating return for some wild flow patterns Water changes every 2 weeks, religiously Topped off by hand for 5 years Water parameters? Clueless Skimmer... nope APEX? What's that? Let's see your throw back tank? [emoji85] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 What happens if you don't have a picture of your first tank (I don't think they had cameras back then ... ). My *first* saltwater tank was back in 1992, a small custom acrylic 5g tank, with a built on wet/dry filter on the back. Truly one of the first all-in-ones. It was custom designed and made by my boss at the time from PetLand. That was back when live rock was live (tons of corals pistol shrimps, you name it came on it).. but there were no real lighting solutions to keep corals. I kept a variety of fish in there, I remember even keeping a baby snowflake eel in there. My first Texas saltwater tank was in 2002. It was a 29g bow-front that I had been using as a freshwater tank before. Canister filter and Compact Fluorescents I believe for the lights. Tank went up in smoke after I went on a business trip when an anemone died in the tank. I do think I was using Purple Up to help encourage coraline growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 The beginning.... I still have the Candy Canes..... but none of the Others..... A few Months in...... I have most of the LPS and Softies still After a Year....... I just noticed I still have he hammer and the mushrooms too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena95GT Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Oh god.. *hides in shame* This was what.. 2012-13? I cant remember.. But heres the old buuld thread http://www.austinreefclub.com/index.php?/topic/28621-20G-High-School-Tank-Progress Technically this tank is still going. Just downsized. I still have that blue rovk but idk if its still blue.. Its a ball o algae now. Even at its end it was.. Ehh.. And here it sits now >.> But at its peak it looked nice lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 My first tank was a 10 gallon quickly upgrade to a 20 gallon 3 months later 75. then a year later to 125 gallon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 I love it! Keep them coming folks! Dig out those old pictures! James, just draw an interpretation of your first tank since there were no cameras back in your day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Wait TY did I read your post wrong you actually did water changes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 Wait TY did I read your post wrong you actually did water changes?Haha, religously. I don't think I missed one for 5 years... every 2 weeks like clockwork. [emoji14] Different tank... different methodology... since I didn't have the nutrient removal systems in place that I have on my current system (biopellets, gfo, and giant skimmer), the easiest form of consistent nutrient removal for a system that small was the good old water change. Uggghhh... the word still makes me shutter. [emoji5] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 When I set up my first tank Bill Clinton was still in his first term, American Gladiators was making new episodes and wrestling was real. My entire extended family only had one Polaroid camera between them. It was the one that spit out the pictures and you had to shake them dry. I only really saw it during birthday parties. Isn't it funny how things change? I miss my grandma's stories about WWII. Anyway I think I took my first tank picture in 2002. I'll see if I can find it when I get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I lost mosy of my photos back in high school and the disposables I used to use back then were awful at taking pics of the tank. I'll try to find some pics from my 2006 tank if I still have them when I get home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Love the throwback pics! Here's mine. Though the timeframe is short. These are literally the book end shots from the life of my first tank. First three pics after setup, and the last three before tear down. First three pics are from the beginning, roughly June 2012. Last three shots are the same angle but from April 2014. All grown under 4x54 watt t5ho lighting. 55 gallon tank. Started adding kalkwasser in the ato once I needed it. Toward the end it was a bio pellet/carbon/gfo tank. I had fantastic growth and amazing colors considering the limited resources involved. No controller, cheap power heads through most the life of the tank, no temp control, frequent mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 That's awesome! That favia on the rock looks like a spaceship! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Lol never thought of that. It does look like a flying saucer at that stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 That tank looks pretty pro to me Bpb! That heater though...industrial sized! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Thanks Sascha. I really miss that tank to be honest. Well...I miss the growth I had toward the end. The eyesore heater happened when the fuge cracked and had to be drained and removed. Heater was too tall for the tank to go vertically in the display so I just had to live with it. It actually got me to be pro-in-display-heater though. Now with a taller tank I'm able to hide it behind a big montipora since its vertical Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 That tank looks pretty pro to me Bpb! That heater though...industrial sized! It for those Texas sized cold fronts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 This was my tank from 2003-2007 (no where close to my first tank with the power compacts, no skimmer, and deep sand bed, but far enough to be good for this discussion) Cool facts abou the second picture, the maroon clowns I had (and paired) are now owned by oozarkawater and are 13 years old as far as I know. That hawkfish was eventually sold to RCA, which was then sold to the Austin Aquarium and I believe it's still there. All the corals on the other hand.... no clue, sold them off in 2007 when I moved to college. And here is my freshman year tank, and yes, that is a chiller for a tiny little tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 I love it! Keep them coming folks! Dig out those old pictures! James, just draw an interpretation of your first tank since there were no cameras back in your day. This is a pretty close approximation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Well, these are from a long time ago when we had no money and somehow scrapped together a decent tank. Our first tank - somewhere around 2001ish was a 75g system that ended up leaking. The 75. We also had a 40 gallon cube for a while, but ended up getting rid of it. The upgrade - 125g. Still a really good tank size in my opinion. Great balance of cheap and big. We had it running for about 2-3 years (2002-2004ish) before we had to move and that's when we left the hobby until now... We had a 30 gallon frag tank on the same water system. You like that sexy zebra chair? The rubbermaid sump. Getting more mature at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emu1sive Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 That chair says it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 That chair was my favorite place to sit early on the weekends before the halides had kicked on. Watching the tank go from night to day was my favorite thing to do every Saturday. The water flowing made a perfect sound that was just soothing. I sometimes miss that ugly chair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 23, 2015 Author Share Posted April 23, 2015 Bump! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 Bump again! Surely there are more old pics of tanks sitting on a hard drive somewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 You're just hoping someone will one up your red carpet of glory. I could probably get close with the current tank considering its in the middle of a diatom bloom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I'd dig up more old pictures but most are just kinda sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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