Who here is also a reef geek?

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StrikeThree

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Apr 11, 2010
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Location
Marietta, GA
I am a reef tank enthusiast, and many of my reef tank friends and public aquarium friends also brew their own beer. I think many of the same principles apply, art and science, clean technique, patience is a virtue, etc.

Anyway, if you have a reef tank, chime in!
 
I was, but when I bought my house and was faced with moving it, I decided to break it down and sell everything instead of moving it all. I re-set it up as a fresh water community, but my tank just recently broke! Now I'm down to a 10gal freshwater at home and a 20gal fresh at work.

When my daughter gets old enough to appreciate it, I'm going back to reef. Nothing beats the explosion of colors when the corals "wake up" in the morning. I kept my MH set-up so that I wouldn't stay out of the hobby for long.
 
Broke down all of our tanks last year when we received orders to Okinawa. Had a 180 reef, 125, 29 clown breeding tank and a 55 Sea Horse breeding tank. Was also into coral propagation. Took every bit of my time to maintain them. Great thing about having a reef in San Diego is salt water is free. Scripps Aquarium has a hosed hooked up to their ocean filters and the public is welcome to use it. Saved a lot of money using it!

Damn I miss the tanks.
 
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Been working on and off at it since 2004. The tanks are all at my parent's place. It all started with a 40 gallon fish only setup for my mom, but it quickly evolved to a 210 full blown reef tank (with a sump larger than that first tank...).

Its good fun, but its a lot of work. To a degree, I'm glad its their tank and I just clean it up, empty the skimmer, and tweak things when I visit. Note to self: Get a shorter tank next time! I can't even reach the bottom of that monster to scrape the glass.
 
Cool! Just as I thought! I have had reef tanks for 10 years, right now I only have a 40 gal breeder which is "really" my wifes, just upgraded the lighting to T5 so we are ready to step it up from our softies only. We've got a pair of clarkii clowns and a coral banded shrimp, and our 2 year old loves tapping the glass and bugging the crap out of Harpo, Chico, and Jacque.

I work for an engineering firm now, but was lucky enough to work for two public aquariums between 2001 and 2007. Id imagine this is quite like going to work for a commercial brewery, after a while you wish it could just go back to being a hobby, work is always work! I would say at least 3-5 of my department of 10 were homebrewers, one had even worked for a commercial brewery.

My tanks in the past have included 240 gallons of reefs, a kiddie pool converted into a mangrove swamp (connected to may main system as a refugium/sump), hard and soft coral tanks, and I gave away my 10" derasa clam when I moved from CT.

Im proudest of the live sand in my wifes tank though, it was tranplanted from my old tank, previously had been in a good friend/co-workers tank and he had transplanted it there from the living reef exhibit at the smithsonian where it had lived for 30+ years. That sand has old soul.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow, as a follow up question, who here is on reefcentral? Im StrikeThree on there too, Ive not been very active for 3-5 years or so, but am slowly getting back into it.

Good to hear from you all, take care,

Brian
 
Cool, Im not an engineer, just an automation system programmer. I dont think any of the engineers I work with are brewers (openly) or reef guys, but I'll have to ask around!
 
Hmmm, maybe we could start up a homebrew for frag trading forum here or on RC, Nice pics, by the way! Cyberwolf I love that xenia!
 
Also, clonefarmer, thanks for your advice on my RIS post earlier, congrats on the tank, its an addiction, there is a reason we are called reefaholics.
 
My ex-roommate is. He's had a saltwater tank for about 5 years now, I think, and loves it. Actually, after he moves into his new house he's going to start homebrewing so maybe he'll get on here.
 
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