Tell us about yourself: 

I was born twenty-three years ago in Carmichael, California and spent a good deal of my youth moving throughout the US as the son of a military officer. I first came to Washington state in July of 1993 and moved into the city of Seattle in the summer of 1999 to attend the University of Washington. I finished my degree while living in Rome, Italy for the summer of 2003. I currently help manage a flooring company in Washington. Outside of aquaria, my primary interests include, rock climbing and writing. I plan to take my first diving lesson next month and would like to add diving to my list of obsessions.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

I have been involved with aquarium keeping on and off for about eight years now and became interested in reef keeping in my later years in college. However, I could not afford the equipment or the space until recently and am in fact still working on the tank I started just months after leaving college. Those who are familiar with my propensity to design and redesign every aspect of my systems have set the approximate finish date of that tank sometime in my late forties. My aquatic obsession prior to reef-keeping was African Cichlids, particularly cave-dwelling Mbuna from lake Malawi. Upon graduating from College I immersed my self in every book, web page and scrap of information I could get my hands on and haven't stopped reading and meeting reefers since.

Tell us about your tank? 

The tank I have been working on for the last eight months is a five foot 110 gallon acrylic tank from Innovative Aquarium Products. It has a large center trapezoidal overflow, two 1.5" drain lines, a Blue Line NS1100 as return pump and an Amp Master 2100 powers the closed loop. The lights consist of three DE 250Watt 10,000K XM bulbs in ReefOptix III pendants with 220watts of Actinic VHO's for supplementation, there is also a 55Watt PC lamp over the sump. The ballasts are a mixture Sunlight Supply and PFO. The skimmer is a Euro-Reef 6-2+. The reactor was custom made by a local club member. The Sump, also built by a local club member, has a 44gallon total capacity and will hold about 25 gallons of water. This all sits between a stand and canopy from Crows Ridge, a local custom aquarium furniture maker, the owner also happens to be a member of my local club.

The smaller tank is a seven-month-old 30gallon Frag system that I recently converted into a reef as means to stay sane while working on my new display tank. It was pieced together with free parts from different reefing friends and club members and I have affectionately named it the "Ghetto-Reef." The tank consists mostly of SPS with two LPS pieces, a few Ricordea and some Zooanthids. The only inhabitants are a pair of Percula Clownfish, one FireShrimp and a commensal crab most likely of the Porcellanidae family. However, it has yet to venture far enough out of it's Acropora to be positively identified. The tank is run Bare Bottom and utilizes flow and heavy skimming to subvert waste processing on an already low bioload. There is CA 2200 return pump running at approximately 800gph and a CPR2 Backpack providing flow to upper half of the tank and. Two power heads (an AC402 and one I can no longer identify) with various attached PVC fittings act as a spray bar system on the bottom of the tank. The sump is a 30gallon SeaClear tank that I cut away the top of in order to fit a skimmer more easily. It consists of about 15lbs of LR, a ball of Chaetomorpha and a Berlin Turbo skimmer (two mediocre skimmers makes one semi-decent one… right?) It is currently borrowing one of the DE 250watt XM 10,000K lights from the display tank.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

I was introduced to the site by a friend from a reef chatroom and subsequently joined the Puget Sound Aquarium Society where I met many of the members and moderators from Reef Frontiers.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

I think the greatest success can be reached by planning exactly what one would like to keep then design to fit those charges specific needs. I pick one system type that works best for what I plan to house in that particular aquarium and stick to it. My current goals worked best with a high flow Bare Bottom system. This smaller systems philosophy can be summed up as: quality light, low bioload, heavy skimming and flow flow flow.

What is your dream tank? 

My dream tank would be one with no surprises or problems, but with us pesky humans involved it's rather hard for that to happen.

Do you have any advice for others? 

Consume any and all reef keeping information you can get your grubby little hands on and join your local reef club. Being well informed in your decision-making is your most valuable tool in reefkeeping, besides a healthy dose of patience of course. Finally, plan ahead then leave things alone! Too much tinkering and correcting and treating often causes more harm than good in my experience. Take your time and enjoy the magnificent and amazingly diverse organisms we are fortunate enough to house.