Tell us about yourself: 

My Name is Nick Bekeleski and I live in Palatine, Illinois. I'm 21 and have been in the fish keeping hobby for 13yrs. I, like most people, started out with fresh water and then took the plunge into salt about 6 years ago. Of those 6 years I have dedicated the past four to reef keeping. I started out with LPS and softies and then moved to SPS. Unfortunately over Memorial Day weekend my tank overheated and hit 92*. I lost about 95% of all of my live stock. I currently now am doing a 210 FOWLR (fowlrs rule!) and as time goes by I may try to keep corals again mainly softies though. I just didn't have good luck with SPS. I am engaged to my fiance Gina and we are getting married on May 26th, 2007 in Cancun, Mexico! Besides keeping my aquarium I am also into fishing (mostly saltwater), hunting, paintball, and drag racing.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

I have always loved saltwater way better than freshwater. The colors are just so amazing and the fish have so much more personality than freshwater fish. My uncle who had two saltwater tanks really got me going though. He was able to set me up with all of my filtration and equipment and I bought a 75 gallon tank and stand set up. The rest is History.

Tell us about your tank 

I currently have a 210 FOWLR (72x24x29) that I have been running for the past month or so. The tank was designed by Matt of Sho Tank Aquariums of Mundelein (mm949). He did a great job designing it too. Thanks again Matt!!! I plan to keep mostly fish with only a few softies. I currently have a blue hippo tang, a powder blue tang, a powder blue grouper, a Niger trigger, and a green Mandarin goby. Corals that I am currently keeping consist of bubble coral, zooanthids, Xenia and a neon green brain coral. My tank is run by a sequence Dart pump that is piped up behind the tank. The sump/fuge is a 75 gal tank that is half fuge and half sump. I do plan to grow xenia in my fuge as the tank matures. I skim the tank with a precision marine bullet2 skimmer that works great. I light the tank with two HQI 250 10Ks and two actinic T5s. I still have a long way to go before I am done with this tank including a Brown Banded Bamboo shark and other cool fish.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

In all honesty I have no idea how I found Reef Frontiers. I think I was looking for pictures of reef tanks and I saw a picture that was linked to Reef Frontiers so I signed up. I will say this though, I have been on a lot of Reef Forums and none of them can even compare to this place. Its very friendly, easy to use, and full of useful information.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

My reef keeping philosophy? I have no philosophy! If I had any philosophy it would be to test your water regularly and monitor everything closely.

What is your dream tank? 

My dream tank would not be a reef tank but instead a shark tank. I just have always been fascinated with sharks. So to keep a tank with a 6ft shark in it would definitely be a dream tank. If I were to go reef though I think a tank big enough to snorkel in would be awesome!! In all honesty though I love my 210 that I have right now.

Do you have any advice for others? 

My Advice to all of you is keep up with your water changes and make sure you know exactly what your getting into before you do anything in this hobby. It can cost you a lot of money if you rush into everything. Trust Me I've been there!

Also don't be afraid to ask questions on Reef Frontiers. There are always people on here who are willing to help you, plus a lot of them have been there and done that before. Also Krish is a guy.