Tell us about yourself: 

Born in Puerto Rico and growing up in Chicago. Joined the Army at 17 and served in the Gulf War. I joined Wal-Mart Logistics after 8 years in the military and in March of 05 I will have ten years with them.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

I’ve had freshwater tanks for as long as I can remember. I started in Saltwater by chance. I went to visit a friend and his roommate had a ten-gallon tank with about half-brown water in it. I only noticed the fish when they swam by the front. I said what’s in the tank and he said a clown and a Damsel and he was just waiting for them to die to get rid of the tank. So I bought the set up and got it back to life. Then I upgrade to a 29 gallon. And when I moved to Washington all of my freshwater fish died from my 55g and so it was time to upgrade the saltwater. Now working on a 150g and all this in a 2 year time frame.

Tell us about your tank? 

55g reef tank. Cinnamon Clowns, Scooter Dragonnet, Spotted Mandarin, Royal Gramma, Sailfin Blenny, Emerald Crab, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimps, Squamosa clam, Blue crocea Pagoda Cup Coral, Green Slimer, Blue Acro, Green Star Polyps, Yellow Polyps, Assorted Zoos, watermelon and Hairy Mushrooms, Montipora Digitata, Orange Monitpora Capricornis, Green Rics, Pulsing Xenia, Cabbage Coral, RBTA, Torch coral, Orange Sun polyps, Green Bali Slimer, and Frags? Red Sea Berlin Skimmer, ghetto fabricated sump/refugium.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

Started on Coral Forum and then on a search found Midcolumbia Saltwater Aquarium Club, someone on there mentioned Reef Frontiers so I checked it out. I posted a couple of questions and got so many great responses I got hooked. Been there ever since.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

Patience is everything when it comes to building a nice tank. And if you can get from somewhere other than the ocean than do it.

What is your dream tank? 

My 150g and I am building it now.

Do you have any advice for others? 

Research, research, research, you don’t know how many times I have had to start over with corals and animals because I didn’t know any better. If you have a question visit Reef Frontiers.