Tell us about yourself: 

My name is Matt McCready and I live in the town of Elk Grove, California, which was one of the fastest growing housing markets in the country until the real estate drop. I am a 51 year old father of two grown boys and a loving wife, Cindy, of 25 years. Also, nearly two years ago I became a Grandpa. I was born in El Paso, Texas where my father was a pilot in the Air Force. We soon moved to England and lived there until 1960 when the Air Force moved us to Roswell, New Mexico. After Roswell, we moved to Travis AFB in California where we stayed until after my dads retirement in 1968 and I have lived in California ever since.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

I have been keeping aquariums for most of my life, starting off small with a 10 gallon tank with metal sides and eventually growing to a 85 gallon plexiglass tank which I had for many years. When my first son was born, we moved and the tank, unfortunately, didn't get setup. About five years ago I was able to get back into keeping a tank. With the help of my youngest son, I started a 46 gallon bowed front as a freshwater cichlid tank. It was going strong for more than two years with about 20 fish in it until one day the alpha in the tank decided he wasn't going to share anymore and started killing off all the others. At that point, it gave me the opportunity to do what I really wanted to do and start my saltwater reef tank.

I had the 46 going strong for two years until I moved in April of 2007. This summer I was able to upgrade to a 75 gallon Reef Ready tank and my tank has been growing ever since.

Tell us about your tank 

The tank was upgraded this summer and is still evolving. It is now mainly an SPS with some Zoas, mushrooms and LPS (Cindy like the corals with movement). The fish are as follows: 1 Sailfin Tang, 1 Kole Tang, 1 Orange Spotted Watchman Goby, 1 Purple Firefish, 2 Pink Skunk Clowns, and 1 OC Clown that I was able to nurse back to health.

Hardware: 75 AGA ReefReady tank,. two 175 watt Metal Halides 20k, two Seio powerheads 620 and 820, a Hydro Koralia 3 and a 30 gallon sump with a Rio 2500 return pump and Remora Urchin Skimmer as well as a Calcium reactor.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

When I was young in reef keeping, I was losing a lot of livestock; I got on my laptop and googled "reef forums" and found Reef Frontiers as well as a couple of others. I found that this community was the most helpful of all and I received a lot of wonderful advice that help turn my tank into the beautiful, healthy Reef Tank it is today. I would have wasted a lot more money and livestock if it wasn't for all of the help that I have received here.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

My reef keeping philosophy is simple: go slow and do no damage. By that I mean don't rush your system, let it do the work. Buy or trade frags don't buy colonies unless you know they are aquacultured. And by all means use this place, save money - save livestock.

What is your dream tank? 

To have an in wall tank would be my dream.

Do you have any advice for others? 

Go slow, get advice here, and always consult others.