Tell us about yourself: 

I am a cable splicer at the local telephone company. Been doin that for close to 30 years. I just turned the incredible age of 50 last year. It's a wonder that I made it this long :). I'd like to retire in another 5 or 6 years, and spend the rest of my years dinking around with my reef tanks, maybe doing a small aquarium business out of my garage or something like that. Just got married last September to Lorie, who really has been the inspiration that got me involved in the whole aquarium thing. We've got 3 dogs, 2 cats, 7 tanks, 5 fresh and 2 reefs. Lorie's son, AJ, will graduate from high school in 2 years. I want to thank all of you people at RF for making this hobby alot of fun. You guys and gals are just a super bunch of people that can help anybody thru anything, reef related or just in life. I have been lucky enuf to meet a bunch of you personally, and needless to say, it's been fun. I look forward to meeting more of you at future meetings and the like. I am also a 200+ average bowler with 5 sanctioned 300 games. I don't have any more bad habits than that, don't need any more!!!

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

As I stated before, my wife got me into this mess when she had me take care of a 29 gallon freshwater tank for her. I got into the reef end of things back in 1999, when I started up my 80 gallon. Not having any idea of what I was doing. I went thru money like $%^& thru a goose!!! I finally got things straightened out about 3 years later, the hair algae finally went away when I put an ecosystem fuge on the darn thing and kept my little paws out of the tank. That is when I found patience, as much as it hurt to just let things proceed, I endured 6 months of not doing anything but feeding and topping off the tank. 'Bout killed me!!!!! Met Kevin Pockell thru Reef Central in the winter of 2002, took a trip to Spokane to see his setup and fell in love with sps. I planned my 300 for 1 year before I bought a thing for it, then with Kevin's help, finally got it put together.

Tell us about your tank? 

My 300 is a sps dominated tank. The only softie in there is a yellow figi leather that doesn't seem to bother anything. The tank itself is a custom made glass tank from Interamerican in Calgary, Alberta. Starphire glass on 3 sides. There are 2- 2" drains into my 100 gallon sump (Barr Aquatics). The return is an ampmaster 3000 that goes into 2 1.5" returns on the right end of the tank. I have 2 closed loops, 1 am3k that feeds 4 3/4" sea swirls, and the other CL is fed by a LIttle Giant 4. The returns for that are in the back of the tank. Most all of the sps that are in there have been grown from frags from various places and friends. I have a 75 gallon fuge attached to the system. I use caulerpa and chaeto in there for nutrient export. It is lit on a reverse photoperiod from from the display. Oh yeah, I've got a dsb in the tank and the fuge. I also have an 80 gallon reef that houses mainly softies. Hopefully that is gonna get upgraded to something like a 125 or 150 this year. I have a sinularia in there that takes up about 3/4 of the tank now, and he tells me that he could really use some extra space!! Back to the 300, Calcium is @420 and alk. sits @ 3.0 meq/l most of the time. I don't use a Ca reactor, just a 1/4 cup of calcium chloride every other day. For a buffer I use baking soda and washing soda in a 6:1 ratio. I do that every morning when I top off the tank. The tank evaporates between 4-6 gallons a day, I use RO/DI for top off. My fishy inhabitants include 3 tangs,(blonde naso, achilles, red sea purple), 4 lyretail anthias, 1 chalk bass 2 blue green chromis, 1 yellowtail damsel, 1 bicolor angel, 1 pyramid butterfly, 1 female bluejaw trigger and last but not least, a yellowheaded sleeper goby. Add to that hundreds of snails and hermits, 3 cleaner shrimp and 3 blood red shrimp. I hope that's all of the guys!!!! Lighting is 6-400w radiums and 6 vho actinics. Yes the power company loves me and the DEA makes weekly trips past my house to check on growth :). If I missed anything, just ask and I'll try to dig up more info!!!

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

I was directed here by Kevin Pockell last March, I think. We could check records, I guess! I found this board to be alot more laid back than RC. At least if you post a topic, it doesn't get buried in 5 seconds!!! I like it here, liked it before this honor and will like it after. This is for wrightme 43, Willis really likes it here too :). Cheers to the goat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

My philosophy is to try and create the best possible environment for my critters as is possible. I am still being a sponge when it comes to learning about the reefkeeping hobby. I have learned more in the past year than I did in college!! I hope to keep it that way. It seems that the more you learn, the more there is to learn. This hobby seems to be changing daily with new technology becoming available to us, the trick is to take that technology and make it work for you. Along with that part, is the fact that the more we as reefkeepers can trade with one another, we will extend the hobby into the future. The more fragging we do between us, the better off we are. Granted, we will never be able to recreate the ocean, but we can sure as hell try! Patience is a key, and the toughest thing to get under control.

What is your dream tank? 

Whoa, now you are asking a bunch! I think something along the lines of the tank Alberto is working on. That kind of size is an unbelievable task just to plan. As I stated before, it took me a year to plan my 300, I can't even imagine the amount of planning that a 750 would take.

Do you have any advice for others? 

I think I am gonna repeat myself here, but, if you can find patience, that is first and foremost. Also planning what you are gonna do, before you do it is also a key. It's kind of funny, but even with sufficient planning, you still screw something up. The up side to that is you learn from mistakes! Maybe I should mention research? Places like Reef Frontiers are a great source, and hopefully will continue to be that. You always hear people that have been in the hobby for a while, say that they wish that they had a place like RF when they were starting. The amount of info that is out there is staggering, finding a way to apply it for your particular situation is the key to making the hobby fun.