Tell us about yourself: 

To make a long story short, I’m a forest engineer working at an aerospace company in the weight engineering area. Confused…well, it pays for most of the hobby and that is what matters. I’m a military brat and have traveled a bit because of it. I lived in Munich, Germany for 4 years and traveled all over mainland Europe (before the wall came down). My traveling continued when I graduated college and went to work in Alaska, Canada, and Chile (the largely uninhabited parts of those countries). Since that time I have married a great woman named Holly and as a result I now I enjoy staying home more and traveling for pleasure (with her) rather than business. Those that know me know I am a hockey junky and can’t really stand the other so-called sports…too slow.

Our “kids”, as we call them, are 2 cats (Rocky and Peanut) and a super chocolate lab (Dottie). I also have a 55 gallon freshwater planted tank.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

This is a classic….Holly asked me what I wanted for our anniversary one year. I thought and thought and came up with…a marine tank. I was planning on just setting up a 30 gallon FOWLR tank with a dwarf lion fish, but after seeing pictures of reef tanks and reading about them I decided that’s what I needed. I went to my first PSAS meeting, a tank tour that stopped at many nice tanks including Mike’s place (mojo when he had the little tank 300 gal). I was in awe…I couldn’t believe a person could have all those colors in a tank in their living room. So I bugged Mike into guiding me a bit and talked to as many people on the boards that would listen and learned.

Tell us about your tank? 

The tank: 75 gallon all glass (not drilled) with a 30-gallon oceanic sump.

Lighting: I have an Icecap 660 powering 2 36” VHOs (actinic) and 2 Icecap 250W MH ballasts powering XM 10K bulbs.

Circulation: I have a Mag 7 for a return pump and closed loop with an Ampmaster 3000 for my primary circulation.

Filtration: I run a Lifereef skimmer, carbon in a fluidized reactor, a 100 micron filter sock on the drain to the sump that I change out every couple of days, and the live rock in the tank. All of my water goes through a 4 stage RO/DI filter before entering the tank.

Supplementation: A mojo special DIY calcium reactor, and an auto topoff run by $3 float switches and a peristaltic pump.

Other misc stuff: I added a 1st generation Aquacontroller to the system and it was one of the best additions I have made. It stabilized my temperature and allows me to monitor PH and ORP easily. The tank is pretty stable now and is growing and starting to look good.

Livestock: I have never purchased a colony. I like to get frags and grow them out. I received several generous donations from Chuck, Mike, and others in this department. I have since given away several frags and plan to do that more now that I am red bug free. I have various SPS corals from the common pink birdsnest and acro yongi to the less common cali tort and blue milli. I also have several different zoos, mushrooms, an anchor coral and a frogspawn (host for the clowns).

For fish I usually buy for function. I have a Scopas tang to graze algae, a Foxface lo to keep the valonia in check, a bicolor blenny to graze algae, and a coral beauty that will hopefully get a taste for the majanos (and not corals). I also have a pair of Ocellaris clowns and a mandarin dragonet. At this point I think I am pushing the upper limit of my bioload and will not be adding any new fish.

As far as inverts, I have a cleaner shrimp, sea cuke, tuxedo urchin, and various astrea & cerith snails and some hermits.

History: It didn’t start that way though. My first purchase, before the tank was an RO/DI filter…then I picked up a 75-gallon setup used that had LR, a bacpac skimmer, and one “old school” halide. I bought 4 maxijet PHs and lots of zip ties. I went though the “reef on a budget“ stage…then the “I can’t afford this hobby” stage…then the “wait a minute, I can build that” stage. I put in a DSB to lower my nitrates…and it did...Then later removed it to go bare bottom. I was sump-less for 3 years before breaking down and buying a sump and large skimmer.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

I was one of the early ones. I was active in PSAS and was on reefcentral, thereeftank and reefaquariumguide when Mike and Chuck set out to take over the world…I simply followed. This is by far the best board on the web and I really enjoy my time here.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

(1) Keep it simple (2) if it aint broke, don’t try to fix it (3) if it doesn’t fit right the first time push really hard…if it breaks you can get another, but it’s fun trying.

I like to keep it pretty simple. Clean RO/DI water in, 5 gallon water change every week while siphoning out detritus, regular maintenance of pumps, probes, and lights. Biggest thing…watch the tank. I know when something isn’t right by the corals and fish. I still test Ca and Alk weekly, but I really don’t need to, as I can see when they are drifting down. Don’t solve problems…find the source.

What is your dream tank? 

I’d love to have a 6’ x 4’ tank. I love the depth those tanks have and ability to aquascape them. This would also let me get some of the fish that I just can’t have in a 75…but then again, this is a “dream tank” we are talking about. Getting the misses to sign off on that will be a bit more difficult.

Do you have any advice for others? 

Never stop learning. Every person has a different way of keeping a tank. Many are successful with different methods. Don’t bash…it serves no purpose. Remember that an expert is, by definition, someone that knows more about something than you do. Question any advice you are given and research it to prove to yourself that it is sound before you put it to use. Remember that aquariums are an industry and the companies are there to make money…think about what you are buying and why. Can you make it yourself? Can you buy it used from another reefer? Sometimes it pays to buy the more expensive one so you don’t have to buy 4 of the cheap one. Trends abound in this hobby. Let someone else prove the newest thing works before you kill your tank proving it doesn’t.

Finally, it all takes patience. If it happens fast in a reef tank it’s a bad thing. If you are looking for something that you can simply setup and walk away from, get a screen saver.