Tell us about yourself: 

I was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1948 to a family that happened to own a fish market. I grew up with fish, dead and alive. I have had an aquarium from the day I was born. As a small child, my father would take me to the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan. I would climb on the huge sea turtles that were lined up alive, up side down on the street. Little did I know the gentle giants were destined to become soup. Many times my dad would find some crab or small fish still alive on top of the catch of the day, we would take it home and put it in water--fresh water of course. So the longevity of these animals was about ten minutes.

I was drafted into the Army when I was 19 and became a Sergeant in sixteen weeks. After spending a year in the states, I was shipped to Viet Nam. It is an animal lovers paradise. I even managed to see red tailed shark inhabiting the ponds of that country. After two uneventful weeks in a jungle clearing on a small fire base on the Cambodian border with about 79 other guys, we were attacked by four hundred regular NVA Communist troops. Six hours or so later we repelled the attack; but regrettably, we lost about a third of our guys including all of my seven men. That was the battle that allowed us to enter Cambodia. I received two bronze stars for Valor, but the real heroes did not make it.

On a lighter note, I went to Australia on R&R where I was lucky enough to do my first dive. When I returned home in 1971, I married a beautiful girl; and we both took SCUBA lessons and have been diving ever since. My wife and I enjoy traveling to exotic places; and besides being spouses, we are still best friends after all these years. We also have a beautiful 28 year old daughter, Jodi Lu.

For a few years I had a small sea urchin collecting business. I also invented and patented a seahorse feeder. I make my living as a construction electrician foreman in NYC and I will be retiring on my birthday this Christmas. A few years ago, I got my Merchant Marine CaptainÕs license and hope to hire myself out to pilot yachts to tropical locations for the winter. In the last twenty years or so I have written a number of articles that were published in aquarium magazines.

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

After the Army, I returned to find that brackish water fish were available. I then started a tank but the options were limited to about four or five fish. In 1972 to my delight, salt water fish came to one store in lower Manhattan. Only damsels were available, they were expensive and ich infested. After a while, I learned how to cure ich by adding copper pennies to the water. Word traveled and I helped a few stores set up salt water tanks.

There was absolutely no information on salt water fish and no equipment for sale. I learned by experimentation how to cure ailments like tumors, ich and pop eye. Many times I was asked to treat some malady in a dealer's tank.

Tell us about your tank 

As I mentioned, my 100 gallon tank was started in 1971 as brackish; and I gradually added salt so I could keep marine animals. It evolved from damsels to carnivores to a reef. It still uses a reverse UG filter (you can stop laughing now) and a home made venture skimmer with ozone.

After the first 25 years, I lifted the UG filter to see what it looked like under there. It was dirty to be sure; but it was also filled with tiny red tube worms--a healthy sign in my opinion. The tank is lit with MH lights that I had left over from lighting up the Plaza Hotel.

Another innovation in my tank is a shallow trough that sits above the water and slightly under the lights. It is used to grow algae which can then be removed. In my opinion, algae are a benefit to a tank as long as it is not growing on the corals.

I use natural sea water whenever possible. Living on Long Island and owning a boat, I have access to the sea and spend a lot of time collecting plankton and associated bacteria to add to my reef. My belief is that one of the secrets to a long lived tank is micro diversity including bacteria and chemicals found in real water.

Being an experimenter, I am now in a breeding mode. I have been trying to spawn gobies but the only thing breeding is blue striped pipefish and Bangai Cardinals. I rarely use test kits, instead relying on my experience to detect problems.

My animals are usually in breeding condition because of the food I either collect from the sea or buy frozen. My oldest fish was a cusk eel which lived 18 years, but my favorite was the Moorish Idol. I killed it by accident after almost five years. My oldest fish now is a fire clown. I don't remember when I got him, but it was at least ten or twelve years ago.

I would like to add that my tank is no where near as nice looking as many of the tanks on "Reef Frontiers". I am amazed at some of the diverse animals people here are keeping. Tanks are getting better looking and healthier every year. I may not have to dive anymore as long as I can sit and look at a beautiful piece of the sea surrounded by glass.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

A Reef Frontiers member turned me on to it. I like the friendly forum but I purposely limit my input because of my experimenting nature. I get carried away and am afraid to advise on a topic where my answer may be misunderstood causing a tragedy to someoneÕs tank. For instance, I sometimes use bleach to treat NSW. Someone wrote me to complain that he killed his fish because I said to put "Clorox" in his tank.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

My philosophy is to enjoy the hobby for what it's worth as you should enjoy your life. No one is testing us on this. For me, it has been a life long endeavor; and I even enjoy the downside as when I lose a fish or the elation when something spawns and I am able to raise the fry. It is a learning experience. I like to take chances in the hope that I will discover something positive to the benefit of the hobby and my own self satisfaction.

What is your dream tank? 

My dream tank is the one I currently own.

Do you have any advice for others? 

Don't get crazy! This is a hobby and not nuclear waste storage. Fish die in our tanks, and we feel bad. But fish were designed to die as food for other animals. Fish never die of old age. They are always eaten by something else and usually eaten alive. I myself eat fish almost every day.

Besides that, I also feel that our tanks are too clean. I think we need diversity especially in regard to bacteria. If you never added anything from the sea, you have the same bacteria in your tank that your dealer has, and he has the same bacteria as the wholesaler. As hobbyists, we think of three types of bacteria but there are thousands. The types in our tanks may not be the most efficient bacteria for processing wastes. After a while, the dominant types of bacteria will colonize all the available space. I believe this is one of the biggest, least understood aspects of this hobby accounting for all sorts of problems. I personally add water, seaweed, amphipods and mud from the sea and have never seen a parasite or disease caused by it. The influx of flora and fauna from the sea seems to impart a healthful, albeit, misunderstood benefit for all of our animals. This may be the reason my fish do not get parasites or any other disease, and they almost always live for many years.