I will give a small history here, From the time I was a small kid I had fish and many other pets. goldfish in bowls to small bowls that looked like tanks next to my bed, I love fish. Then I got a old metal frame tank, about 10 gallons with the old corner filter. Really cool and the rave for it's time, You young guys won't remember them, It had charcoal and filter floss. That floss would get nasty in no time and that small. It worked. My little tropicals did great.
But the real fun was when I got out of the service in April of 72 and was working and had to take a cab everywhere. no car for awhile. I found this small pet store in Albuquerque, They are still there, Clark's. I got my first salt water tank, I think 20 gallon, undergravel filter crushed coral and that was it, a new and better world. I worked on that tank and many others along the way. I did run the undergravel filters until the mid 80's.
The mid 80's everything changed, wet dry and reefs. A whole new world opened up and I was on my way. It was harder, lighting with cheap shop lights from the lighting store, actinic and daylight bulbs , NO's at first then the VHO's. skimmers , plenum s followed. I went years without WC's on my plenums systems with alot of macro algae. everything was doing ok, that is I could keep thing alive but the growth was not there. I never gave up. I did have to give up tanks once in awhile for a time to move and stuff but that was it. Then we moved to Wichita Kansas, I sold my tank before the move and didn't get another one for a year, Found TRT, Great Find. and again everything changed from the old school stuff I was doing to where I am now. with the help of so many here. Too many to list, I don't want to leave no one out so I won't say names. You all know who You are. I will end here and start with the present in my next post.