I’m a sucker for the Monti Caps. Perhaps because it was one of just a few stony corals that I couldn’t kill!
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Lol, absolutely agreed!
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I really mean it Matt, your tank is stunning and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to pull that off. Please keep me updated brother.
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Keep us all updated. I am living vicariously through this stuff.
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Thanks and will do! It is a ton of work but I’ve been doing it so long now it doesn’t seem like a lot anymore. I must be more efficient or just used to the constant adjustments and testing haha. I take a lot of pictures when it’s doing well since it can all change in an instant
Appreciate the compliments and I’ll update next time I take some pictures.
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I’m envious of your tanks. Both of you. Past, present, whatever it may be. These are incredible.
I never got into saltwater because 1 - I was fresh out of college and couldn’t afford it lol, and 2. Was told how hard it was, so I started with freshwater. I got out of the hobby about a year and a half or two years ago. Tried my hand at breeding some species of fish but never could get it to take off. Definitely a lot of reward for what you put into it though.
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Thank you, its definitely a passion for sure. One of the main reasons we don’t have one currently is due to the expense. I really want to get another one going but I will only do it if I don’t have to cut corners. We did everything in house from making our own saltwater with weekly changes to testing the parameters twice daily. I really miss it, thank you for the kind words.
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It is a challenge for sure. I was initially attracted to reef tanks but went freshwater for years for the same reasons. I heard SW was much harder than freshwater, both fish and coral. Eventually I stopped wanting fake decor in my FW and started doing planted tanks. Those went okay but once I tried to go “high tech” with co2 and harder to keep plants I basically failed. I grew algae VERY well 
I admire those really techy planted tanks as I feel that it is much more by eye and experience than a reef tank. I made the jump to reef tanks and there was a learning curve for sure but if you’re willing to test parameters, I almost feel it is easier than a tech planted tank due to all the available testing specific for reef tanks.
I gathered equipment over the last 10 years of keeping SW aquariums. I feel like the reef keeping hobby is really starting to out price newcomers, so itself/future really. It is pretty crazy what some people are dropping on a 50-100g system now days in equipment alone.
The key in my opinion, if you ever do decide to start a tank, will be your local reef club or forum. Used gear and generous people can make the hobby much more enjoyable for a new comer.
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amazing monti collection dsed! I feel like one of those is a “jedi mind trick” type. Love that piece. That That rainbow BTA is very colorful!
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Thank you! One of the things I absolutely loved about reefing was helping others with issues or items to get started. Cant tell you how many rastas and hornets I gave away. Lol. I ended up making a lot friends in the industry as well like LRS, reef frenzy, carib sea, hamilton lighting. Such good people.
Smite, you nailed it. I had a pretty large colony of jedi mind trick👍 That tyree undata was still my favorite. When I got it, it was a brown ugly coral. Boy did it turn into something special.
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I try to do the same. I was lucky enough to have a few reefers do that so I pass it along anytime I get the chance.
Those are always the best pieces, some of my favorites were little browned out maricultured frags I got to watch color up. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that tyree undata, looks like a pretty cool piece. So is that montipora that almost looks to be shooting digitata like growth up and out, very cool!
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That piece you’re referring too is montipora spongodes. As little frags they get confused with montipora confusa which usually has a pinkish growth edge. Spongodes will plate then sprout up, very cool inexpensive montipora. Terrible pictures from a very old galaxy but spongodes is underated IMO👍
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That thing is sweet. I’ve heard of it, but you just don’t see it all that much anymore. Very cool piece.
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This seems the most appropriate place to ask…
If we added a forum category for fish, what would be the best way to categorise?
Cold, tropical, marine, reef?.. but I guess, some tanks setups could fit into more than one of these Category 
Any ideas?
Lets say 3-7 would be an ideal number.
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I can’t wait to hear the input…
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I’d say marine/reef then tropical/fresh. A lot will fall under those 2 categories as to make it easy. Sincerely Thomas, thanks for the intrest. If I end up with another reef tank and get in trouble im blaming you🤣
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Fresh water and Salt water. Fresh could break down as Agressive (like cichlids, oscars, piranhas) or Tropical (tetras, angels, plecos). Saltwater fish would breakout from reefs. Many reef keepers don’t even have fish. But everyone likes the bivalves and arthropods…
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This is pretty exciting!
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If you were to add a section for reefkeepers, I can offer this:
I created it for a site many years back. That site went dark (also) many years back. And for those still keeping, you can access the info from the Wayback Machine.
Probably could use some updating.
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