by Finn Gardner

This is my reef tank, it looks pretty nice, right? Especially for a 12-year-old who just started keeping corals. But the process of getting the tank to this stage took longer than you might think. And that’s what I would like to talk about today: how I got my reef tank!

It all started a couple of years ago to when my dad and I went to Macna in Wisconsin. I was having a lot of fun there! I got to see cool fish and people and explore Wisconsin! While I was walking around looking at all the booths set up, there was one thing that caught my attention. It was a raffle, and in it was a pack of 2 fancy reef lights. I immediately went and got my dad to show him the lights. We both agreed that these lights could help me set up my first reef tank, so we bought about 40 dollars worth of raffle tickets because of how much we wanted these lights and we were certain that we were going to win. A few hours later and it was time for the raffle, we sat down and waited. I had my tickets ready in my hand and they called for the person that won it!… It wasn’t me. I was so disappointed, I had been daydreaming about those lights all day and had invested so much money in it just to lose it? Sitting in my chair, I realized that the person who won the lights was our friend, Sarah Golden, and she was walking towards me with the lights! She handed me the lights and said I could have them and I was so happy that I actually got the lights!

Once I was at home with the lights, I thought to myself: “what am I going to do with these lights?” I already had a tank in my room that I’ve had since I was born but that tank had a tube dwelling anemone (named Morris) in it. Morris didn’t need such a fancy light and also he probably wouldn’t get along with corals. I told my dad I thought I was ready for a reef tank, so we decided we would look for a new tank and move Morris to the fish room. We talked about the plan, but for a long time, nothing happened. But then fast forward a couple years and me and my Dad went to Reefstock Chattanooga. While we were there we bought some corals and gave a presentation. But then, something else caught my eye… A tank that would make a perfect reef tank for me! A really nice one! Now this tank was 1000 dollars so we weren’t just going to buy it, but here’s the catch, it was another raffle! So we bought some tickets and put them into the raffle box. Our presentation was during the time of the raffle announcements so we couldn’t make it there in time but immediately after the presentation we were told that we won! So we went home with my new tank.

I had my lights, I had my tank, so now I just needed some more corals and supplies! Getting all of the supplies took a couple months, all I had in the reef tank were 2 tiny corals and 2 tiny fish. My tank felt so empty. But then there was a frag/plant swap at the college my dad works at so I brought my plants and was ready to get some corals! I set up my table and was selling my plants and spending some of the money I got selling plants to buy corals. I only ended up buying about 5 corals and then was generously gifted corals by Eric Thurau, Michael Harman, and Lacy Martinez. I went home with my corals and put them all in my tank. It was done, I had successfully put together my reef tank! Now I’m starting to learn about the hard part: keeping everything alive. Stay tuned for updates.