Like many out there, I have been holding water as a lifelong hobby.  Here is my take on the wet hobby, that seems to be growing into an art-form.

Find me, dborowsk, on www.reefcentral.org or www.ebayfish.com.

Ah, I remember it well.  I was a kid in grade school.  As a gift for my first communion, I recieved my first aquarium kit.  A Hartz kit with the yellow and orange fish logo from Kmart.  Following the suggestions from the books in the school and public library (because by then I had pretty much read them all), we sat the aquarium out overnight to test the seals.  Sure enough, it had a small leak.  My dad got a refund and returned with a new glass fish tank.  I redundantly use the term glass, because, of course, in my hurry to get the item out of the car, the weight of the heavy car door to a third grader put me off balance, and the ten gallon hit concrete garage floor.  After the tears, Dad took me to the store to use my own money for a replacement.  Come to find out that a buck a gallon pricing really dried up the tears.  So it began.

I only had that ten gallon tank for most of my childhood.  I started working at the pet store in our local mall to satisfy my cravings for wet pets.  I had about 45 freshwater tanks there to maintain, stock, and sell.  I was quite the over zealous kid.  No used car salesperson here, people trusted by enthusiasm.  I continued to read books and magazines, as the Internet was not yet.  By spending most of my paycheck using my store discount, I would develop my own library of books.  By listening to customer issues, I learned a lot.  By assisting their livestock purchases, I spread the joy.

Working around 55 gallon and 125 gallon tanks, one cannot live with only a 10 gallon starter aquarium.  But, for the most part, I did.  After all, I lived with my parents.  That didn’t mean I couldn’t plan ahead.  Even though the high school science nerd, I made my way into wood shop.  A custom crafted solid oak stand would emerge.

Only in recent years, did I graduate to saltwater systems.  Saltwater fish only lasted about two months before the pull of the reef corals pulled me under.  You can now call me a reefer, fragger, salt jockey, whatever.  I’ve been wet for so long, that I can’t sleep when the power goes out and there is no bubbling or gurgling sounds...