Bxl_Reef
New Member
About myself
Hello everyone!
Allow me to present myself. My name is Jules and I live in Belgium. I'm 27 and working full time in customer support. I would describe myself as someone who is passionate and creative. I always had interest in many things ranging from sports to taking care of exotic plants, every time I find something interesting I have this vibrant urge to go all in about it and discover and learn everything on the subject. But this passionate burst has some downfalls.
My interest can burn sometimes quick and I'm sure some can related it is then hard to enjoy again the things that were so interesting a few months ago. This is something I have been trying to manage as I grow "older". I think that it is a matter of stinking with things getting past the excitement and allowing the dust to settle to finally discover unknown areas of a hobby or passion.
So here is my attempt to share my journey and try to hold myself accountable to something that I'm deeply interested in for a while.
*Many interest
A little back story
In my childhood my father had already this hook for reef keeping. My father came from a biology/chemistry background and he worked in water purification field. Funny enough i knew what reverse osmosis was before his first reef tank came to the house. Before choosing a salt water tank he thought about Discus which are also sensitive to water quality and fairly hard fishes to master.
But for my father having the opportunity to dive into the complexity and ever evolving world of reef keeping got the best of him. He started to read books (that was main stream at the time), going on website forums, probably even on this one if it existed at the time. He was getting crazy about it you could see in his eyes that the things he was learning were getting him hooked. The more he knew about it the more he wanted to learn. I think this part of my father is what i prefer, as mentioned earlier it was not without downside but i always admire that ability to go further than anyone else abd being able to make sense of really abstract stuff at the time.
One day the aquarium was there in the living room next to the couch. The unusual blue light that was coming from it, the smell of the salt, the noise of the pumps in the cabinet. This was a machine and he was proud of it. I could describe the full story of this but I could dedicate another full thread about it. I Just remember that my father got the bug we went on having multiple tanks bigger and greater every time.
This thing that my father had going on and still has even if it is not running anymore has stick with me hidden and i always told myself secretly that i would also be able to take care of a little drop of ocean!
*Photos i could find of some past aquariums from my father
The idea
Around a year ago I started researching on the subject of reef tank. I started to ask myself questions on what would be possible or not. The things i would like to have and how i would enjoy the most my aquarium. Coming from an exotic plant background i always found that planted reef tanks looked amazing and of course i stumble into Tigahboy's tank but also someone that inspired me a lot from Youtube is the channel of Nicolas Marion "Aqua Splendor".
The picture started to take shape in my head but sadly i was not able to make the step and start purchasing materials to start building something. I kept it once again in the back of my mind knowing that it wouldn't be long before i would make a come back. I was know aware of some things interested enough to keep looking.
Fast forward to this January 2025, where I finally found the mental space and budget to kick things of seriously. I had this little space in my office area ready to welcome the tank. I took a shot and said to my girlfriend during a diner together: "I'm going to start a reef tank!". She always is supportive but she knows me and i can be jumping from one thing to another so she is always careful and managing her excitement until it becomes real but she was happy to see me getting interested in something as always.
So the idea is to mix my already existing love for plants and my new raising interest for reefing together. the best way to do so is going big on a planted reef tank with macro-algae, mangrove, and everything Caribbean style. I want the mangroves to sit proudly in the tank with roots shooting around the stones with fish swimming underneath. Macro-algae of different colors and maybe some corals or feather worms but more on that later.
I hope you got the idea!
What's next?
In this thread i think i would like to develop the process and evolution of ideas I have. I'll try m best to document the process but also giving more backstory and what lead me to take those decisions. I would like also to build this thread to hold myself accountable towards this new hobby.
Anyway thanks fro reading, hope you'll enjoy the process as much as i will!
Happy reefing!
Jules
Hello everyone!
Allow me to present myself. My name is Jules and I live in Belgium. I'm 27 and working full time in customer support. I would describe myself as someone who is passionate and creative. I always had interest in many things ranging from sports to taking care of exotic plants, every time I find something interesting I have this vibrant urge to go all in about it and discover and learn everything on the subject. But this passionate burst has some downfalls.
My interest can burn sometimes quick and I'm sure some can related it is then hard to enjoy again the things that were so interesting a few months ago. This is something I have been trying to manage as I grow "older". I think that it is a matter of stinking with things getting past the excitement and allowing the dust to settle to finally discover unknown areas of a hobby or passion.
So here is my attempt to share my journey and try to hold myself accountable to something that I'm deeply interested in for a while.
*Many interest
A little back story
In my childhood my father had already this hook for reef keeping. My father came from a biology/chemistry background and he worked in water purification field. Funny enough i knew what reverse osmosis was before his first reef tank came to the house. Before choosing a salt water tank he thought about Discus which are also sensitive to water quality and fairly hard fishes to master.
But for my father having the opportunity to dive into the complexity and ever evolving world of reef keeping got the best of him. He started to read books (that was main stream at the time), going on website forums, probably even on this one if it existed at the time. He was getting crazy about it you could see in his eyes that the things he was learning were getting him hooked. The more he knew about it the more he wanted to learn. I think this part of my father is what i prefer, as mentioned earlier it was not without downside but i always admire that ability to go further than anyone else abd being able to make sense of really abstract stuff at the time.
One day the aquarium was there in the living room next to the couch. The unusual blue light that was coming from it, the smell of the salt, the noise of the pumps in the cabinet. This was a machine and he was proud of it. I could describe the full story of this but I could dedicate another full thread about it. I Just remember that my father got the bug we went on having multiple tanks bigger and greater every time.
This thing that my father had going on and still has even if it is not running anymore has stick with me hidden and i always told myself secretly that i would also be able to take care of a little drop of ocean!
*Photos i could find of some past aquariums from my father
The idea
Around a year ago I started researching on the subject of reef tank. I started to ask myself questions on what would be possible or not. The things i would like to have and how i would enjoy the most my aquarium. Coming from an exotic plant background i always found that planted reef tanks looked amazing and of course i stumble into Tigahboy's tank but also someone that inspired me a lot from Youtube is the channel of Nicolas Marion "Aqua Splendor".
The picture started to take shape in my head but sadly i was not able to make the step and start purchasing materials to start building something. I kept it once again in the back of my mind knowing that it wouldn't be long before i would make a come back. I was know aware of some things interested enough to keep looking.
Fast forward to this January 2025, where I finally found the mental space and budget to kick things of seriously. I had this little space in my office area ready to welcome the tank. I took a shot and said to my girlfriend during a diner together: "I'm going to start a reef tank!". She always is supportive but she knows me and i can be jumping from one thing to another so she is always careful and managing her excitement until it becomes real but she was happy to see me getting interested in something as always.
So the idea is to mix my already existing love for plants and my new raising interest for reefing together. the best way to do so is going big on a planted reef tank with macro-algae, mangrove, and everything Caribbean style. I want the mangroves to sit proudly in the tank with roots shooting around the stones with fish swimming underneath. Macro-algae of different colors and maybe some corals or feather worms but more on that later.
I hope you got the idea!
What's next?
In this thread i think i would like to develop the process and evolution of ideas I have. I'll try m best to document the process but also giving more backstory and what lead me to take those decisions. I would like also to build this thread to hold myself accountable towards this new hobby.
Anyway thanks fro reading, hope you'll enjoy the process as much as i will!
Happy reefing!
Jules
