Hello from the desert!

Hey everyone! My name is Zerogeist or Dan and I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm relatively new to aquariums and saltwater in general (it's been almost a year since I got into the hobby, but only a month of experience with wet tanks!) The first thing to attract me to saltwater was coral - I had no idea hobbyists could keep and even propagate coral in their own homes! I've dove in headfirst - it's the first hobby/interest I've had that I can't satiate. I spend all day on the forums, reading any saltwater books I can find, and pestering our local fish stores for a job.

So far I have two tropical tank setups: a 5.5g Ricordea florida tank (going to add sexy and pedersons shrimp) and another tank that's being moved into a new 37g custom aio glass tank - primarily for inverts and lps.

I'm in the process of ordering a 3g temperate tank from Mike at Micro-Reefs. I've been so impressed with the quality of customer service I've witnessed from Mike at Micro-Reefs and Josh & Stu at ColdWaterMarine - these guys are industry pioneers who are doing things right. They are personal role models of mine and I hope I can contribute to the industry in the same way they have.


As for me personally, I'm 25 and I live in Phoenix, AZ. It's hot here. Our small apartment windows and balcony open up to several untouched square miles (to the horizon) of Sonoran Desert.

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Now that I've spent some time in the hobby, I've gravitated towards nano/pico setups. I'm also interested in exploring invert breeding (I plan to settle and cue any sexy shrimp larva from my 5.5g.) And obviously: I'm very interested in temperate tanks!

Here are a couple of my favorite things & other hobbies. Maybe we share some common interests?

TV Show: Arrested Development
Movie: The Big Lebowski
Invert: Hymenocera picta or Hawaiian Harlequin Shrimp
Coral: Fungia spp. or Plate Corals
Band: Smashing Pumpkins
Star Wars Movie: Empire Strikes Back
Board Game: Power Grid
Radio: Howard Stern
Video Game: Dark Souls
Book: L'Étranger, Albert Camus

Glad to see you found your way over here

Thanks for the kind words, it really means a lot to us to have people as excited about what we are doing as we are to do it

From what I've been seeing online recently there might be just as many temperate fish keepers soon in Arizona as there are in the rest of the US lol.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I'm convinced that Phoenix has some of the most active, passionate reefers in the world. It must be all that dry heat. The reef clubs here host frequent events with industry speakers, auctions, and frag swaps.

I think with temperate tanks most tropical hobbyists aren't even aware of their options in 2013.