Here goes!

I'm Jim; I live on the Isle of Man and work as a manager in a large UK bank. I am originally from Liverpool but have been on the Isle of Man since 1981. My educational background was all in the sciences with a good grounding in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Advanced Mathematics, and Geology. I originally trained as a teacher but got sidetracked into banking and have been there ever since.

I have kept fish of some sort or another since I got the first "won at the fair goldfish in a bag" way back in the dim and distant past. I moved onto tropicals, breeding many species and also kept a range of amphibians for a time. Then a new LFS opened and I first saw marines, well that was it I was hooked. That was 38 years ago and I have had a marine tank of some sort ever since.

Believe it or not I found UltimateReef by accident a mere 2 and a bit years ago. I had just had a major tank crash and was looking for some help and guidance. The information and support that I was given was absolutely brilliant so I have always tried to give something back by doing the same for others. I was therefore delighted and a little shocked when I was asked to join the New Member Help Team, but if I could help others more then I was very happy to do so.

Back in the dark ages (1970-71) I set up my first Marine tank, crushed cockle shell over undergravel filters powered by an air pump, tufa rockwork, and plain old T8 daylight tubes. My how far we have come from those old days!!!! I made all of the mistakes that people still make, had really bad algae blooms, suffered bad disease outbreaks but never gave up learning how to do it better. I progressed through several tanks improving as I went. Then the Berlin system came along and apart from one disaster I have never looked back.

My current set up is a 48"X18"X24 Berlin system tank with 2X 250W MH (Marine Lux 14K bulbs in Lumenarc reflectors) and two 54w T5 actinics, around 45Kg of LR on a raised egg crate base, flow is from two VorTech pumps, and a 36"x15"x12" sump with an AM turbo flotor multi SL 1000 skimmer and an eheim 1060 return pump. All kept very basic no calcium reactor, no computer control, just a home made reverse flow phosphate reactor, and a Vecton UV. Water top up is by a gravity fed system controlled by a simple float arm in the sump. Water changes are done about every three weeks of around 5%. I’m currently using TMC Pro Reef salt which I find works quite well. Ca, Mag, and Alk replacement is all done manually on a drip system.

I keep a full range of corals, softies, LPS, and SPS all together. I have two Clams one gigantic 14" Squamosa and one recently bought 3" Maxima. There are hundreds of snails and starfish and tube worms, around 30 hermits, loads of Zoas, mushrooms, and a plague of white red sea pulse Xenia. I have no fish in the tank at the moment; they are in my spare set up in the garage in quarantine following some unexplained deaths, so I am leaving the tank fallow until the end of February. This also gives me a chance to do some rescaping and serious pruning of the Monti's which are currently being attacked by Monti eating Nudi's.

Pros - A simple back to basics system with little in the way of expensive or complicated gear to go wrong. With so much of the control being manual you get a real feel for the stock and learn to know just from looking when something is not quite right.

Cons - not as much detailed control as I would like and it is quite time intensive with so much being manual, fixing parameter swings is slower and more difficult to get spot on.

Anything you’d change - Not a lot, A bigger sump, and never having put Xenia in I guess would be the main things and I may add a computer control and a Calcium reactor in the future if I can ever afford them.

Reefing ‘philosophy’ - Keep it as simple as works for you, all you really need to do well is a tank, good skimmer, the right Flow, good LR, and decent lighting. After that just go slow, do your research before you buy and learn all you can about your animals they will tell you all you need to know once you learn how to read them.

Goals - A better bigger tank (I wish) something we probably all wish for. I would love to do a self build of my own design as a room divider with a remote sump and fragging set up, but house and bank balance is just not big enough so I will just have to keep on dreaming.

Other hobbies / interests - Oh now how long a list do you want?! When I read this I wonder how I find the time to go to work...

OK here we go,

Gardening - I grow all my own fruit and veg and have flowers to cut for the house all through the year. Grow orchids and never have enough room in the greenhouse.

Cooking - Always experimenting in the kitchen, like all sorts of cooking from basic to difficult, make all my own cakes and decorate them too, bake bread and biscuits, pies, jams and preserves etc.

Reading - always have some sort of book "on the go" very wide interests from SciFi to Biographies to Scientific journals.

Computers - Built my own PC from a box of bits I ordered off the net (just so I could get the exact spec I wanted) much to my surprise it worked first time on first boot up.

General knowledge and Quizzes - Always doing crosswords and quizzes, head is full of the most useless information but it's always fun to learn new stuff even if it's of no earthly use!

Well that’s me, to sum up I might know the answer if you want to ask me, if I don't know I'll say so, if I can help I will.

Hi,
My nomination goes to Dibs (George) he was the 1st to reply to my call for Algae for my sump, wanted nothing in return not even for the postage.
Have had numerous bit's of advice on the Forum from him and have heard him offer equipment for nothing & is always willing to give others a hand.
He has beeen described by some in the Scottish Reefers Club, to be the Grandad of Reefing up here

I'd like to nominate Dibs (George) for UR Member Of The Year.
As you are no doubt aware, the Scottish Reefers are a close knit bunch of loons that travel for miles and miles to get new animals for our tank.
Everywhere you go, George has been there. If you cannot make it or needing a hand with anything, George is there to help.
He is fondly known as "Dibs Removals" as he will think nothing about picking stuff up for people and getting it to them as and when.
Quite simply nothing is too much trouble for George and he always does it with a smile. He is indeed, one of the good guys.
I'd like nothing better than to see a tireless helper be rewarded in a manner befitting of the man - the accolade of his peers.

i would like to nominate my fellow scottish reefer dibs (george) to get a mention.
dibs has helped most of us scottish reefers at some time or another, and most of us more than once.
he is a very generous man with both his knowledge and his time and deserves some recognition.