About Shabtai

Who am I

Since childhood, aquariums have fascinated me. When I was only 4 years old, my father brought a planted freshwater aquarium to our house. It filled me with admiration and curiosity. At about the age of 8, I already had my own aquarium.  Within a few years, I had progressed to my first saltwater aquarium. From there on my interest only got stronger and I found myself really addicted to the hobby. Back then, everything that occupied my friends, who were teenagers my age, did not interest me. I was only interested in the beauty of the animals that live in the coral reefs. My nickname among the guys was “The Nature Guy”. (In those days I didn’t really like the nickname.)

Today, after about 30 years of personal experience in the field of ornamental fish in general, and saltwater aquariums in particular, I am passionate about sharing with the world the process I went through and the experience I gained, so that new and old enthusiasts alike can find comprehensive information on this amazing hobby on my website.

What else you can know about me:

I did my military service in the Intelligence Corps. I enlisted in 2010 and was discharged in 2013.

My role was largely classified, but what I can write about my military service is that I dealt a lot with aerial photographs and their interpretation.

After my military service

After my military service, I worked for a period in a civilian company that provides services to the military. So it was actually very convenient for me to adapt to the work world while still having one foot in the army.

My education

In 2014, concurrent with my work, I started studying mechanical engineering. This field gave me many tools to deepen my knowledge and understanding of my favorite hobby. During my studies, I gained a deep understanding of hydraulics – a field of physics that is applied in every aquarium (such as “Bernoulli’s law” which is used to pump air into water pumps; “Stevin’s hydrostatic law” – otherwise known as “ communicating vessels” which is used in every aquarium with a “sump”; how to calculate during a power outage how much water will return to the “sump” from the main tank; and more). My studies also included electrical engineering and electronics, which is especially useful to me because almost all the equipment in the aquarium is electrically operated.

My family life

In 2016 I met my wife. From the first moment we met, she was particularly interested in my hobby and was very passionate about it, almost like me. Of course, this is one of the things (among many!) that made me fall in love with her easily and decide that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.

After we got married – the first apartment we lived in was rented, small, and cramped, so the aquarium I built completely by myself, and invested so much in it – stayed at my parents’ house. After a while, I had to dismantle it, with great regret.

The main reason for dismantling my beloved reef is that a reef aquarium needs a fairly large space. One of the secrets to success is stability. Larger tanks are more stable. I did not want to build the aquarium in a place where it was unclear how long we would live there, and so it turned out that the aquarium was dismantled for a period of about 5 years.

During the intervening years we had a sweet daughter and then two really active sons. We bought our own apartment, at which point I was again able to return to my beloved aquarium reef hobby. All of that time my interest didn’t weaken, and I never stopped learning more about this fascinating and amazing field. I am happy to share with you all the knowledge and experience I have gained over the years.

Why did I create this blog?

In my blog, I will try to give explanations about a wide variety of fields and subfields, all related to the reef aquarium. It is important for me to make this knowledge accessible, because when I wanted to learn how to set up a reef aquarium, it was not easy to find the information. When I set up my reef aquarium, I had to spend hours and days reading books and websites full of unnecessary knowledge. And that’s why I’m here, to make it accessible and easy for everyone who shares my passion!