Okay. Here are some pictures. It all started March 1, 2005. I had been researching saltwater aquariums for almost a year by that point and had been studying up on saltwater animals for two years and freshwater fish for about 4 years. From childhood though, I've always had a freshwater tank. The tank is very basic and was just sitting on a plastic stand
10g Tank
Pictures Coming Soon
I then upgraded to a 29g tank. I don't have pictures from the initial upgrade, but this picture is a few months into the 29g. I didn't have enough rock for all my frags, so I pieced together an acrylic shelf to set them on as a grow out shelf. At this time the tank was just sitting on a metal stand
29g Tank
I then underwent a couple algal blooms, a cyanobacteria bloom and a bacteria bloom in no particular order. After it all settled down, I knew it was time to push the boundaries. I then made DIY rock and placed it in the 29g tank. I also placed the tank in the cutout between the kitchen and the living room.
29g Full of Rock
29g Placement (Picture of a later era)
I was happy with this for a while, but after a few other incidents, I decided it was time to clean the sand bed, rework the rocks, dig out hidden frags and add some more various things. In the mean time, I added all the rock and livestock into what will eventually become Sonya's Seahorse Tank. As you can see by the rock work, we really liked the looks and this is how we came to the conclusion to do a center overflow in the future seahorse tank.
20g Hex Holding Tank
After taking a few weeks to leisurely get everything cleaned, I eventually placed the 29g back in the cutout between the kitchen and living room. This went well for a while, but I decided to finally get my sump and skimmer up and running, so I set up a sump and got it running
29g Cleaned (with Overflow and Spraybar)
I eventually grew tired of the mound of rocks stuck in the middle and needed to capture an unkown Xanthid crab that we affectionately named Bigfoot because of her elusiveness. So, in the process of taking out the crab, we redecorated.
29g Drop Off
Over time, things grew and we left them the way they were.
29g Growth (with pwhitby's Purple Tang)
Finally, we even grew tired of things falling on the front and the back side, climbing on the sink, and the difficulty getting a Mag Float or scraper/razor around the rocks, because at the time, my coralline algae really started to take off. So we decided to redo the rockwork by placing my first batch of rocks that had a flat side directly on the glass and use the real liverock and better rock from later batchers to prop them up.
29g Reef Wall
Pictures Coming Soon
Eventually I got a Metal Halide somewhere in the mix
29g with 250w Metal Halide
Pictures Coming Soon
Now for the latest and greatest upgrade, we got a stand, canopy, and got the tank drilled! This is really when things came together.
1 YEAR!!! 29g with (1) 250w 10,000K MH, (2) 65w Actinic PCs, Mag5 Return, Custom sump/refugium, (1) MaxiJet 1200. Water Parameters: pH 8.3, Alk 9dKH, Ca 400ppm, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates 20ppm, Temperature 80*F Steady 24/7, Specific Gravity 1.025, Dose B-Ionic when needed, Lighting Period 12 hours for all lights from 10am-10pm.
Picures Coming Soon
) So, I will take pictures tonight and bring them to work.
