My original plans were a little different. I was drawn toward salt water tanks by the livestock, and decided to get something that-- in the freshwater world-- is a huge tank: a 46 gallon bowfront. I got one from KSL with a stand for $30 and thought it would be perfect. The more I kept looking, the more I wanted a 75 or a 90, but my wife didn't want me to switch and spend more money.

We had to wait before we could put the tank in, because we bought our first home two years ago and have been trying to finish the basement. A few days after the carpet went in, I was itching to get water in my bowfront when I got a call from my brother. He let me know that his father in law was getting out of the hobby and no longer wanted his 75 gallon tank and stand. 

I drove out to Roosevelt where he lives, borrowed a Suburban, and brought back the goods. Thankfully, the previous owner left as much plumbing intact as possible (I'm not good at this stuff.) Talking with him after all the research I've done was like time travelling. He used fossilized coral as decoration, dipped it in bleach every week, used the largest t8 bulbs he could find, and thought it was impossible to keep corals. 

My wife and I cleaned the tank for about a week. It took some doing but we got it. I had a better sump that we hooked up, so enough blabbing. Here are some early pics and descriptions:

Here's the tank setup in the new basement. I've got a 20 gallon sump below, with about 70 pounds of rock and 65 pounds of sand. 

Here I've added the water. I have the overflow on the back running down through a filter sock and some carbon into the sump. I've got the flow at about 800gph and a heater rated for a 100 gallon tank. The overflow was really loud-- loud enough that I was like, crap, I can't have it this loud-- but I found on a forum to use some carbon sponge that won't clog, and that has done the trick. Purrs like a kitten. Or an octopus, since it's in the water, right?

I also added 20 more pounds of live sand and 15 pounds of live rock. I've had stress dreams that my arch falls over, but it is-- ahem-- rock solid.

Here's a shot with my new lights! I had thought I would have to settle for something not as nice for my first lights, but I got a great deal on some nice powerful LEDs from NSFWdave (Thanks!) and I'm really pleased with them. They are dimmable, powerful, and have both actinic and white. I have kept them off to avoid algae while cycling, although I turn them on for a second every day and say, "Cool."

I have cycled my tank with some shrimp in a media bag, and we are ready to get our first fish tonight. Due to blunt repetition, I haven't rushed anything, since 99% of posts to rookies like myself consist of "Be patient, don't rush things." To prevent those comments, I was patient and didn't rush things. I'm grabbing two Chromis after work (2 1/2 hours and counting) and then I'm just going to keep those guys and no more fish for at least a month. I'll do some more tests to make sure that my water is still good, and then I have a list of fish that I will slowly add to the community which I will link here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pCJJ_0y7-yWfl9AJtWaGUQiQQRoxbsP1n3IoQKlh020/edit?usp=sharing

I will add some pics of the little blue/green guys tonight. Let me know what you think guys.  

~John

http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_form&form_id=1&Itemid=78" rel="nofollow - http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_form&form_id=1&Itemid=78

Fill this out and wait for the email, then adjust as necessary and only add a few at a time until you have more of a bioload.

Here are my little blue palys. I don't remember what they're called. I guess I'm "that" guy.

Some purple star polyps.

Here's my green hammer coral.

And here's my red/orange montipora. We'll see what color it ends up under my lights.

None of these pictures turned out well. The focus was bad and the color is totally off, but I'm still excited. Let me know what you think.

I added another powerhead, added some chaeto algae to my refugium and got a sand sifting goby (diamond watchman.) I have corrected the salt issues, and the tank is cleaner than ever with great water levels.

But there's another problem. I posted on here last week about a powerhead chopping up a fish, but since I lost THREE MORE chromis this week, I've realized that the little Emerald crab I picked up for some bubble algae ate not only the bubble algae, but my little fishies. I haven't been able to catch him, but that's my top priority (he's hiding in the rock work right now.) 

So that's my tank thread update. I will look to buy some new corals in the coming weeks and will update pictures at that time.