I can remember going to the ocean with my family when I was little. While everyone else was playing, collecting shells or driftwood, and laying around on the beach, I would be peeking and poking (softly) at the creatures in the tide pools. I was always amazed at all the different critters you could find if you looked hard enough.  Hence the fact that when I saw a reef tank for the first time I knew I had to have one of my own.  

My first reef tank was a 29-gallon glass aquarium that I had previously used as a community tank for freshwater fish. We were redecorating the room the tank was in and I was not having any luck finding a suitable temporary space for the tank. I decided to tear it down and take my fish to a local fish store (LFS) for safekeeping. That's how it all began. When I got to the LFS, I spotted a mini-reef tank and was instantly intrigued with the inhabitants. While our family room was being painted, carpeted, etc., I researched the requirements of a reef tank and decided I wanted to give it a try. When the room was finished, I set up the 29-gallon tank with live rock, live sand, etc., and hoped for the best. I bought several corals, anemones, and other critters and everything was going great, until six months later when I found myself saying, “I need a BIGGER tank” more and more often. 

So in May of 2000, home came the 55-gallon TruVu aquarium. All of the critters, corals, sand, and rock was transferred from the 29-gallon into the new tank. There was still a lot of sand and rock to buy, but this gave me a great start. I am not going to go into too much detail about this tank, since it "crashed" (as they say in the reef world) due to some indestructible algae. The tank had been set up and thriving for about three years before I lost everything.    In April of 2003, I cut my losses and tore the algae-ridden tank down. I was able to save a few pieces of the live rock and some of the sand, but nothing else. As discouraging and depressing as this was, I was determined to start over and do things better this time around. Starting with the purchase of a 55-gallon All-Glass aquarium, more sand, and more rock, I headed home to setup the tank in September.  And this is where we are now. Better equipment, stricter maintenance schedules, and different additives and testing..... All of which will hopefully lead to a longer lifespan of three years for this new adventure.