This is my twelve gallon tank in the bathroom. This was from two years ago but it still looks about the same. It went through a crash during a heat wave when the water got too hot but recovered to about what it was before.
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It's like earning a law degree and never making a dime for it.
If you love law, the answer is "absolutely". If it's just a passing fancy, I'd suggest a nice painting.
Moe, in the last 15 years, I've easily spent 14 years of them in saltwater. Most times I don't even wash my hands anymore. Some days I look at the thing and rue the day I ever met a fish tank.
Some days, I very much enjoy it.
Other days, Lisa and I enjoy it very much together. The smile on her face is priceless.
When friends and family come over and there's six or eight kids and four or five other grownups and we're all looking at it together, and the kid's eyes are as big as saucers, that makes it become a true God-given blessing.

When I moved out here, I had made up my mind that I was all done. Lisa made me stick with it. She made the right call. :-)

Oh, one more thing...
That page about the tank and how it makes things easy, blah, blah, blah?
Utter bullsh1t. The best way I can explain the commitment is that it's exactly like getting a dog. It requires just as much work time, if not more. You can't leave it for any amount of time without being in care of another reefer, and it ties a brother down.
Think about the things you do for your dog, checking to see if he's sick, looking after his health, etc. If that's okay with you, go get it.

Now, that's a reef tank.
A marine tank, or fish-only tank isn't near as hard. You can make it hard and some guys do, but it's not remotely as hard as a reef tank, in my experience.
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Brad, I have two otb skimmers. Each are rated over the tank size.
I noticed that when they are new, the acrylic is so frictional that it severely retards the whirlpool. As soon as an algae film grows on it in a few days, they kick in. In a few weeks, they work like madmen.
I screwed up. I should have never cleaned both at once. One was practically brand new and didn't need cleaned, as far as I was concerned. They were chugging out the junk every time I fed.
I had a kid come in and help me out, and I got nervous. He had great ideas and was a HUGE help, but he thought stuff out like kids do. In an effort to do honor and respect to the favor he bestowed upon me, I did a couple things that I knew I shouldn't have done in haste.
The one thing I haven't done is disrupted my sandbed and thinned it out as he suggested. I'm not doing that until the skimmers are 100%, my diatom filter is hooked up and running, I have 20 gallons of replacement water ready, and I've removed all my corals down by the bottom.

Oh, I have an otb filter that makes a crazy racket when the water level drops a quarter inch. The tank is right here in our office. If I don't hear it, Lisa points it out. It gets topped off by old Dad every couple days.
My skimmers aren't real sensitive to water level, either, being over-the-backs.
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If it's anything I've decided that I am going to be setting up a reef in my apartment. Prepare for photos galore in the next few weeks.
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Florida and Apartment you better be prepared for high power bills. Lighting and keeping it cool either AC or a chiller is going to add up fast. May want to look into LEDs right off the bat.
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I'll be using LEDs that will cut back on both heat and power consumption. Last summer my electric bills were only $80 should be ok. :-)
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I'll be using this http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...9&pcatid=21599
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Marc, How do you convert the wattage of led's to standard wattage?
For instance, my t5 light is about 450 watts over my 90 gallon reef.
If you have led's, you'd only be able to get maybe 150 watts out of two fixtures over my tank.
So what does that equal in "standard" wattage? Is there a formula, calculator, or does each particular light tell you "Our 75 watts is like 750 watts of t5 lighting", etc.
By the way, I just saw the new led's for the first time a couple days ago. I still haven't recovered from sticker shock. The ones you posted are a lot more reasonable, but that's without comparing them performance-wise.
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I don't know the exact formula I believe it has to do with how efficiently they penetrate throughout the water. I'll pull up some info when I get home.

They are more expensive but imagine the cost of replacing bulbs every 6months opposed to being set for 10 years. Plus the lowered electricity bill, and no need for a chiller or blasting AC. These will be on a 14 or 29 gallon tank as well maybe the 50 if I can get my buds to help me move it from 60 miles away.
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Thought Id share a picture of my 90 gallon in its current state.

Image
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Looks great, Marc!!!
I went to a frag swap today and spent a bunch of money. Came home with some real nice fast growers and a clam. It's my first throw at a clam, so I'm a bit nervous.
I've got the house wrecked and I'm covered with salt water again. :-)
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Thank you, its a bit sparse currently.

Do you know what kind of clam you got? Corsea, Dersea, Maximus, gigas, squamosa?
Pictures when they are all happy and extended.
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Yeah, it's a blue one. It's about 1 1/2" long, white on the outside and blue on the inside.
He only opens a little bit in the bowl. I've decided to call it a Harv Clam until we figure out what it is, then Lisa will probably name it. It's hers, she picked it out.
I have no idea what any of my stuff is. I take that back, we have a big Kenya tree. I know what my fish are, too. :-)
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I finally got my salinity up and my lights backed down, and my tank is just hanging in there. It really took a shock from moving here in January. Lots of die-back of algae and live rock.
Right now it's cycling again, to some extent. The hair algae is back despite absolute zero phosphate. I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with silicates for two reasons...
1.) My ro/di unit is desperately overdue for a filters/membrane changeout.
2.) I scrub my water with a diatom filter.
Once I get my new cartridges in the ro/di, water changes should solve that in short order, and I'll clean up the diatom filter and put it away for a long nap.
I'm really happy to be at the "sit and wait" period. I'm gonna let the green and brown algae grow till it peters out and the skimmers will clean that up.
I'm looking forward to the break, this has been 3 grueling months of reef beatings. :-)
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IT could actually be both. Phosphates will not show up on a test if you have algae growing. The Algae eats up the Po4 and to some extent the Nitrate too. Either way you are on the right track. Looking forward to seeing photos.
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Thanks for that, brother. I did not know that at all. I hardly have any algae in there at all right now, I think I'll test the phosphate just for the hell of it.
If I can find my little camera, I'll take some pics as soon as I can.
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If anyone is interested, I have some little things left over from my tear down that might be of use. Trades for a few sticks?? :-) I'll look in the next few days but I know these off the top of my head.

Clear Filter housing with refillable DI cart
DI Resin ~5 pounds or so
Bulk reef supply feric oxide media (phosphate remover)
Inline digital TDS meter
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I think I am going to snap a photo tonight, because as bad as the switchover from 40 down to 20 could have
gone, all I really got was a diatom bloom, and a small one at that. My two snails mowed that down and had a ball
doing it. I really like this setup better, the green chromis being the only two fish works better than trying to
feed a yellow tang that would not come out if I was in the room. Now everything is blown out and huge,
and although it is not a glamourous tank, there are no freaking aiptasia anymore, and that was the goal.
The two I had that managed to not be seen did not survive a face full of kalk paste. A LITTLE Valonia problem
persists, but it's pretty common on reefs & I am going to let it work itself out. I am not looking for another
emerald crab. My old one used to knock EVERYTHING over all the time. But all in all the tank looks pretty good
actually, for a ghetto, anyway.
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Scott, I think I am going to pick up a small HOB skimmer this week. The only reason I restarted my tank,
and this is sadly hilarious, was that I had an old Berlin skimmer which requires a massive pump to aerate,
and some dead live rock. Everything else had to be bought. That junk wasn't worth 80 bucks, so I spent
probably 2000 to build a tank around 80 bucks. :-) Ludicrous. But I did it anyway. But now I know I can
get by with a small HOB, although I do like the homemade overflow I made. I need a pic of that tonight, too.
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I have been toying with getting a small, 10-20 gal, tank. I am still in a bit of shock! I had a 90 gal that had a pump in the bottom go bad....which destroyed the hardwoods downstairs. Any suggestions?
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