Way back in 2002.. My sister's boyfriend was big into salt water tanks and convinced me that it wasn't that hard! One year we hit up the old Big Al's (at Heritage) on boxing day and by the end of that weekend I had a 90g room divider cycling in my living/dining room :-) That first tank was just a FOWLR but I did experiment with various softies. Like all first tanks that one didn't last too long. I moved, got married, had kids.. fast forward a few years and the wife and I took a trip to Maui. That Maui trip instantly rekindled my love for the reef tank and this time around it was all about the Mixed Reef.

The first thing I did when we got back was dig up my first 90g that was in storage. Drilled it and slapped on an external overflow box, made a sump and got some new lights. This was the result.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/...9e143404_o.jpg

I also reconnected with that friend that first got me into salt water and asked him how his tank was doing. He referred me to Canreef and after spending days creeping I set off on another adventure that ended up with this..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487887

Bought a house just over 2 years ago, with a 100g SW tank and downstairs sump room already in place. Used to have FW tanks many years ago, so thought I would give SW a try.

Since then I have added another 135g tank, plus thousands of dollars of equipment incl LED, controller and pumps. Not a cheap hobby, that's for sure, and lots of learning. But I love the challenge, and still working on improving things.

snorkeling on honeymoon in mexico. all i wanted was a school of those sergeant majors lol.

It was my wife's fault....'nuff said. Sigh...

I had wanted one for a long time but everyone told it was to hard but I like a challenge. Game on

Yup, Irene wanted a "Nemo" tank.

My nieces wanted me to get Nemo and Dora and the Pufferfish from the dentists office.

Their wishes and reality clash often

Mandalay Bay...sorry I know...what happens in Vegas... is supposed to stay there. Hope I can safely post this. :wink:

I had kept fresh water fish for a while and was a diver. I had only dove in cold water up north here, never tropical but the pictures on National Geographic made me decide to switch my tank to salt so I could start seeing some of the fish I wanted to when I could afford to travel.

I started with a 40 Gallon Walmart tank and a LFS (now out of business) that did a lot of salt water. 5 years later I have 150 Gallon and if this keeps up, I may still not travel as I spend all my money on the tank. :lol:

scuba diving in Puerto Vallarta DR and hand feed a mating pair (i think) fishes and they were blue in color. Too bad i did not have camera with me to tell what kind of fishes they were. I wished i know so i can get them in my tank. But they are blue and fat (maybe powder blue or emperor angels or Conspicillatus Angel) but they are round and blue and not blue tang