I thought I'd do a "catch up" chronicle of my first SW/Reef tank. It all started when I stopped by the LFS to pick up some "feeder fish" for my Rope Fish (FW critter). The LFS had just gotten a shipment of SW in and I was intrigued by the colors and variety that SW offered compared to my drab FW tanks.
More or less kidding I said, "If you could get me set-up with a SW tank for less than $200 I'll start today." He about jerked my ARM off trying to take my
$$$ 
I was leaving the next morning to go out of town for work so I told him to get the "package" together and I'd be back in 4 days to pick it up and get started. This was the first week in January 2007.
I go out of town and to class and all I can think about is, "I'm going to have a SW tank... WOW!! I've reached the BIG LEAGUES now!" Little did I know I was back to Farm League with tanks. I picked up my:
10g AGA tank, Perfecto Hood w/single tube fluorescent light, Whisper 20 HOB filter, heater, 20lbs gravel, hydrometer, 10g box of salt mix, Basic Test kit and some instructions to follow for what the SG, temp should be.
I go home, prepare the water (tap water de-chlorinated per LFS) and started mixed SW. Then I added the sand to the tank, water to the sand and INSTANT SW tank. After 2 days (per LFS) I went back and picked up my 4 (Yes FOUR) Yellow Tailed Damsels "for cycling purposes". Added them to the tank and watched 1 die in 24/hours (but my water tests were all coming back PERFECT per LFS) and one more slowly die over the next couple of days. TWO did survive the process (lucky Me) and in a couple of weeks I went back to LFS who then allowed me to get: Fire Scallop, purple lobster, 2x peppermint shrimp, Banded shrimp and a yellow sea cucumber. Believe it or not most of these are STILL alive in my tank.
Each week I went back and added something to the tank "decor" wise. Started off with simple petrified coral's epoxied onto a base. Then I read something about Live Rock. Sounded cool so I went back and bought a 2lb piece of LR with some coralline and a mushroom on it. That was when I realized I wanted a REEF tank and not just FO or FOWLR.
I started researching corals and light. I realized that my Perfecto hood/light was not what I needed. I picked a corallife96w unit that was made for my tank and asked the LFS to order it for me. He insisted that I did NOT want that but that I wanted the 24W unit (which he happened to have IN stock). So I got it and a Frogspawn and went home happy (or so I thought).
I added my new Frogspawn and enjoyed it for a good while. Then I started wanting some of those more "flower like" corals that people called Zoas. So I added them but neither the Zoas nor my Frogspawn really seemed the THRIVE in my tank. I added a Refugium (great move) and then started reading about the light requirements for the corals I had. Even though they were "easy" corals they still required a bit more light than I had. I had made my mind up I was going to get more "illumination" on this tank so I was off to "Google" lights for my tank. I'm a "tinkerer" at heart and I love to "Mod" things. If "a" is just right for something then why not get a "B" and OVER-Do it just in case. I ordered a light made for a 24" tank even though my tank is only 20" long. I now had 130W of light which REALLY made my tank look SWEET! My corals took off and since then my tank has looked "Decent". I've had several boughts of algae and cyano but that's due to slow flow and feeding issues. Both of which I have now rectified (at least I think so). That algae is all but gone and cyano seems to be getting better week after week. It just doesn't go away nearly as quickly as it arrived.
so over the next few posts I'll try to show where my tank WAS and where it IS today (or last night).