[crvz]

About a year ago I started getting into this hobby more, as my four year old 58 gallon looked terrible and I wanted to do something about it. I found this site (and others), joined the local club, and started realizing the ignorance of husbandry which my tank suffered. So I started investing more time, energy, and money into my aquarium but felt a little restricted with the volume I was dealing with. I bought equipment that I had no place to put, and things began looking quite disorganized around the aquarium. My wife, who has always been graciously supportive, mentioned a few times that she would prefer that area of the house not being so cluttered. I begged permission to begin planning a larger tank, and she acquiesced. I want to document my progress to both get help and help others, so here we go. And clearly, I tend to be unnecessarily verbose, so please, do what I do, and skip to the pictures.

I started thinking of a number of goals and rules that I wanted to abide by with the tank, as I have a tendency to jump into things too quickly, and so by writing this out I hope to slow down a little. Plus, if anyone is reading along here and starts arguing with a decision I make, I can just point to post one and tell them to cram it. Or, possibly, be more cordial, but that’s not as entertaining for me or the readers. Regardless, here are some priorities for me;

•Hardware shall be contained in the stand, hood, or aquarium (unless it’s something that can be stowed in the closet when not in use).
•Noise level of all equipment shall be kept to an absolute minimum. The tank is within ear shot of the living room, and I don’t like being distracted by gurgling sounds or hums while watching television.
•Energy usage shall be kept to an absolute minimum. This has been a driving factor on a number of things, such as my skimmer choice, lighting plans, flow plans, etc. If at all possible, should be kept under $45 monthly energy costs (at $0.14 cents per kwh).
•DIY when I can. Some things are a little outside my capability, but most things, with patience, I can accomplish. This includes the stand, sump, and hood, as well as most of the electrical.

Another thing, which is going to be more of a guideline than a rule. I live on the Gulf Coast. Eventually, my house will loose power for more than two days. I do not plan on protecting for a power loss of more than two days, or doing much during an evacuation. Essentially, that means I have to be mentally prepared for a total loss of life in the tank should a hurricane plow through my house (I’m about 3 miles from Galveston Bay). Hardware is covered by my insurance, but not livestock. To me, this means not spending inordinate amounts of money on corals or fish. You guys can judge me on how well I do with that.

I don’t know a lot of folks here on this site, so please feel free to offer suggestions and say hello.