I can sum up my journey in pictures, and you can see extreme progression. I started out small, probably to small for a beginner, but I didn't care. I was fascinated by nano and pico reefs. I think I have dates ROUGHLY correct, but who knows. LONG POST!
My first reef came around the 2005-2006 time frame, it was a 2.5gal and I stuck a 250w MH above it. I went as cheap and DIY as I could, which in the end was not a good idea and eventually led to me pulling the plug on it down the road. I didn't care about coral types, if it looked good I bought it and stuck it in there, big mistake. I kept stuff alive generally speaking, but it never flourished or grew. I was dosing without checking params, and just going about it all wrong. I think I had a sixline wrasse and royal gramma at this point fish wise.
In 2007 I left for bootcamp and turned the tank over to my family, if you can keep it going, great if not oh well I'll restart it I said. They basically just topped it off, maybe did 1-2 WCs while I was away. Not good. I obviously came back to disarray, but like I said, I wanted to start over anyway and upgrade. This is what the tank looked like before I tore it down.
Fast forward to early 2008, I started the tank back. This time a whopping 10gal. It was like a whole new world to me having so much space! I started minimilistic, but again the DIY and cheap filtration/components just never cut it. I cut to many corners. This is the tank restarted in very early 2008.
I found out mid to late 2008 that there was a possibility I would be deployed to the Middle East. I held out as long as I could with the tank, not knowing if I was for sure going, but in mid 2009 it was torn down for my deployment. It was to be a longer stretch than bootcamp and I didn't want it in someone else's hands. This is the last photo of it to my knowledge. As you can see, lots of small frags or small colonies bought that way....nothing really growing or florishing. I had just bought myself frags upon frags rather than buy a few and establish the tank.
I once had dreams for a 40gal breeder reef but it never came to be. I had a big skimmer for it, and the tank was drilled, it just never got off the ground.
Fast forward even more, to 2013. Time to get a reef started again, but do it CORRECTLY. Except I did DIY LEDs. I bought a 15gal starphire cube (love the nanos remember) and I was determined to keep SPS in it. This is July of 2013
Here it is a very short time later.
Then the unthinkable happened. It could quite possibly be one of the worst Christmas's I've had. Dec 24, 2013. I did a WC like normal after getting water from the LFS a day or two before (before I got my RO Unit working again). Except this time I came back after eating dinner to a complete loss of life in the tank, well almost. It was a mass disaster. I racked my brain for what I did or didn't do and ended up testing the water, yep.....all fresh water. Zero salt. The LFS gave me FW instead of SW RODI. I was sick to my stomach. The LFS had also closed for Christmas. I had to run up to Petsmart 2 mins up the road and buy an overpriced bucket of salt 5 mins before they closed to try and save anything I could. I had to swallow it and move on. It was my fault for not checking prior and trusting this LFS that i've visited and used since I was in single digits age wise. But it was their fault for giving me wrong water. I still have yet to this day step foot in that LFS and I'm not sure when I will again. I'd just rather cut losses and not deal with them.
I tried to just throw up my hands and say the deed was done, I'll just focus on Christmas but it was tough. Still is, I had JUST gotten some of the nicest frags from John Copps I've ever seen and lost most of them roughly a week later to this. In the end I came to one conclusion. Lessons cost money, good ones cost a lot. My next amazon order was the parts I needed for my RO system, buckets, and a refractometer. I've since hauled jugs of water and mixed my own salt, test it twice before the WC. Cut out the middle man.
SO, we are almost through, I restarted the tank after the first of the year in 2014. I was going to do this. A faulty LFS and personal mix up wasn't going to stop me. I restarted the tank with a new found passion and haven't looked back since. It's better than I could of imagined and sometimes I ask myself it it would be as good as it is if not for that Dec 24 2013 crash. Doubt it. Below are pictures spanning from April 1, 2014 to a few days ago April 2015. Enjoy, and if you are starting the salty world be patient! Nothing good ever, EVER, happens fast in a reef tank. Let it grow!
The two frags on the sandbed on the right side the green and purple ones are clearly seen in the newer tank shots!
May 2014, Slimer placed in it's final resting spot. Still running DIY LED.
August 2014, actually bought a good high end light and growth exploded.
Sept 2014
Jan 2015
March 2015
June 2015
Aug 2015
Nov 2015
Feb 2016
And here we are! April 2016! Better than ever!