Actually, I can't believe how boring my tank was for several years. I got back into the hobby once I got divorced, wanting to finally spend some money on myself. $400 later, I had my own 29g tank.. What shocks me is that I had the tank running for about 4 years and look at how sad it was. Btw, I still have one of these True Perculas (the other one jumped out!), and the Blue Damsel.

When I finally bit the bullet to upgrade my lighting, I had to build a canopy to match the original stand. This is when the obsession took over. I'd been reading and posting in rec.aquaria.marine.reefs (newsgroup) and visiting various LFS in my area. I can't tell you how many times I was told to go to Reef Central, but kept blowing it off. While ordering from Jeff's Exotic Fish on the phone, I was asked if I was going to attend MACNA since it was going to take place in Ft Worth. Not having a clue what it was, I turned to a thread on RC to find out just why I should attend. One of the members of DFWMAS convinced me to pony up the funds, and the rest is history. Now armed with vast amounts of information from MACNA, I was ready to tackle my own tank with so good solutions.

Below you'll see a major change in the tank. Pre-MACNA, I'd just built my own overflow box and sump. The other equipment was added in the next few months now that I knew what was necessary to keep a reef tank.

Specifics:

29g non-drilled tank
Closed Loop with SCWD
Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer
3 x 55w PC lighting (50% daylight - 50% actnic)
Sump & Refugium fill with macro algae
Mag 5 return pump
Phytoplankton dosed every other day