History
I bought a 55 gallon tank in 1980 and set it up as a tropical fresh water aquarium.  For several years I kept large species, like cichlids and catfish.  In 1993 the heater stuck on during a vacation and cooked my fish.  Sadly, I tore down my tank at let it sit empty for a while.  In 1995 I decided to try a salt water aquarium.  I started buying live rock and watched hitchhiker sponges, anemones, worms, algae, etc. grow and add interest and benefit to my tanks' environment.  But my tank got sick in 1998, killing all the fish in a couple months.  For about a year I kept the tank at room temperature with just the hitchhikers and snails. Very low maintenance!  In January of 2000 I started a somewhat serious attempt at reefkeeping.  In March of 2000 I met some folks who had started a local reef keepers club.  They have really nice reef tanks and are an inspiration to me. The saga continues in pictures, with the most recent photos at the top.
September 2002
February 2002
September 2001
My reef experienced a severe overheating in late July, killing many snails and some coraline algae.  This triggered an algae bloom which lead to a major hair algae problem that took over 3 months of persistent scrubbing and water changes to correct.  Most of my corals spent a month at a good friends extra tank while I removed all the rock and half the sand, replaced 45 gallons of water and rebuilt the rockwork as pictured here. I reduced the photoperiod to 4 hours of blue actinic only and incrementally increased it back to normal over 6 weeks.  I bought 50 snails and 75 blue leg hermit crabs, and borrowed a Sailfin Tang to help me keep the algae in check over the next few months.  No fish or corals were lost.
February 2001
August 2000