Growing up we had a (10) gallon FW aquarium with some boring kissing fish, a goldfish that I won in boyscouts and a pleco. I never really cared much about it as I was about 8-12 when we had it and I never gave much though until highschool. When I was (16) I got a job working at Outdoor World Bass Pro Shops, in Auburn Hills, MI. They have a 125,000 gallon FW aquarium or something like that, and I would watch every day and dream about having a GIANT aquarium. I started talking to people about fish and they started telling me about Gars and arrowanas and other big fish. I started doing hours and hours of research on MFK, and found a 180 gallon pre-drilled with stand 75 gallon refugium / sump, pump, sea swirls, mag float, afor $500. I saved up quick and drove to Ohio and bought it. I thought I had looked into everything. Cost of start-up / maintance / equipment, etc. I bring it home, to my parents house and we put it in my bedroom. The monster. It was only after about (3) weeks when I decided to add water that I started asking about the weight factor. Well needless to say, it never got filled. The tank was huge and it followed me to my first apt, luckily I had a two - bedroom where it became the temporary home of a Kentucky box turtle for almost two years before I released her back into the wild. (3) years later, about two months ago, I moved again. Another two-bedroom, but I didn't feel like getting this thing down four flights of stairs again. I put in on CL for $200, and only had (2) serious inquiries. Both people that showed up were not prepared for the size of this AG tank. I finally gave it away, one week before I moved to a friend / coworker who placed it in his basement, and is in the process of adding livestock. We're going to get his 1st Gar on Saturday.
After I gave away my tank, I immediately felt empty (like the tank). I started looking on CL for my dream SW tank. After looking for about (2) days I found a "Deal" on a 54 gallon bowfront corner aquarium with all the fixins for $400. I was sold. Brought the tank home, added back the LR, water, and fish (4 green chromis) and took off. This past weekend I added my "1st" fish - a Flame angel, and Tuesday I went back and bought my 1st coral - a Hammer coral. The whole thing is beautiful. In (4) weeks, I haven't watched Netflix for more than 30 minutes and usually 15 of those I'm distracted on AA or watching the tank!
