just wanting to start

[HMInskeep]

Check my thread; my first reef tank. It has all the progress shots on my DIY light hood, I used led rope light coiled at the top for moonlights, the effect is awesome and only cost me 16 bucks!
There are plenty of plans online for stands and hoods. I basically used them as a starting point, but in the end I basically designed it as I went. I started with lumber that was cut to fit my dimensions, with a half inch of play. I had to trim a few pieces and sand some other pieces, but it turned out to be better that cutting the wood to fit exactly. The extra half inch came in handy.

[jjamontan]

Looks like you did a good job without spending a ton of money.

[jjamontan]

Have you thought about making rock?

[HMInskeep]

I've seen allot of videos on making DIY live rock. Looks really cool, I'll probly try it soon, after we move to a bigger place I wanna get a bigger tank.
For this tank I bought two pieces at my lfs, and I picked up 30# from craigslist. Really sweet deal. I saw the guys tank and it all looked great. I had the rock in my 36g with just damselfish for a month before I setup the 50g. I had some hitchhikers, but there were good ones, couple of tiny stars, two little brittle stars, and a handful of snails and crabs, the piece I bought at petco came with a worm ;-(. But thankfully I was able to isolate him in the small tank Before I added it to the big one. I add red sea coraline grow about twice a week and the rocks are finally picking up the algea from the lfs seed rock. I heard the DIY live rocks take a few months to cure...