I've been keeping a marine aquarium since about 1989, when I purchased a used 55 gallon tank from a friend who was moving from Florida, and set it up in my living room.

A first tank comes with a cruel learning curve. Spent zillions in fish and equipment only to eventually do something stupid (I didn't know it was stupid then).

The first setup was in the middle of the room - with a couch in front. A very cool way to have a setup. It was easy to maintenance as moving the couch gave me 360 degree access to the tank. I had to become creative in hiding the cables, tubes, and equipment as a 360 tank offered no blind spots.

I moved to Texas from Florida in 1995, crated up the tank, corals, and equipment and set it storage (My brothers garage) for a year. The previous fish were given back to the fish store.

After a 16 month break, I bought another tank from a friend moving (I seem to have lots of friends move away). Uncrated the original tank, built new stands and filter, and started them up.

For about a year I fought a battle with the Texas heat and a leaky filter - something had to change. To overcome the leaks and regular spills, I totally redesigned and built the filtration system. To stabilize the temperature I invested in a 1/4hp chiller.

The new setup work great - stable temperature, no water spills.... what's that water on the floor? Damn, water pipe leak in the wall behind the tanks! Ever try to move several thousand pounds?

Took down the tanks and set them up in another room where they remained for about a year until... is that smoke I smell?

Experience is gained from lessons learned in successes and failures. Did you know that the salt that accumulates over everything near a marine aquarium, if allowed to accumulate on a power strip, it may eventually cause a short which creates heat which creates a fire? I didn't know that either....

Fortunately due to Paul's (Stepson) quick reactions to the sound of the smoke detector the fire was extinguished. I was in Kansas, and couldn't fly back until 2 days later. The wall was slightly damaged, the electrical wiring toast (No pun), and some air tubes were ignited which supplied bubbles to one of the tanks. I'm assuming the air tubes didn't rupture quickly and smoldered before completely severing - the tank those tubes fed had a complete die off within a day).

Lesson learned - latest setup the electrical wiring is positioned such that it can be easily inspected and cleaned.

The fire gave me an excuse to move the tanks back into the main room, in a 360 degree position. One tank at a time was moved, getting minor stand repairs and upgrades in the process. The first tank, which had the remain fish, was in operation within a few days of the fire. The second took an additional week due to damage to the stand. Finally, both tanks, connected to the filter, circulating new water, I was ready to add new fish - BANG! Sounded like a gun went off at about 7 in the morning that Saturday, following quickly by the sounds of water splashing. The second tank cracked - you know how in submarine movies the water shoots straight sideways after they get hit? That's what tanks do too! A wall of water three feet straight out from the 2 foot crack.

I assume the stand settled slightly in the new carpet (Replaced from the previous water damage). Didn't have a very high SAF (Spouse Approval Factor) that week.

Replaced the tank and have had no major disasters since - what's....