Gosh I'm jealous! I love reef tanks though I confess its the corals I love ;^;

Looks lovely and healthy in there 8D

Dare I ask how much this has currently cost?

Oh geez, the cost, haha. So many things to add up. Though I often think I should do a little write-up with everything that I've bought for it and how much it costs, because I've had a lot of people say they'd be interested in starting their own tanks and I think there are a lot of things to buy that people don't think of right away.

I'm going to try to remember as many things as I can, and give the best estimates for them (as well as look up order history on some of these sites)

-RODI filter: $200
-2x PAR30 bulbs with gooseneck fixtures: ~$200 (they were on Black Friday sale when I got them last year, from boostled.com)
-MP10 wavemaker: $230
-30lbs base rock: $63
-Sand: ~$40?
-Heater: ~$20?
-Refractometer: $30
-Aquaclear 50 filter: ~$40?
-ATO (Auto top off) and pump: $100
-20G glass tank: $20 (Petco's $1/gallon sale!)
-API Saltwater Master test kit: $28
-Calcium test kit: $10
-Phosphate test kit: $10
-Bone cutters (for fragging stony corals): $15
-Glass tank lid: ~$18?
-Revive dip: $10

The clean up crew (snails and crab) were just a few dollars here and there, probably no more than $15.

Corals:
-Toadstool: $40
-Pagoda: $35
-Yellow Polyps: $5 (I originally bought a tiny frag of them. They spread fast!)
-Duncans: $24
-Favia: $40
-Caulastrea: $20
-Eagle eye and dragon eye zoanthids: $24 ($12 for each frag)

Man. That puts me at $1237, roughly. This is actually my second go-around. I had a tank before this that was two years old before we had a two day power outage during a blizzard this past February, wiped out 95% of the tank including not-too-cheap fish and corals. After that, I decided to start fresh with a new tank, new rocks, fix all the beginner mistakes I had made the first time around. It wasn't terrible the first time around, but with a few fixes this time, it's 100x better (I started my first tank without the RODI water, and just used dechlorinated tap water - gross! I tried using just a hydrometer instead of a refractometer, don't bother. I had power compact bulbs on the old tank for the first year, instead of LED. Looked washed out and ugly. And I didn't dip new corals before putting them in the tank. Fixing all those little mistakes makes the current tank a breeze to take care of).

Ahhh gosh, thank you =D

So you built your own tank then, I'm hell impressed with that! And not a bad price considering I was probably looking at spending £1,100+ for a tank alone!

My main concern about trying to build my own would be getting all the tech bits to work together and finding places in install them, getting something wrong would be really bad even if it's not immediately noticeable =c

Earlier this year I was helping my friend and her ex with a marine tank and I fell in love with it. He'd done a DIY job with it, and due to his mistakes it ended by breaking and all the corals and fish dyed as a result ;;
(glass fractured and smashed)

It's a gorgeous healthy tank you have there, I'm really rather awed! The hard work you've put into it is really showing off =D

Are you in your own house or rented accommodation? Bit of an odd question, I'm just wondering about the logistics of keeping a tank under rented due to electric costs and power.

(Agh late reply! I had something typed out, but I hadn't finished it. And upon returning to it, my phone automatically refreshed the page and I lost what I wrote! Grr)

Yep, built it from individually picked out pieces! I know people with the pre-made kit things, like biocubes, and they might seem tempting to get just because it's all already there. But I like having the option of choosing my components individually to better suit my needs :) My first tank was a 20 gallon long, and since I was just starting out, I had no idea how much flow I'd need. I started out with a Koralia 700 (I think?) and it seemed like too much. So I replaced it with a Koralia 425. Not enough flow -__- So I finally bit the bullet and got an MP10. Now I can dial the speed as well as the frequency up and down as needed. One if the best purchases I've made.

It's definitely not the most advanced tank, it doesn't even have a sump. But it gives me plenty of options for stocking and I don't feel limited at all (unless I wanted a tang, haha). But it's a nano tank at 20 gallons and I'm certainly not bored of it yet!

I have yet to venture into drilled tank territory, is that how your friend's tank cracked? Messing around with the integrity of the glass is a little scary, haha. All of my equipment is either clipped to/hanging off the back, or is magnet/suctioned to the side wall.

And I need to get back to your note, too! I JUST started using Skype within the past few days ;o;

Yeesh.

After a loss like the first time around, it might be worth investing in one of those little backup generators. The ones not much bigger than a portable air compressor, and can run for about 12 hours on a few gallons of fuel.

I really do need to get something. In the 7 years that I've lived in this house, the power has gone out twice for any serious amount of time. The first time was sometime when the temperature was still reasonable, so even after not having power for 5 days (I think that was hurricane Sandy?), my old tank was no worse for wear. I was able to keep it going by sloshing around the water regularly with a small bucket. I was a WRECK though. That time actually, the tank had improved after the outage, ha. It had some stubborn cyano that just wouldn't go away, and after the power came back, the cyano was gone.

The second outage (coincidentally named... Blizzard Nemo, which killed my clownfish), power was only out for two days. But it was February, and the entire house had dipped down to 42f degrees. So miserable. Somehow, a few of my freshwater fish survived, including my big red zebra cichlid. (S)he's probably my oldest fish now.

I think I've seen people mention UPS, or uninterrupted power supplies for keeping fish tanks going during outages. Gotta figure out what kind of thing would work best for me.

What size tank?

It's a standard 20g