Aaaaaand really the rest is history, the tank is now humming along consuming a staggering amount of 2-part every day. My fish population is largely complete and stable at this point, I've removed a couple of fish due to aggression issues, and now the community I've got is incredibly peaceful and gets along. I have literally thousands more photos of the tank from the past year, but I suppose now's a good time to show it as it looks today!

(these photos have been 'warmed' in iPhoto...

I re-scaped for a little lower of a profile, I also removed some of the Marco rock and added 55 pounds of Walt Smith live rock. At this point I also removed all of my fish to try and treat a persistent problem with ich. The tank was fallow from late July or August, 2012 until late December. The saga of what happened to those fish and what I learned is a novel for another day, but sadly, 10 days before my fish were to return to the display we had a party and the door to the room they were in got...

Getting wet
[URL=http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/asylumdown/media/14956c30.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g411/asylumdown/14956c30.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/asylumdown/media/866827b3.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g411/asylumdown/866827b3.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/asylumdown/media/07cc1a72.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g411/asylumdown/07cc1a72.jpg[/IMG][/URL]...

Then finally the tank was installed. Compare the difference between the Starphire display (it's practically invisible) and the sump below
[URL=http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/asylumdown/media/IMG_2039.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g411/asylumdown/IMG_2039.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Painting
[URL=http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/asylumdown/media/IMG_2133.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g411/asylumdown/IMG_2133.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

...

I think I had a build thread for this tank on ReefCentral ages ago but never really did anything with it. A blog seems like a good place to put it instead!

Since the tank is now 19 months old, this blog will be mostly pic heavy.

Specs -

6' long, 34" wide, 27" tall starphire display. The tank was built in to the wall of the house my partner and I built separating our dining room from the office and is open on both sides. It's 275ish gallons....