Remember your very first reef tank?

[CPL376]

180 allglass aquarium with a 55 gallon sump with bioballs little giant pump 4 foot tall air block protein skimmer metal heilide with triton actinics. Also had an ozone generator Sold it in 1996 because I didn't want to mess with moving it when we built a new house. It was awesome. I used it as a playpen for my daughter while I made the stand for it.

 

[SciGuy2]

My first reef tank was a 20 gallon with a 10 gallon sump 27 years ago. I went with a small system because I wanted to use only distilled water. (It was before RO/DI became common in the hobby) You wouldn't believe the number of Walmart gallon distilled water jugs I accumulated!

It was a wonderful tank with Marshall Island LR and a H. magnifica (Ritteri) that filled half of the 20 gallon tank. It was the home for a grumpy ocellarus clownfish and a grumpy royal gramma for more than 10 years.

There are days when I wish I had just stuck with that small system...