I have dabbled with freshwater tanks for some time. Mostly when I was a kid and didn't know anything about parameters and proper filtration and water changes and pretty much everything one needs to know about the hobby. I got back into the habit a couple of years ago and got a 46g bowfront and turned it into a thriving freshwater peaceful community tank. This led to multi-tank syndrome and I purchased another 36g bow front and just kept one big happy jack Dempsey fish in there and hand fed him shrimp daily. I had a job relocation and couldn't take my fish with me without fear of them all dying in the whole process so my tanks sat in a spare room empty for months. I would have had them set up a long time ago but I decided to go with a reef tank and had to start over again. I purchased a new Current usa orbit marine led fixture. That thing rocks by the way. I also have an eshoppes psk100 hang on back protein skimmer rated for a 100 gallon tank. I also have an aquatop cf400uv canister filter with a built in uv sterilizer. In the canister filter I have nothing but pieces of foam and 2 carbon packs. I didn't use any of the bio balls that came with the filter as I read they produce a ton of nitrates. I also have 80 pounds of live sand so it's pretty deep as well as 45 pounds of live rock. I noticed after adding my live rock that I had a very sudden diatom bloom and almost everything turned a deep brown and it was nasty. I returned home from a long weekend away and I almost couldn't see through the glass. This diatom bloom has almost all but disappeared. There is still a little brown on my sand and on some rocks but it's definitely going away. I have also noticed quote a few hitchhikers from my live rocks as well. I have probably at least 10 asterina starfish and at least 3 stomatella snails. I've reads that these are quite welcomed hitchhikers that are very beneficial to a tank. I was looking in the tank last night with just the blue lights on and also noticed an amazing amount of these little shrimp looking creatures darting around the rocks. Anyway I am rambling but I just wanted to get any pointers or tips and even welcome the haters to comment on what I've said and I'll add a pic of my current tank to see what you guys think. I am about to purchase a liquid test kit today to stay on top of my parameters and I also know it will still be a while before I buy my first fish. Let me know what you think! And also let me know what I have to look forward to good or bad!