Finding Nemo

Because our lease strictly forbids pets, and because fish really are just cool, we've been looking at starting a marine fishtank. My fish experience thus far has consisted of 3 ill-fated betas in college, and Kevin has none. However, it's amazing what the internet and a library card have to offer, and we've been reading like none other. Our bible for the moment is Robert M. Fenner's The Conscientious Marine Aquarist. What we're looking at for set up is a 55 gallon tank, a stand, lights, heaters, a protein skimmer, a sump, lots of buckets for aging water and mixing in the salt, sand (I think gravel is cooler, sigh.), live rock, little crabs to eat the algae, and some fish. The stunning thing is how expensive all of this is. To set up this aquarium is supposed to run close to $2K. Heart attack. Especially for the unemployed girl with the new car. Kevin thinks that we could save some money, and "it would be fun" to make our own lights and heaters. Even though I don't tend to give his EE degree enough credit, I'd still rather we buy them. Homemade electronics and 55 gallons of water give me the creeps. So now we're looking for used tanks and gear...