Hello World (And GIRS too LOL)

Hi all!
After many months of looking over my wifes shoulder as she would browse this site/the forums, I decided that it was time to register for myself. My name is Jason and I live in the Fruitland/Muscatine area with my absolutely wonderful and beautiful wife Elizabeth (aka Firefish) and our two wonderful children.
Ok...so heres the part where I tell you how it all started. You see...my Mom and Dad fell in love one day and.......I mean last year Elizabeth decided that she really wanted a nice freshwater tank. It came out of nowhere really...totally caught me by surprise. But hey, I'm Mr. Spontaneity...right...and I'm always up for a new adventure, not to mention I really love spoiling Elizabeth, so I jumped on-board the aquarium band wagon. Now, we've had tanks before throughout the years...but nothing more intricate than a 10 Gallon tank from Walmart with a few Angelfish or somthing. So this was a big deal to us. We ended up with a 46 Gallon tank with a HOB filter. Cool...so we were off to a great start. By the time we got it setup and threw in our first few African Cichlids, I was hooked. I was getting fired up on the whole aquarium thing, too. Before long, we had it fully stocked, and we were saddened that we could no longer fit any more fish in it. (Well...not according to those rockstars on Youtube who put 20 cichlids in a 55G tank...but we had learned about bioloads and stuff) Elizabeth had been eyeing some Rams...so long story short we ended up with a planted 29G tank as well. The whole natural aquascape thingy really lit a fire in me. I mean, here's our own little world in a glass cube. It looked so real...and was so peaceful and entertaining to watch. The rams with their pecking order...the tetras and their schooling, etc.
So here's the good part...we got the big idea that we should move up to a saltwater tank. I mean, how much harder, more expensive and more addicting can it be than a freshwater, right? (I wouldn't listen the rational words of caution from Elizabeth about what we were getting into LOL) No...we needed (yes needed) a saltwater tank. Wouldn't it be cool to have our own little piece of the ocean in our living room? Corals swaying with the current...shrimp running around...clowns hosting something....etc. Of course it would be great. Before long, we were both really fired up on the idea. (both of us fired up on something is very dangerous on the bank account BTW) Anyway, we started looking for a 75G setup. That should be big enough, eh? Nope. Long story short, we ended up with a 125G tank, which we bought Elizabeth for Christamas. By the time we did all of the research, bought all of the equip, got everything plumbed and got it filled and ready for livestock, a few months had passed. 
Over the course of the summer I got distracted with work (IT manager) and other interest, and didn't spend nearly as much time with the tank as I should have.  All the while, Elizabeth very quickly learned a TON of stuff about the hobby...and jumped lightyears ahead of me. (thanks in part to GIRS and the wealth of information you all share on a daily basis!) At one point, I felt as if all I was good for was carrying 5 gallon buckets of water. LOL I needed to rekindle the marine flame and get more involved, said I to I.
Ok...too much rambling. So, fast-forward to present day. We're back from fall-fest with some shiny new frags and I'm FIRED UP on the hobby again. I've been learning a TONS of stuff from Elizabeth (so smart and so wonderful she is!!) and I'm really excited to dive into the forums, meet everyone, learn, and have as much fun as I can.
Jason

 

Thank you for the welcome(s), all!

 

Nice to meet you, Rick. Thanks for the invite to see your tank. We'll take you up on that offer sometime in the near future.

 

Hi Josh. Yep, I remember. Its good to hear from you. How is the new tank coming along? Our tank is doing really good. We had a minor setback yesterday when our Lamark Angel decided that she liked the flavor of shiny new open brain corals from fall fest. That was NOT fun catching her. : (