Every journey starts with a single step

Hello all,
I am VERY new to this hobby so please forgive me if I don't make sense at times. I am posting here because I would like some advice on what it takes to build and maintain a saltwater aquarium. Just last weekend an opportunity came to me that seemed too good to pass up. My brother's neighbor had to relocate his family on short notice and either did not want to deal with moving it or perhaps was taking the opportunity to set up a new system when he moved. Either way, he gave a tank and everything that went with it to my brother who in turn asked if I would be interested in having it. After a bit of hesitation I agreed to take it off his hands as he was more interested in regaining his garage space than anything.

Here is a quick breakdown of what I THINK I have:

• 90 gallon tank - at least that is as near as I can tell based on the dimensions. 48" wide x 12+" deep (bowed front) x 19" tall.
• Tank stand
• Two banks of 8 puck LED lights with controller Aqua Illumination brand (Pictured below)
• Pump (not sure what the GPM are)
• Skimmer (Reef Octopus with a number on the side of NW-110-6520B)
• Heater (VISI-THERM 150Watt)
• Lifegard QL-25 Ultraviolet Sterilizer
• A Homer bucket full of what I believe to be Dry Rock. (Pictured below)

I have always been impressed with saltwater tanks and have always wanted to have one in my home. There is something about looking into a tank of fish that is just so relaxing. The colors and little creatures crawling around, the way the coral sways and even the sound of the water flowing and pumps running has always been so appealing to me. That being said, it has always been my impression that the upkeep and maintenance would be too much for me to handle. That is until the last few days I have spent poking around these forums and seeing the passion and dedication you all have for your craft. Reading your posts has done nothing but fuel my curiosity and make me think that this may be something that I would really enjoy.

My work requires me to deal with pumps, heaters, thermostats etc. and also some plumbing and basic chemistry so I would like to think that my technical background is strong enough to handle things. From what I have read it requires a lot of testing and monitoring to keep a tank healthy. This, believe it or not, is appealing to me. Kind of like an on going science experiment! My worries circle more around the time requirements. Here are a few questions I have right off the bat.

1. What happens in the event that there is a power outage? Do you need a UPS or the like? How long will your little fishys survive without water and/or air circulating?
2. What is the plan on vacations or long weekends away? Most of what I have read says that feedings are required twice daily. How long will the inhabitants live without feedings? Is the feeding simple enough that the neighbor kid could handle it without destroying the ecosystem by over or under feeding?
3. I figure that the tank would weigh over 1000 lbs. when full. Besides the concern of if the tank did rupture, are there any common structural concerns that people look out for? Keeping the tank over a structural wall or maybe how to position the tank in relation to floor joists. I would like to have it on the second floor of the house.
4. How about home insurance? Should I let them know if I decide to embark on this adventure?

If I decide to give this a go my plan was to try and use this community as my knowledge base. Seems to be a better way to go than a book or my local fish store. I thought it would be kind of neat to look back some time in the future and hopefully get a chuckle out of how naive I was at the start and maybe build something we all had our figurative hands in that we could be proud of.
Looking forward to reading your responses.

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