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My Aquarium Showcase
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- May 8, 2006
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Remember the TANKED question thread I put together for you all to participate in? Well I chose many of your questions and Brett from TANKED sent us some answers.
Who are the majority of your clients, private or corporate/business owners?
It's 50/50, we have an equal balance of both.
Would you do another show that requires you to go and "resurrect" and/or install custom tanks in selected homes as in Pimp My Ride reality show?
Absolutely, we love what we do, and the more creative the project, the more we're likely to take it on.
What is largest Reef setup you have done and what were the specifications of it?
A 3,000 gallon aquarium at a church in Brooklyn, but we've built aquariums that hobbyists set up that have been larger.
What are their personal tanks? What do they have or own?
Wayde has a 96x36x48 see through salt water aquarium with coral insert in his theater room looking into the dining room. I'm working on mine…..still looking for the right house.
Do they deal with reef tanks? Or just fish only?
We do everything.
Live rock sump, or large refugium, which one do they prefer and why?
No preference, we cater to the customer, depending on the application, we use both.
Based upon all of your tank building experience, what would be one of your dream reef tank builds and why?
I'd like to do an outdoor reef pond with basement viewing windows.
What are some lessons that you learned "the hard way" when you first began building tanks?
That the customer's always right…..we've had to re-do a few tanks because of it.
What has been the craziest request from a customer? Did you do it?
A customer wanted to dive into his pool and while under water be able to look through a window in his basement to see his aquarium…..we got it done.
What do they think is the most common misconception people have about saltwater tank keeping?
That you can put fish into an aquarium and be done with it. Not the case, fish are pets, you have to care for them just as much as a cat or dog.
Are there any animals in the hobby that they refuse to put in a tank?
No, but being in Las Vegas limits our access to some fish. Some are illegal due to the fact that we have a lake, so those are the fish we try to stay clear from….example: piranha or alligator gars.
What is the most expensive build you have ever completed and what made it so expensive?
A $4.7 million arch aquarium that we built for IBOC (Inspiring Body of Christ) church in Dallas, TX…..70,000 gallons of magnificence.
What was the most challenging tank build you have done that pushed the limits the furthest on tank design, artistic aquascaping or stock list?
Malibu Lumber Yard…..outdoor tanks in California that required specific California theming, specific state fish that divers had to go catch, cold water species and adjustments that were made due to outdoors weather fluctuations.
What is the biggest mistake you have made doing a installation and how did you learn from it?
We're mark all our fittings now after we glue them……after learning that there's a possibility your employees might forget to glue a fitting. Can you imagine that we had to learn this the hard way.
Have you ever had a request that you could not do? and what would that be?
There's never been one that we haven't tried, we try to do everything that's requested, but all projects that are designed need to be tweaked to be perfected.
What are the most common misleading factors when it comes to tank maintenance?
That you don't have to put time & effort into an aquarium….again, fish are pets, they need care….you can't just dump them in & expect them to thrive.
What was the hardest part of starting there company? (Finding Clients, finding a way to make the tanks, etc..)
The hardest part was getting the word out, luckily the internet was starting to thrive and we took advantage of that.
Has the oil prices going up made a difference in price for the acrylic for them?
Absolutely, once oil prices spike, so does the acrylic. We were not immune to the economic collapse, but we're recovering now.
Are you hiring skilled acrylic fabricators? (HA)
We're always looking.
How did they get started? Did they start with such massive tanks?
Wayde was in the business from childhood and worked for a company that manufactured aquariums. Around the same time that Wayde met me, the owner decided to retire and they started ATM. After 5 years, ATM became #1 in custom shapes and sizes.
Does the size of the company reflect the size of the tanks they are willing to do? (Large Only?)
Absolutely not, we'll build a 50 gallon or a million gallon tank, we do it all.
Do they have any customers who have wanted some sort of custom nano tank?
We have customers that want all shapes and sizes. We have had many requests for acrylics close to the size of a nano.
We would like to thank Brett from ATM and TANKED the TV Series for taking time out to share this info with R2R.
Who are the majority of your clients, private or corporate/business owners?
It's 50/50, we have an equal balance of both.
Would you do another show that requires you to go and "resurrect" and/or install custom tanks in selected homes as in Pimp My Ride reality show?
Absolutely, we love what we do, and the more creative the project, the more we're likely to take it on.
What is largest Reef setup you have done and what were the specifications of it?
A 3,000 gallon aquarium at a church in Brooklyn, but we've built aquariums that hobbyists set up that have been larger.
What are their personal tanks? What do they have or own?
Wayde has a 96x36x48 see through salt water aquarium with coral insert in his theater room looking into the dining room. I'm working on mine…..still looking for the right house.
Do they deal with reef tanks? Or just fish only?
We do everything.
Live rock sump, or large refugium, which one do they prefer and why?
No preference, we cater to the customer, depending on the application, we use both.
Based upon all of your tank building experience, what would be one of your dream reef tank builds and why?
I'd like to do an outdoor reef pond with basement viewing windows.
What are some lessons that you learned "the hard way" when you first began building tanks?
That the customer's always right…..we've had to re-do a few tanks because of it.
What has been the craziest request from a customer? Did you do it?
A customer wanted to dive into his pool and while under water be able to look through a window in his basement to see his aquarium…..we got it done.
What do they think is the most common misconception people have about saltwater tank keeping?
That you can put fish into an aquarium and be done with it. Not the case, fish are pets, you have to care for them just as much as a cat or dog.
Are there any animals in the hobby that they refuse to put in a tank?
No, but being in Las Vegas limits our access to some fish. Some are illegal due to the fact that we have a lake, so those are the fish we try to stay clear from….example: piranha or alligator gars.
What is the most expensive build you have ever completed and what made it so expensive?
A $4.7 million arch aquarium that we built for IBOC (Inspiring Body of Christ) church in Dallas, TX…..70,000 gallons of magnificence.
What was the most challenging tank build you have done that pushed the limits the furthest on tank design, artistic aquascaping or stock list?
Malibu Lumber Yard…..outdoor tanks in California that required specific California theming, specific state fish that divers had to go catch, cold water species and adjustments that were made due to outdoors weather fluctuations.
What is the biggest mistake you have made doing a installation and how did you learn from it?
We're mark all our fittings now after we glue them……after learning that there's a possibility your employees might forget to glue a fitting. Can you imagine that we had to learn this the hard way.
Have you ever had a request that you could not do? and what would that be?
There's never been one that we haven't tried, we try to do everything that's requested, but all projects that are designed need to be tweaked to be perfected.
What are the most common misleading factors when it comes to tank maintenance?
That you don't have to put time & effort into an aquarium….again, fish are pets, they need care….you can't just dump them in & expect them to thrive.
What was the hardest part of starting there company? (Finding Clients, finding a way to make the tanks, etc..)
The hardest part was getting the word out, luckily the internet was starting to thrive and we took advantage of that.
Has the oil prices going up made a difference in price for the acrylic for them?
Absolutely, once oil prices spike, so does the acrylic. We were not immune to the economic collapse, but we're recovering now.
Are you hiring skilled acrylic fabricators? (HA)
We're always looking.
How did they get started? Did they start with such massive tanks?
Wayde was in the business from childhood and worked for a company that manufactured aquariums. Around the same time that Wayde met me, the owner decided to retire and they started ATM. After 5 years, ATM became #1 in custom shapes and sizes.
Does the size of the company reflect the size of the tanks they are willing to do? (Large Only?)
Absolutely not, we'll build a 50 gallon or a million gallon tank, we do it all.
Do they have any customers who have wanted some sort of custom nano tank?
We have customers that want all shapes and sizes. We have had many requests for acrylics close to the size of a nano.
We would like to thank Brett from ATM and TANKED the TV Series for taking time out to share this info with R2R.
Or I may be dreaming of someone at my church like that.. :tongue:
