First Look Construction Shots: The "Unique Boutique!"

[uniquecorals]

You've probably heard some rumblings that we have been building out a section of our facility to create a "reef lounge"...

Well, the rumors are true- witness very early construction spy shots of what we have come to call the "Unique Boutique"- a place to just come, hang out and chill among several inspirational reef systems, in a relaxing, modern minimalist setting. Comfortable seats, mellow atmosphere. The vibe: Think "Apple Store meets Starbucks meets modern art gallery"...no merchandise on shelves, no loud signage, clutter, etc. Just a cool place for visitors to our Los Angeles area facility to relax, visit, and talk coral! We will have one frag tank with selections from our raceway inventory available for purchase. And, if you want to pick up your online order in person, you can. We'll have iPads available to place orders right there if you want. We will also have controllable web cams available for visitors to our site to check out the tanks as well.

There will be two 540 gallon "in wall" reefs, and one 450 gallon cylinder aquarium free standing. Lots of negative space, relaxing lighting, a post-industrial look, and no pressure to buy anything... We hope it's going to become the living embodiment of the uniquecorals.com website: Fresh, clean, modern, and different than what we're all used to seeing.

Panorama shot of the in-wall systems with free-standing 450 gal cylinder in foreground

Shot from a different angle...Far wall will have a small, free-standing frag tank.

View looking back at cylinder aquarium.

Obviously, we're in the really rough construction phase, but you can get some idea of the scale and general layout of the area. No doubt it will evolve, and we've been throwing around some really crazy concepts for the aquariums. Our goal is not to have the typical walls of rock...we're trying to create inspirational aquariums that will challenge the conventions and norms of aquascaping and layout. Can we pull it off..? We'll see!

We're looking forward to completing this facility and welcoming all of our friends in the reefing community a great place to stop by, hang out, and share ideas!

We hope to see YOU here!

Regards,

Scott Fellman
Joseph Caparatta
Unique Corals

 

[stylaster]

That is going to be very sweet. Going to put bar stools around the cylinder tank?

 

[revsgirl]

Very cool! Awesome idea!!


Tonya

 

[uniquecorals]

That is going to be very sweet. Going to put bar stools around the cylinder tank?

An early concept was going to have something like that...maybe even an espresso machine nearby, so people could chill around the tank. We built out the stand that way, but will probably ultimately lose the "counter", as we may change up the height of the tank a bit.

So many things have changed and evolved, so we're not sure exactly where that's gonna go by the time the system is done!

Scott

 

[uniquecorals]

The lead concept for the cylinder tank is a paludarium-type setup, inspired by a visit I took to Julian Sprung's office at Two Little Fishies last year. Mangroves, etc. If we could pull this off, it has some awesome potential.

Note the lower water level and mangrove..Very cool! With lots of diversity and a large system like the cylinder, we could really go to town if we do it right. Oh- Who are the fish geeks in the pic? From right to left- Julian Sprung, Tony Vargas, Charles Delbeek, and yours truly...Yeah, we had some cool discussions that day for sure! Photo by Michelle Lemech.



And another of Julian's tanks for inspiration...

We have big dreams...Hope we can pull it off!

Scott

 

[jverna1]

Thats it! Im moving to Cali! All the good shops are there. I think I would be at your lounge every day. Good stuff man.

 

[CookieJar]

Real cool! Love the concept. You guys have a great philosophy on how you operate your business and this certainly looks like it will match your business' namesake. Keep up the good work!

 

[uniquecorals]

Thats it! Im moving to Cali! All the good shops are there. I think I would be at your lounge every day. Good stuff man.

LOL- Yeah, I told myself I'm just going to work from the lounge instead of my office...a more creative working environment, no doubt!

Scott

 

[uniquecorals]

Real cool! Love the concept. You guys have a great philosophy on how you operate your business and this certainly looks like it will match your business' namesake. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the kind words...We're really trying to do something cool without being absurdly pretentious or over-the-top...Much like when we developed our company, brand, and philosophies- we wanted to build a brand that we would do business with...we want to build a place that WE would want to hang out in, too!

The best part of having this facility will be that fellow reefers can just hang out, chill, and talk "reef".

Scott

 

[gar732]

This looks like its going to be awesome, especially that mangrove tank. I have some mangroves that I'm hoping to make part of my aquascape. I can't wait to see more.

 

[uniquecorals]

This looks like its going to be awesome, especially that mangrove tank. I have some mangroves that I'm hoping to make part of my aquascape. I can't wait to see more.

Yeah, the paludarium has the potential to be a really cool aquarium if we can pull it off...If we DON'T do the mangrove thing, our other concepts for this tank could be pretty epic as well...but I've wanted to do a mangrove paludarium for so long, been talking about it for years, and this can be the ultimate canvas for me to work with!

Thanks!

Scott

 

[gar732]

Any updates on this?

 

[mic209]

I see you're not too far from the 101, we visit the central coast a few times a year from AZ and I usually make a pit stop to another store right by you, I'll have to add you guys to my route in the future.

 

[zoechance]

Scott best of luck with this build! I look forward to it. That Julian Sprung Mangrove tank is the bomb!! I have seen a video tour of that tank on you tube…..
Barbara

 

[uniquecorals]

LOL thanks for the interest...We have gotten the "Boutique" way farther along, with the cylinder tank operational. Regretfully, my idea of the paludarium for the cylinder was a no-go, because of some design issue with the tank itself that would render it impossible. However, the tank is slowly coming along. A bit conventional, to me, but it's been a source of enjoyment for the crew here, so more power to 'em!


We have two 525 gallon tanks, now fully plumbed into one of our raceways, with some very nice reclaimed wood finishing. We had a great aquascape for our SPS tank up last week, and the tank bottom cracked about an hour after it was filled! So, to make a long story short, we're making repairs on the tank, and it will be up soon. I'm only have joking now when I say I wanna do a vivarium in it! We are definitely going to have at least one FW tank in our 'boutique", because they are cool!

I'll get some pics of the cylinder at some point...

Bottom line is that we're spending way more time and energy on the real important stuff in our biz, like growing coral, working on the website, etc.- and the tanks have been sort of a fun diversion. Oh, we have both Android and IOS mobile apps launching in the next couple of weeks, so you mobile shoppers can do your thing. We'll make a big deal about it when they are live.

Ok, back to work now...

-Scott

 

[FL_Reefer]

Very cool concept guys! Good thing your not hear in FL you would never be able to get rid of me, lol. It's nice to take a break from the daily grind and get back to building tanks that you will be able to enjoy on a daily basis. Keep up the good work as always and looking forward to seeing it done! I'll enjoy it from all the way from FL. If I may make a suggestion, you should put cameras near the tanks with a live feed on your website for all of us who don't live in Cali! Lol.

 

[uniquecorals]

Very cool concept guys! Good thing your not hear in FL you would never be able to get rid of me, lol. It's nice to take a break from the daily grind and get back to building tanks that you will be able to enjoy on a daily basis. Keep up the good work as always and looking forward to seeing it done! I'll enjoy it from all the way from FL. If I may make a suggestion, you should put cameras near the tanks with a live feed on your website for all of us who don't live in Cali! Lol.

The web cam idea is definitely on the agenda...once it's up and running! LOL

Ahh..details, right?

-Scott

 

[danangelo]

Hopefully it will be done around Rap time will stop by and check it out for sure.

 

[tripdad]

Wow! That's quite a group photo in post 5. My first reef book I bought back in 1985 was by two of them, still refer to it from time to time. I had a chance to correspond by e-mail with you guys today and I found the experience very good, my first with your company. Though I am not in your area, darn, best of luck with the lounge and biz, the world can always use another top flight shop.

 

[uniquecorals]

Thanks for the well wishes; we'll see how well we execute when we finally pull it off...It's a fun side project for us, but too many other areas of the business need attention to spend a ton of time on it at the moment...It gets worked on in spurts...Which is fun and crazy at the same time!

-Scott