justintiv
New Member
Im back in the hobby after about a 14 hiatus (2002-2008). First tank was a 55 softy with hob skimmer and overflow. But learned a lo. I had a pretty successful sps tank for my second aquarium that was a 125 custom (foot print of a 180 but only 13” tall) that was running about 2 years until I had a catastrophic crash due to no chiller and AC going out while not home. I then turned to a 220 fowlr and quickly got bored and sold it all. So after about 5 years in the hobby…I got out, and I concentrated on my career and family instead.
In a million ways the hobby has passed by my knowledge. But thank goodness for discovering brstv on YouTube. I didn’t even think of YouTube until I saw someone mention it on a different forum. This forum was also recommended…so that’s awesome too.
Ive been collecting some equipment and finally ready to set up a new aquarium in my business. Ive decided to go sps again since thats my passion. Going with a planet reef ready 215. Gonna get an Apex and do that whole thing for the first time. Ive never had any kind of controller other than on my power heads. Anyways…Have a reef octopus 200 skimmer, red sea 1200 roller ( thats some wild new stuff to learn about lol), going with neptune Sky and kessils. I stole this option from the brstv 360. And this is exactly what I was hoping for. LEDs that will give me that T5, metal halide look I love. I could go on but no one wants to read my novel.
First issue Im foreseeing is the aquarium will have a side that will get pretty decent natural light by a huge all glass storefront. Ive never heard of anyone doing this. But was think about tinting that side of the tank. Supposedly they make tint that doesn’t really make the glass much darker, but cuts out a lot of uv. We will see I guess. There was no other spot to put this massive thing so here we go I guess.
So far I built this sculpture out of a mix of marco and some dry live rock. This ended up being insanely time consuming, and expensive. But Im stoked about it! Again…got this idea from brstv on YouTube haha. Seeing a trend here? Just giving credit where its due. And Ill post periodically the progress of the whole thing for anyone that wants to follow along I guess. The stand is almost done. Its cool!!! My business is kinda gothic, victorian, and cathedral inspired with a few antiques. So the stand has to fit the aesthetic.
