This upgrade has been a long time coming. I bought the tank about 4.5 years ago with plans to upgrade from a 46 gallon. Having a kid and house projects got in the way so it sat brand new in the basement on a partially constructed stand for years. I have had plans to get it going but no time or money and ended up deciding to wait until the room was refinished so I wouldn't have to move it later.
Some water damage last spring to the room forced a refinish so rather than repair I decided to gut and finally finish this den. All the paneling is gone, thank God. Now we have new drywall, new ceilings, new lighting, refinished hardwood floors, and a barn door to close off the room. I also redid the electrical and chose to wire new outlets on a dedicated breaker for the tank. There will be a gfci below in the stand and a gfci above in the cabinets to keep everything separate from the rest of the house and safe from someone overloading and tripping a breaker. I also scrapped the standard stand and canopy design and am building the tank into a wall of built in cabinets with the reef being the center. This gives me a lot more room to work with below and above for equipment but does hinder access to the tank slightly. Ive tried to think things out some hopefully I dont curse myself out later.
I've also been slowly buying equipment over the last year to help ease the financial burden of a startup. The tank and dry rock were purchased years ago, pukani and Fiji! I've since bought a bashsea sump, a reef octopus skimmer, a top off, a heater, and a return pump. Still need some lighting and powerheads. I am also going to purchase some liverock when the tank is ready to get wet and avoid my previous issues associated with all dry bleached rock.
Some water damage last spring to the room forced a refinish so rather than repair I decided to gut and finally finish this den. All the paneling is gone, thank God. Now we have new drywall, new ceilings, new lighting, refinished hardwood floors, and a barn door to close off the room. I also redid the electrical and chose to wire new outlets on a dedicated breaker for the tank. There will be a gfci below in the stand and a gfci above in the cabinets to keep everything separate from the rest of the house and safe from someone overloading and tripping a breaker. I also scrapped the standard stand and canopy design and am building the tank into a wall of built in cabinets with the reef being the center. This gives me a lot more room to work with below and above for equipment but does hinder access to the tank slightly. Ive tried to think things out some hopefully I dont curse myself out later.
I've also been slowly buying equipment over the last year to help ease the financial burden of a startup. The tank and dry rock were purchased years ago, pukani and Fiji! I've since bought a bashsea sump, a reef octopus skimmer, a top off, a heater, and a return pump. Still need some lighting and powerheads. I am also going to purchase some liverock when the tank is ready to get wet and avoid my previous issues associated with all dry bleached rock.