So I’ve put it off long enough. So here goes.
A couple years ago, I was complaining to my wife that I needed a bigger tank. My 125g SPS reef was totally overgrown and the fish had no room to swim.
This was in our dining room in a built in cabinet. My incredible wife, strolled around the house and then surprised me when she said, “if you give me back my dining room, you could put something really big right there.” She was pointing to a wall at the end of the hallway that had a built in wall fountain. I should say, it had a really ugly built in wall fountain.
It would be a huge project tearing out the fountain and building a tank suitable for a focal point of the house. This wall was a straight line of sight from the front door and highly visible.
Regretably, I never took any pictures of the ugly fountain — does anyone take pictures of ugly fountains — so I don’t have a true “before” shot. But I quickly started thinking about the possibilities. I did some light exploratory surgery and discovered that behind the fountain was a cold water supply and angle stop, a drain and outlets on two different 14 amp circuits. It was like the spot was custom made for a reef tank.
The location does get both morning and afternoon direct sunlight. I know a lot of reefers advise newbies not to put a tank where there’s direct sun and I guess that’s good advice for newbies who might struggle with nutrients but I’ve always found sunlight is ok if you keep nitrates below 3ppm and phosphates below 50 ppb. So I had my spot. More importantly, it was my wife’s idea so how could I say no.
Now the good news is, this project is done — well as done as a living ecosystem ever is — so I have pictures of the build and the finished project with two years of growth and tweaking. I just need to get them posted.
So here goes.
A couple years ago, I was complaining to my wife that I needed a bigger tank. My 125g SPS reef was totally overgrown and the fish had no room to swim.
This was in our dining room in a built in cabinet. My incredible wife, strolled around the house and then surprised me when she said, “if you give me back my dining room, you could put something really big right there.” She was pointing to a wall at the end of the hallway that had a built in wall fountain. I should say, it had a really ugly built in wall fountain.
It would be a huge project tearing out the fountain and building a tank suitable for a focal point of the house. This wall was a straight line of sight from the front door and highly visible.
Regretably, I never took any pictures of the ugly fountain — does anyone take pictures of ugly fountains — so I don’t have a true “before” shot. But I quickly started thinking about the possibilities. I did some light exploratory surgery and discovered that behind the fountain was a cold water supply and angle stop, a drain and outlets on two different 14 amp circuits. It was like the spot was custom made for a reef tank.
The location does get both morning and afternoon direct sunlight. I know a lot of reefers advise newbies not to put a tank where there’s direct sun and I guess that’s good advice for newbies who might struggle with nutrients but I’ve always found sunlight is ok if you keep nitrates below 3ppm and phosphates below 50 ppb. So I had my spot. More importantly, it was my wife’s idea so how could I say no.
Now the good news is, this project is done — well as done as a living ecosystem ever is — so I have pictures of the build and the finished project with two years of growth and tweaking. I just need to get them posted.
So here goes.