Okay... Here goes nothing. Well actually here's goes a lot of money and something!!! 
Let's start with making a quick introduction and saying hello to all my Reefing Fam out there. Super blessed and thankful that I'm in a place where I can actually make this dream a reality.
So quick back story. Been in the Fish Aquarium Hobby pretty much my entire life it feels like. I know that sounds silly, but I remember falling in love with a FOWLR Saltwater Tank my Mom's Ex-boyfriend had in his house at the age of 5 (1985). I'd sit there and just watch that tank for hours. For Christmas that year I received my first fish tank, It was a 20 gallon system filled with Tiger Barbs, Silver Shark, Tetra's and a Pleco. Even though it was cleaned and maintained by my Mom until I was around 10, I still had the responsibility of feeding and using the magnet on the glass so I was earning my stripes to some extent. (Wishful Thinking)
I had that tank running until I was 18, at one point it was even a turtle tank but still kept fish in it. There was a 2 year stretch where I did not have a system running. However, at the age of 23 I finally had my first Apartment. I was gifted a 40 Gallon Breeder with a Fluval Canister Filter that my parents old neighbor had been running as a Salt Water System. Man oh Man I learned a lot of hard lessons with that tank and spent way too much money on coral and fish I had no knowledge or experience in owning. But with a lot of determination, desire, and many days of slapping myself on the head and watching money go down the drain literally I soon learned enough about proper lighting and filtration. I eventually upgraded away from that 40 Breeder when I realized I couldn't achieve the goals I wanted, which was replicating the tanks at all the LFS's in my area. Soooo onto a 70 Gallon Vision System with a 30 gallon sump, DIY Fuge, and a combo of T5 and metal halide lighting. That tank ran amazing and moved with me from multiple Apt. for almost 8 years. One of those moves was unfortunately due to it flooding my living room and completely toasting the neighbors below me twice. The apartment management was quick to let me know it's the tank or me. Obviously, the tank had to stay! Plus that system ran so well I don't think there was anything that ever died when it was in full swing. I had corals growing up the wazoo!!! If it just wasn't for that hang on the back overflow system...
Anyways... I ended up gifting that tank to my old roommate when my now wife and I finally got married and moved in together. She wasn't having the tank after I told her all the horror stories of it overflowing... But It was only 7 months before the itch bit me again and with a little sweet talking and after the purchase of our first home, she allowed me to upgrade once again to our current tank which is a 90 Gallon rimless SC Aquarium. It's currently running with a Red Starfish 250 gallon skimmer, Fuge, and (2) 150W NICREW LED's. It's a mixed Reef System with some SPS, LPS, and Softies. I've had this system running for the past 8 years. My 7 year old Son is just as passionate about the Hobby as I was at his age. I remember going to pet shops and knowing all the different species names and the store owners / employees being super impressed. My son is doing the same thing, but with Coral too... It's awesome to watch people light up and smile when he yells from across the shop, "Dad! Come see this Acro, or plating Monti, or Acan, or "insert fish species" while I'm talking shop with other fin fans.
So, after all the back story... This now brings us to where we're at now and onto this new tank thread build. We have officially made the jump to a 200+ Gallon System. I really want to document this build for the fact that my son has something to one day look back at as we start this adventure together. With our 90 Gallon running smooth for over 8 years, along with my wife and son both loving what it does for our home entertainment pleasure... When I won the R2R 24K Neptune APEX A3 Pro Package, First thing my son said was "I guess we need to get a new tank". Didn't really take a lot of arm twisting to get me to bite that lure. It was an easy sell and I'm thankful that our dream build is now becoming a reality. I've been taking advantage and using this site for years. Unfortunately I was just never a member. Sometime in 2023 I decided to make that jump. R2R has always been such an amazing place to gain knowledge and reading what others have posted when I just can't figure something out on my own. I decided it was time to also do the same thing and start passing some of that knowledge down for others that are looking to get started in the hobby themselves. Hopefully this new tank thread inspires someone thinking about making upgrades to their current system, or to a new one all together. Or jumping into the hobby, trying to get ideas, or figure out how to do something they just can't figure out on their own. Etc... Etc...
I'll stop there for now since this is my first post... More to come and looking forward to what the finished product looks like one day.
Pictures Provided - 24K Prize along with the Neptune SKY Lights I purchased. New SC Aquarium 240 Gallon Tank, Current 90 Gallon SC PNP system.
Let's start with making a quick introduction and saying hello to all my Reefing Fam out there. Super blessed
and thankful that I'm in a place where I can actually make this dream a reality.So quick back story. Been in the Fish Aquarium Hobby pretty much my entire life it feels like. I know that sounds silly, but I remember falling in love with a FOWLR Saltwater Tank my Mom's Ex-boyfriend had in his house at the age of 5 (1985). I'd sit there and just watch that tank for hours. For Christmas that year I received my first fish tank, It was a 20 gallon system filled with Tiger Barbs, Silver Shark, Tetra's and a Pleco. Even though it was cleaned and maintained by my Mom until I was around 10, I still had the responsibility of feeding and using the magnet on the glass so I was earning my stripes to some extent. (Wishful Thinking)
I had that tank running until I was 18, at one point it was even a turtle tank but still kept fish in it. There was a 2 year stretch where I did not have a system running. However, at the age of 23 I finally had my first Apartment. I was gifted a 40 Gallon Breeder with a Fluval Canister Filter that my parents old neighbor had been running as a Salt Water System. Man oh Man I learned a lot of hard lessons with that tank and spent way too much money on coral and fish I had no knowledge or experience in owning. But with a lot of determination, desire, and many days of slapping myself on the head and watching money go down the drain literally
I soon learned enough about proper lighting and filtration. I eventually upgraded away from that 40 Breeder when I realized I couldn't achieve the goals I wanted, which was replicating the tanks at all the LFS's in my area. Soooo onto a 70 Gallon Vision System with a 30 gallon sump, DIY Fuge, and a combo of T5 and metal halide lighting. That tank ran amazing and moved with me from multiple Apt. for almost 8 years. One of those moves was unfortunately due to it flooding my living room and completely toasting the neighbors below me twice. The apartment management was quick to let me know it's the tank or me. Obviously, the tank had to stay! Plus that system ran so well I don't think there was anything that ever died when it was in full swing. I had corals growing up the wazoo!!! If it just wasn't for that hang on the back overflow system... Anyways... I ended up gifting that tank to my old roommate when my now wife and I finally got married and moved in together. She wasn't having the tank after I told her all the horror stories of it overflowing... But It was only 7 months before the itch bit me again and with a little sweet talking and after the purchase of our first home, she allowed me to upgrade once again to our current tank which is a 90 Gallon rimless SC Aquarium. It's currently running with a Red Starfish 250 gallon skimmer, Fuge, and (2) 150W NICREW LED's. It's a mixed Reef System with some SPS, LPS, and Softies. I've had this system running for the past 8 years. My 7 year old Son is just as passionate about the Hobby as I was at his age. I remember going to pet shops and knowing all the different species names and the store owners / employees being super impressed. My son is doing the same thing, but with Coral too... It's awesome to watch people light up and smile when he yells from across the shop, "Dad! Come see this Acro, or plating Monti, or Acan, or "insert fish species" while I'm talking shop with other fin fans.
So, after all the back story... This now brings us to where we're at now and onto this new tank thread build. We have officially made the jump to a 200+ Gallon System. I really want to document this build for the fact that my son has something to one day look back at as we start this adventure together. With our 90 Gallon running smooth for over 8 years, along with my wife and son both loving what it does for our home entertainment pleasure... When I won the R2R 24K Neptune APEX A3 Pro Package, First thing my son said was "I guess we need to get a new tank". Didn't really take a lot of arm twisting to get me to bite that lure. It was an easy sell and I'm thankful that our dream build is now becoming a reality. I've been taking advantage and using this site for years. Unfortunately I was just never a member. Sometime in 2023 I decided to make that jump. R2R has always been such an amazing place to gain knowledge and reading what others have posted when I just can't figure something out on my own. I decided it was time to also do the same thing and start passing some of that knowledge down for others that are looking to get started in the hobby themselves. Hopefully this new tank thread inspires someone thinking about making upgrades to their current system, or to a new one all together. Or jumping into the hobby, trying to get ideas, or figure out how to do something they just can't figure out on their own. Etc... Etc...
I'll stop there for now since this is my first post... More to come and looking forward to what the finished product looks like one day.
Pictures Provided - 24K Prize along with the Neptune SKY Lights I purchased. New SC Aquarium 240 Gallon Tank, Current 90 Gallon SC PNP system.
