ScooterV
Well-Known Member
Well, I guess it's about time I get a build thread going. If nothing else, it may be easier when looking for ideas and input on any persistent issues or firming up any crazy future plans.
Backstory: We recently relocated from NE Wisconsin to the Florida Panhandle. We had an ~190 in-wall in WI. A walkout basement designed around the tank with a dedicated equipment room and the tank faced out into a bar area with a 14 ft bar with kitchenette behind it, patio door on one side and opened into a large entertainment room on the other. When work said it was time to move we had to tear everything down. My wife cried when our clowns and anemone were picked up, when rock was picked up, and refused to even watch the day the tank itself left.
I've had FW fish since I was too young to remember due to my father getting me going. We started the first saltwater tanks int the early 70's. Slate bottom 29g with damsels, eventually a 55. I continued and even had a 30L in my Navy barracks room and multiple tanks wherever I was station when possible. After all those years, I decided it was time for me to move on and leave the hobby, so I sold absolutely everything, right down to the boxes of junk accumulated over all those years.
Well, we then got my parents moved down here, and while taking them to find an apartment my Dad insisted any apartment have a space for a 29 FW tank so he'd at least have something. Took them a local store to get started and I wandered over to the marine area. I discovered a recovered addict is still an addict
I asked my wife if she would be ok with something like a Red Sea Reefer 250 in a breakfast area. She was instantly onboard, but finished with "as long as I can have another hippo tang.". I explained it would be way too small, so she asked "How big?". I pointed out we have a back wall in the living room entirely empty, so we could plan big. Since it is a pathway area we had trouble deciding on the tank. Many would extend from the wall too much, or was too small for what we desired, so with some masking tape and a tape measure we settled on a 7 foot by 30 inch footprint and the race was on to find a custom tank. We settled on Miracles due to being mid-range on all the quotes, along with being one of the few that could notch the glass prior to tempering so we could have an external overflow. We wanted to conserve as much as that 30" depth as possible. The final tank dimensions, not counting the space used by the overflow is 84x30x25.
I'll try to not take TOO long getting this caught up to current status, as I find pictures. To start with, here is the blank slate we decided to start with. Directly behind that wall is the kitchen, and beyond that is the garage which will have to fill in as creatively as possible for our old equipment room.
Backstory: We recently relocated from NE Wisconsin to the Florida Panhandle. We had an ~190 in-wall in WI. A walkout basement designed around the tank with a dedicated equipment room and the tank faced out into a bar area with a 14 ft bar with kitchenette behind it, patio door on one side and opened into a large entertainment room on the other. When work said it was time to move we had to tear everything down. My wife cried when our clowns and anemone were picked up, when rock was picked up, and refused to even watch the day the tank itself left.
I've had FW fish since I was too young to remember due to my father getting me going. We started the first saltwater tanks int the early 70's. Slate bottom 29g with damsels, eventually a 55. I continued and even had a 30L in my Navy barracks room and multiple tanks wherever I was station when possible. After all those years, I decided it was time for me to move on and leave the hobby, so I sold absolutely everything, right down to the boxes of junk accumulated over all those years.
Well, we then got my parents moved down here, and while taking them to find an apartment my Dad insisted any apartment have a space for a 29 FW tank so he'd at least have something. Took them a local store to get started and I wandered over to the marine area. I discovered a recovered addict is still an addict
I asked my wife if she would be ok with something like a Red Sea Reefer 250 in a breakfast area. She was instantly onboard, but finished with "as long as I can have another hippo tang.". I explained it would be way too small, so she asked "How big?". I pointed out we have a back wall in the living room entirely empty, so we could plan big. Since it is a pathway area we had trouble deciding on the tank. Many would extend from the wall too much, or was too small for what we desired, so with some masking tape and a tape measure we settled on a 7 foot by 30 inch footprint and the race was on to find a custom tank. We settled on Miracles due to being mid-range on all the quotes, along with being one of the few that could notch the glass prior to tempering so we could have an external overflow. We wanted to conserve as much as that 30" depth as possible. The final tank dimensions, not counting the space used by the overflow is 84x30x25.I'll try to not take TOO long getting this caught up to current status, as I find pictures. To start with, here is the blank slate we decided to start with. Directly behind that wall is the kitchen, and beyond that is the garage which will have to fill in as creatively as possible for our old equipment room.
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