THE TX REEF ROOM

[Turnage]

Nm-b is not rated for wet locations. I e. Outdoors. Looking at the picture a little closer, it looks like he used rain tight fittings so that would be an exception to the NEC code. So it looks good

 

[UncommonSense]

Big delivery today!

My flamed granite floor tile arrived. 6 pounds per tile, 10 tiles per box, 16 boxes… a forklift would have been nice! The photos don’t do the tile justice, the feel and appearance of the granite is incredible.

I also ordered two new 50 gallon Zoo Med lowboy frag tanks that I have to go pick up from the LFS this week.

Are you planning to do the tile install yourself? Or hiring it out?

Side note; rotating the tile grid 45 degrees, making a diamond pattern on the floor works wonders if there are any room framing craftsmanship errors (room out of square)!

 

[TX_REEF]

Big delivery today!

My flamed granite floor tile arrived. 6 pounds per tile, 10 tiles per box, 16 boxes… a forklift would have been nice! The photos don’t do the tile justice, the feel and appearance of the granite is incredible.

I also ordered two new 50 gallon Zoo Med lowboy frag tanks that I have to go pick up from the LFS this week.

Are you planning to do the tile install yourself? Or hiring it out?

Side note; rotating the tile grid 45 degrees, making a diamond pattern on the floor works wonders if there are any room framing craftsmanship errors (room out of square)!

I intend to install the tile myself. I’ll dry fit them first to see if a standard grid layout will suffice, we’ll see how that goes…

 

[UncommonSense]

I intend to install the tile myself. I’ll dry fit them first to see if a standard grid layout will suffice, we’ll see how that goes…

Very nice!! Do you have a tile saw already? Or is that still on the list?

 

[TX_REEF]

I intend to install the tile myself. I’ll dry fit them first to see if a standard grid layout will suffice, we’ll see how that goes…

Very nice!! Do you have a tile saw already? Or is that still on the list?

The tile saw is ready for action!

 

[UncommonSense]

The tile saw is ready for action!

Nice!!

Pro tip? If you want a bit more cut speed, at the expense of torque; those 7” benchtop saws can usually accept an 8” blade! (Measure clearance first, obviously!) — this also lets you get a specialized blade for the job if you aren’t satisfied with factory blade cut quality/edge finish!

Also, an ounce of oil (wd40/etc) and a few pumps of hand soap in the water reservoir makes for an excellent cutting fluid (smoother cutting, better edge finish) when the saw is turned on! — just wash well before final installation if you go this route to ensure good adhesion!

Good luck! That’s an excellent tool to have, and is oddly satisfying to use… with a diamond blade, it’ll pretty much cut any stone-like materials you can find!

 

[Julie'sreef]

I have decided to go with granite tile in the Reef Room. I've ordered "flamed" (matte finish) tiles which give a very natural look and a pleasant, non-slip surface for walking upon. I may need to re-think the wall color, it now seems quite dark when combined with the dark floor.

I'm a professional painter. Always paint the plints in the same color as the walls, it looks professional and better in terms of aesthetics.

 

[TX_REEF]

I have decided to go with granite tile in the Reef Room. I've ordered "flamed" (matte finish) tiles which give a very natural look and a pleasant, non-slip surface for walking upon. I may need to re-think the wall color, it now seems quite dark when combined with the dark floor.

I'm a professional painter. Always paint the plints in the same color as the walls, it looks professional and better in terms of aesthetics.

Forgive my ignorance on the vocabulary- does that mean the colored accents within the ceiling coffers? If so, that is my intention. It was hard to get ChatGPT to cooperate even to this extent with the instructions on colors combined with its desire to show shadows in the rendering.

 

[DIYreefer]

What LFS did you use to source the Lowboys? I’ve been looking all over for them and can’t find them anywhere. Iirc, you’re in the Houston area, correct?

 

[JonoH]

Cool project!

 

[fushi]

What LFS did you use to source the Lowboys? I’ve been looking all over for them and can’t find them anywhere. Iirc, you’re in the Houston area, correct?

Seapora "frag" aquariums are built a lot better than the zoo med "low boy" aquariums any LFS that orders from royal aquatic wholesaler should be able to get them. Mine were delivered to my LFS within a week. I remember @FishOfHex mentioning having issues with the low boys too. Hope this helps.

seapora

royal

 

[DIYreefer]

Seapora "frag" aquariums are built a lot better than the zoo med "low boy" aquariums any LFS that orders from royal aquatic wholesaler should be able to get them. Mine were delivered to my LFS within a week. I remember @FishOfHex mentioning having issues with the low boys too. Hope this helps.

seapora

royal

It does help, thank you! While I don't necessarily believe that the lowboy tanks are built like, well, tanks.. I do believe that they don't necessarily deserve the reputation that they have. I think a lot of the issues that people end up having with them are because of subpar stands. Most are using 2x4 subframes and 2x4's these days are crooked, twisted, etc.. basically they are anything but straight. So while the stand can be assembled correctly and cuts made precisely, it's hard to account for bowed wood. This is precisely why I use 3/4" plywood for all of my stands. I have to tools to cut perfectly straight, square, and repeatable lines and I think that makes a huge difference.

Fwiw, I currently have a system with 2 stacked lowboys and for the last couple of years they have worked perfectly fine. :)

 

[fushi]

It does help, thank you! While I don't necessarily believe that the lowboy tanks are built like, well, tanks.. I do believe that they don't necessarily deserve the reputation that they have. I think a lot of the issues that people end up having with them are because of subpar stands. Most are using 2x4 subframes and 2x4's these days are crooked, twisted, etc.. basically they are anything but straight. So while the stand can be assembled correctly and cuts made precisely, it's hard to account for bowed wood. This is precisely why I use 3/4" plywood for all of my stands. I have to tools to cut perfectly straight, square, and repeatable lines and I think that makes a huge difference.

Fwiw, I currently have a system with 2 stacked lowboys and for the last couple of years they have worked perfectly fine. :)

I have never used a low boy, so thats good to know too. I just got my double decker system set up.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/seapora-95-gallon-double-decker-frag-system.1126587/

Also, I PM'd you about buying some shrooms if you have the time to sell some. If not no worries

 

[TX_REEF]

What LFS did you use to source the Lowboys? I’ve been looking all over for them and can’t find them anywhere. Iirc, you’re in the Houston area, correct?

I’m in DFW actually. Dallas North Aquarium generally stocks them, but in this case I ordered from Exotic Aquatics in Plano because it’s closer to my house and I had some store credits to burn!

 

[TX_REEF]

What LFS did you use to source the Lowboys? I’ve been looking all over for them and can’t find them anywhere. Iirc, you’re in the Houston area, correct?

Seapora "frag" aquariums are built a lot better than the zoo med "low boy" aquariums any LFS that orders from royal aquatic wholesaler should be able to get them. Mine were delivered to my LFS within a week. I remember @FishOfHex mentioning having issues with the low boys too. Hope this helps.

seapora

royal

That may be so, but it seems they are also significantly more expensive than the zoomed tanks, unless I am mistaken. I haven’t had any issues with my existing 50 gallon zoomed to date, personally.

 

[TX_REEF]

New lowboy tanks have been acquired!

 

[fushi]

That may be so, but it seems they are also significantly more expensive than the zoomed tanks, unless I am mistaken. I haven’t had any issues with my existing 50 gallon zoomed to date, personally.

You are right, they are a bit more expensive, but also a bit beefier, so it seems justified. But at the end of the day if it ain’t broke. Glad to know the zoo meds are good options.

 

[revhtree]

Looking forward to this!

 

[TX_REEF]

Tile dry-fitting is underway, my goal is to complete the tile work this Labor Day weekend!

 

[TX_REEF]

Full size tiles have all been placed. Tile cutting day tomorrow! My back hurts already…