TJ's Pokemon Reef Build - Adaptive Reef is EPIC!

[TJ_Burton]

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Hey everyone!

I am super excited to announce that I have a brand new build underway courtesy of Adaptive Reef & Ecotech Marine who stepped forward and offered to rebuild my personal aquarium that was abruptly halted by hurricane Dorian. I can not put into words how thankful I am of their incredible generosity. This is going to be a great opportunity to do something really crazy, exciting, and just different from what we normally see out there! I have to admit, I was inspired by some of the themed builds I have seen recently and decided I wanted to step outside of my typical reefing comfort zone and do something with a really neat theme.

So yes, this is going to be a POKEMON THEMED build!

Kyle Elder of Adaptive Reef and I have been working on an idea I had that I haven't seen done before; I want to incorporate both a vivarium and a reef into the same display. It will certainly have some challenges, for instance, plants don't like salt (save for hydrophytes and mangroves) so keeping salt away from the vivarium plants is critical. Not entirely sure how we will tackle that yet, but it will be a fun challenge!

Kyle absolutely insisted we go absolutely nuts with the design of this build, and are also going to be incorporating ideas for having the theme carry outside of the display as well, rather than just inside of it. That is more Kyle's expertise, so I've left that entirely up to him and only sent various Pokemon references for him to work off of. I am really excited to see what he comes up with! Some of the elements to be used within the display are directly from my noggin, and are a tad elaborate, so hopefully Kyle can pull it off! (I have complete faith in his company and his ability to bring a massive project like this to life).

As a little preview, Kyle sent me a "little gift" to kick things off. Needless to say, if this is his idea of a little gift, I absolutely can not wait to see how this build turns out!!!

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Now, I am sure you can tell in the photos by the plastic wrapped aquarium that I am still waiting for insurance to re-finish the basement, but it looks like that time has almost come! I am guessing 3 weeks and the basement will be back in action and ready for this EPIC reef aquarium.

I am also going to be filming this build as a series for Big Al's VOD on youtube, so feel free to watch along there too!

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[EmilyXLC]

Holy cow, this is ADORABLE. I can't wait to see how you theme this.

 

[TJ_Burton]

Holy cow, this is ADORABLE. I can't wait to see how you theme this.

Adorable indeed! Speaking of adorable, Sobble... Sword and Shield look fantastic and I can't wait for November 15th!

 

[Garbage_Island]

Very interesting, I'll be tuned in! I've recently been obsessed with different house plants & I've always lurked dendroboard so it will be interesting to see the combination of hobbies here.

 

[TJ_Burton]

Very interesting, I'll be tuned in! I've recently been obsessed with different house plants & I've always lurked dendroboard so it will be interesting to see the combination of hobbies here.

Thanks for joining the adventure! (Love the cubone avatar by the way)


I've kept and bred dart frogs and other herps for a long time, not quite as long as I have been reefing, but close. I adore vivariums; it is basically terrestrial reefing to me


If you ever want to chat vivariums, let me know!

 

[Berlibee]

Super! Good luck!

 

[Garbage_Island]

Thanks for joining the adventure! (Love the cubone avatar by the way)


I've kept and bred dart frogs and other herps for a long time, not quite as long as I have been reefing, but close. I adore vivariums; it is basically terrestrial reefing to me


If you ever want to chat vivariums, let me know!

Thanks! It was a toss up between pikachu and cubone but I thought this was a little darker
I actually never got around to setting up a vivarium but I've always debated it. I've always enjoyed plants and vivariums are a natural side-step from aquariums. Who knows, maybe one day!

 

[TJ_Burton]

Thanks! It was a toss up between pikachu and cubone but I thought this was a little darker
I actually never got around to setting up a vivarium but I've always debated it. I've always enjoyed plants and vivariums are a natural side-step from aquariums. Who knows, maybe one day!

Haha well, the cubone storyline is indeed dark. Tragic even!

I'd highly recommend doing a viv. Can be done worlds cheaper than a reef, and yields faster results. Lots of rare collectable plants out there too, and lots of color in bromeliads (the high-light SPS of vivariums IMO). They are also easy to get cuttings of and there is a lot of hobbyist trading that goes on, just like frags. It's a parallel world that is really easy for a reefer to become a part of

Edit*

I actually wrote a blog comparing reefing to vivariums and its pretty neat if you want to take a look. A lot of visual comparisons too!

Frog Vivariums Vs Reef Aquariums

 

[CoralVue_Marketing]

This build is going to be on another level!

 

[TJ_Burton]

Getting hyped up for the Pokemon Build!!!

 

[TJ_Burton]

Had an amazing time at BRS!!!


Was great to hang out with Ryan and Randy and chat reef tanks! Loved seeing their warehouse, studio, and the crazy number of awesome aquariums throughout their office.

I hope I can go back again soon

Pokemon Reef Build is still underway and aiming for a January build/construction. It's a lot of planning and design, and December is often a crazy busy time for anyone, so waiting for January to really focus in and get it put together. So excited!!!

 

[TJ_Burton]

Hey everyone!



So, I havent really discussed this yet, but Big Al's terminated their video program and Brian and I along with it. Instead of packing it in and giving up on our audience, we decided to start our own YouTube channel, free of corporate overlords!



Natural Aquaria is our new home!



With that out of the way, here is a behind the scenes look at my trip to BRS! They have a TON of cool tanks!!!