My Saltwater Story
I was introduced to the saltwater aquarium hobby by a fellow coworker back in 2016. I had a couple different nano tank for a few years. I believe my first was ~10 gallons that I used gallons of distilled water from Wal-Mart and a float arm hydrometer to make instant ocean saltwater. I had a couple corals and a few fish, but really had no clue what I was doing.
At the end of 2021, the saltwater bug reared its ugly head and I decided to setup a 15 gallon Waterbox to see if I really wanted to get back into the hobby and have a tank again. As soon as those Petco clownfish were swimming around I knew I was in trouble. That quickly progressed to a 60 gallon Cade Aquarium (my current tank).
Me and my partner discussed finishing our basement to make a bar/lounge area and this presented the perfect opportunity to get a big tank once and for all.
The Tank
The plan is a 60" x 30" x 20" Glass Cages tank that will be mounted through the wall with an adjacent fish room behind it located in the mechanical area of the house to hide all the "fish crap" as my partner says. It's going to become my "reef lab" complete with frag tanks, QT tanks and space to do all my crazy coral & fish stuff. The tank hasn't been ordered yet, we are currently working on the infrastructure for the reef room and are in the process of finishing the lounge area. This is all being done by us (mainly me) so it's slow progress, but I wanted to document the build since I think it's going to pretty great when it's all done. The sump will be a Rubbermaid stock tank.
The Reef Lab
The mechanical area of our house is about 17' x 12'. It houses the HVAC unit, water heater, electrical panel, etc. The remainder of the space is for me and my reefing madness.
I was introduced to the saltwater aquarium hobby by a fellow coworker back in 2016. I had a couple different nano tank for a few years. I believe my first was ~10 gallons that I used gallons of distilled water from Wal-Mart and a float arm hydrometer to make instant ocean saltwater. I had a couple corals and a few fish, but really had no clue what I was doing.
At the end of 2021, the saltwater bug reared its ugly head and I decided to setup a 15 gallon Waterbox to see if I really wanted to get back into the hobby and have a tank again. As soon as those Petco clownfish were swimming around I knew I was in trouble. That quickly progressed to a 60 gallon Cade Aquarium (my current tank).
Me and my partner discussed finishing our basement to make a bar/lounge area and this presented the perfect opportunity to get a big tank once and for all.
The Tank
The plan is a 60" x 30" x 20" Glass Cages tank that will be mounted through the wall with an adjacent fish room behind it located in the mechanical area of the house to hide all the "fish crap" as my partner says. It's going to become my "reef lab" complete with frag tanks, QT tanks and space to do all my crazy coral & fish stuff. The tank hasn't been ordered yet, we are currently working on the infrastructure for the reef room and are in the process of finishing the lounge area. This is all being done by us (mainly me) so it's slow progress, but I wanted to document the build since I think it's going to pretty great when it's all done. The sump will be a Rubbermaid stock tank.
The Reef Lab
The mechanical area of our house is about 17' x 12'. It houses the HVAC unit, water heater, electrical panel, etc. The remainder of the space is for me and my reefing madness.
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