finalphaze987
Supporting Member
Greetings yall!
Back at it again and finally getting something setup to jump back in. I took a break for 10 years and jumped over to FW planted and plants for a while but couldn't find the same satisfaction I did with a reeftank.
Started at this in 95 keeping a bubble coral and 2 aiptasia alive with VHOs in a 50 gallon and have had multiple tanks since.
I told myself that if I'm going to do it, I gotta do it right and future proof this thing for the long run. As we all know, that doesn't always pan out the way we thought it would.
Before buying the tank things already got expensive..I found that the floor of the area needed reinforcement and, having an older house, the electrical needed upgrading. Flooring was old and needed replacement and no central heating/cooling would make temp control a nightmare.
-Old wood floors were replaced with Vinyl planks -Changed out the breaker box to 300amps
-Reinforcement in the subflooring was installed by out contractor to be able to handle the weight
-I had a 18k BTU minisplit installed above the atra to help with temp control
By this time, I'm around 5 grand in and thinking the tank is in sight...boy was I wrong...
My better half points put that if we were to remodel anything around the tank things could get messy. She had a point, so we decided to get everything don't before even thinking of the tank..
-recessed lighting
-refaced the fireplace
-replaced all the windows
-a new coat of paint
Finally! Ready to build!
I went back and fourth between an IM ext and the Fiji Cube EXT and decided to go with Fiji Cube due to its larger size. Fiji Cube had it available for 15% off so that helped sway my decision as well.
For the aquascape, I decided to go with one from WaterLife Marine out of Korea. His work on IG all caught my eye due to the bonsai like siluettes. I originally ordered it in September of 2023 and didn't have it show up until February of this year. One of the things I'm glad was planned in advance.
The stand that came with the package measures in at 32" high and I wanted to have a little more height to comfortably work in there, as I'm not a small guy.
I decided to go with AluFab for the stand because I found their customer service to be best out of the ones I reached out to.
I wasn't sure what lights to go with, so I had so.e very universal light bars constructed to the stand.
Back at it again and finally getting something setup to jump back in. I took a break for 10 years and jumped over to FW planted and plants for a while but couldn't find the same satisfaction I did with a reeftank.
Started at this in 95 keeping a bubble coral and 2 aiptasia alive with VHOs in a 50 gallon and have had multiple tanks since.
I told myself that if I'm going to do it, I gotta do it right and future proof this thing for the long run. As we all know, that doesn't always pan out the way we thought it would.
Before buying the tank things already got expensive..I found that the floor of the area needed reinforcement and, having an older house, the electrical needed upgrading. Flooring was old and needed replacement and no central heating/cooling would make temp control a nightmare.
-Old wood floors were replaced with Vinyl planks -Changed out the breaker box to 300amps
-Reinforcement in the subflooring was installed by out contractor to be able to handle the weight
-I had a 18k BTU minisplit installed above the atra to help with temp control
By this time, I'm around 5 grand in and thinking the tank is in sight...boy was I wrong...
My better half points put that if we were to remodel anything around the tank things could get messy. She had a point, so we decided to get everything don't before even thinking of the tank..
-recessed lighting
-refaced the fireplace
-replaced all the windows
-a new coat of paint
Finally! Ready to build!
I went back and fourth between an IM ext and the Fiji Cube EXT and decided to go with Fiji Cube due to its larger size. Fiji Cube had it available for 15% off so that helped sway my decision as well.
For the aquascape, I decided to go with one from WaterLife Marine out of Korea. His work on IG all caught my eye due to the bonsai like siluettes. I originally ordered it in September of 2023 and didn't have it show up until February of this year. One of the things I'm glad was planned in advance.
The stand that came with the package measures in at 32" high and I wanted to have a little more height to comfortably work in there, as I'm not a small guy.
I decided to go with AluFab for the stand because I found their customer service to be best out of the ones I reached out to.
I wasn't sure what lights to go with, so I had so.e very universal light bars constructed to the stand.
