It has been a few years in the making, but when my wife and I decided to move to our forever house in the Summer of 2013, we encountered a small problem...the only way I could fit my dream reef aquarium into our new house was to build the entire project on site in my basement. Somehow I was able to convince Reef Savvy to close up shop for two weeks and fly up to Ohio from Miami, Fla. to build my dream tank.
I would like to start off this journey by thanking all the people/businesses who played such an important role in the process, including, but not limited to the following:
Felix Bordon and the entire Reef Savvy team (Miami, FL);
Raymond from ReefTop Aquariums (Miami, FL);
Chris Benner of Sticks N Stones/Benner's Woodworking (Lebanon, OH);
Jeff Macare of Reef Dynamics (Phoenix, AZ);
Brian Harnisch of Titan Aquatic Exhibits (Phoenix, AZ);
George Weber of Geo's Reef (Newark, OH);
Joe Reno of Marine Solutions (Waynesville, OH); &
Jenn & Jeremy Embry of Aquarium Artisans (Cincinnati, OH).
Measuring 96″L X 48″W X 30″H, the tank was delivered sheet by sheet and pieced together on top of the stand which was assembled on site by Chris Benner. Once all was said and done, the 600-gallon Reef Savvy tank featured three sides of low iron glass, a double Phantom bottom, a poly-coated aluminum bracing around the top, and a custom external overflow (added after the tank was built).
The tank is still not fully set up and loaded with SPS corals just yet, but my frag tank growout system is literally bursting at the seams. When complete, my new system will have a total water volume of around 1,000 gallons, SPS dominant all the way.