This is my first thread so hopefully I get some views and replies. I have been planning on creating this system for the last year during which I did a lot of research. Of course my research was mainly limited to Reef Central, Wetwebmedia, and books. I strongly recommend reading any of Bob Fenner’s and/or Anthony Calfo’s writings.
The first decision I needed to make was acrylic or glass. I don’t want this to become an acrylic verses glass thread but I wanted to list my thoughts. I’ve always owned glass tanks before but my last tank had a scratch in it that I hated and of course since it was glass I couldn’t remove the scratch. I also had an Oceanic tank leak on me 2 days before Christmas which was a real nice Christmas present.
I was on both sides of the fence and finally decided on an acrylic tank.
Next order of business was the size of the tank and its location. The two designs I've always liked are the in the wall and the peninsula design. I wish I had some great words of wisdom here, but my final decision came down to what my wife wanted.
She liked the idea of the tank being a room divider between the kitchen and the family room. Now that I knew where the tank was going I needed to decide on the size of the tank. I wanted an 8’ long tank by 4’ wide tank but I had a hard time fitting it in the space I had. I decided that an 8’ tank was a little to long so I went with a 7’ long by 4’ wide by 30” tall tank. I also went with an external overflow and a euro braced top. Since I knew what I wanted I needed someone to build my tank. I always knew if I went with an acrylic tank that I wanted to contact James from Envision Acrylics. I read so many posts on Reef Central on how people loved his work so I wanted to call him. After talking with him on the phone numerous times, to make sure I was comfortable with my design, I ordered my tank in May. I received the tank in August and my project finally started. I never realized how much my life would become involved with a project of this size. Enough writing here are some pictures…