For Christmas, my incredible wife gave me two Ecotech Radion xr30 LED lights. To say the least, I was totally stoked! However, I quickly wondered how the heck was I going to mount these beauties on my "all in one" Red Sea Max 250 (65 g) system? It has an enclosed hood with T5 lights. Every option I came up with just didn't work/look right. So of course it dawned on me - If my wife was willing to invest in these awesome lights, then I of course would just have to invest in a completely new tank set up to feature them! Makes sense, right?!
We wanted to place the new setup in the same spot in the living room as the Red Sea Max, which left us with a foot print that could'nt really exceed about 4'x2'. We also wanted something that had a very contemporary look to fit in well with the rest of the room and house, and could be a beautiful feature as well. With this in mind we settled in on a rimless tank, as we loved the open, clean look, and thought it would best fit the new Radions as well.
So after much homework, I was able to have Don Wacker with Don Wacker Woodworking in Tacoma build us a contemporary wood stand built from birch with a dark espresso stain, that would allow the the rimless tank to sit an inch down inside to help hide the bottom silicone seam/seal. We made sure we had plenty of room underneath for a 40 gallon sump/fuge.
Rob at Red C Aquariums is only about 10 minutes from my house, and he's been a great resource over the last year or so as I've tried to learn how to run a reef system. When I came to him with questions about building this new system, it became apparent right away that Rob is truly one of the really good guys in the local reef/fish/aquarium world. He took a ton of time with me on multiple visits to answer my many questions about glass, overflows, pumps, sumps, and all sorts of equipment. When he let me know that he was working with a local glass guy, I had complete confidence that the tank he could (and would) have delivered for me would be excellent. I was not disappointed! We ordered up a custom 1/2" starphire glass (on the three non painted sides) tank that was 48"x24"x20". Rob then drilled and painted the tank as well as worked with the glass person to build the overflow. He also built my sump/refugium when I brought him a 40 g breeder I picked up from Petco during their most recent 1$/gallon sale. The result of all of it was beautiful!
Here are some of the pictures from the initial tank and stand construction:
After inital build of frame.
One door on!
Espresso stain and before handles
Tank drilled and back painted black
We wanted to place the new setup in the same spot in the living room as the Red Sea Max, which left us with a foot print that could'nt really exceed about 4'x2'. We also wanted something that had a very contemporary look to fit in well with the rest of the room and house, and could be a beautiful feature as well. With this in mind we settled in on a rimless tank, as we loved the open, clean look, and thought it would best fit the new Radions as well.
So after much homework, I was able to have Don Wacker with Don Wacker Woodworking in Tacoma build us a contemporary wood stand built from birch with a dark espresso stain, that would allow the the rimless tank to sit an inch down inside to help hide the bottom silicone seam/seal. We made sure we had plenty of room underneath for a 40 gallon sump/fuge.
Rob at Red C Aquariums is only about 10 minutes from my house, and he's been a great resource over the last year or so as I've tried to learn how to run a reef system. When I came to him with questions about building this new system, it became apparent right away that Rob is truly one of the really good guys in the local reef/fish/aquarium world. He took a ton of time with me on multiple visits to answer my many questions about glass, overflows, pumps, sumps, and all sorts of equipment. When he let me know that he was working with a local glass guy, I had complete confidence that the tank he could (and would) have delivered for me would be excellent. I was not disappointed! We ordered up a custom 1/2" starphire glass (on the three non painted sides) tank that was 48"x24"x20". Rob then drilled and painted the tank as well as worked with the glass person to build the overflow. He also built my sump/refugium when I brought him a 40 g breeder I picked up from Petco during their most recent 1$/gallon sale. The result of all of it was beautiful!
Here are some of the pictures from the initial tank and stand construction:
After inital build of frame.
One door on!
Espresso stain and before handles
Tank drilled and back painted black
