Urbanek's 250

[urbaneks]

July 2016 - Photos - Hope these new recent photos will entice you to read on...

 

Introduction
My name is Brad Urbanek and I’m a reefer. Sound a bit like a 12 step program? For many of us reef addicts, there should be a support group. Beyond my reefing addiction, I’m the husband of my high school sweetheart, a father of two teenage boys, a baseball coach and a wanna be wood worker. I enjoy all things outdoors including fly fishing, gardening, hiking, etc. I have no shortage of hobbies and rarely sit down to relax unless it’s in front of my reef. I work for a high tech company in an engineering field which is a major reason for my need to have a well-organized aquarium with a place for everything and everything in its place.

 

My introduction to this wonderful hobby goes back to Jr. High School when I setup my first aquarium. In high school, I worked for a local fish store where I took my passion for the hobby from fresh to salt water. It was during this same time that I started setting up aquariums in restaurants, offices and homes and maintaining them for extra income. I continued to maintain aquariums during college but sold the accounts once I graduated. I was out of the hobby for about 10 years while I was starting my career and family.

 

In November of 2009, I setup my first reef which was a 28 gallon Nano Reef. The Nano was up and running for just over 2 years and won tank of the month honors on Nano-Reef.com. In April of 2011, the Nano came down and I setup my second reef which is a 112 gallon rimless aquarium. My 112 was featured as tank of the week and tank of the month on AquaticLog.com as well as the featured aquarium on MarineDepot.com. After 3 years, the 112 is still up and running but will be taken down once the new reef is up and cycled. While I thought my 112 would be the last aquarium I purchased, it wasn’t long after I set the tank up that I started making a list of things I wish I had done differently. As that list grew so did the vision for what is starting to become a reality right in my living room.

 

One of the last photos of my 112g Aquarium

 

 

The Next Chapter

The new aquarium will be 72x36x22 and hold 250 gallons. The new reef is much more than just a new aquarium for me. The aquarium is more of a lifelong project that is coming together in the form of a reef. As a teenager, I spent my summers with an uncle who was a shop teacher. I would spend about 4 weeks every summer building lamps, clocks, bread boxes, knife holder, etc. I’ve always wanted to continue wood working but did not have the tools or access to a shop. Along with deciding to take the plunge with this new aquarium, I also made the decision to begin assembling a wood shop. I wish my reintroduction into woodworking was not on a large cabinet going in my living room but hey, “No guts, no glory!”

Sketch of the New Aquarium - 72x36x22 Peninsula Reef Aquarium

The new aquarium is currently being built by CadLights Aquariums, the same company that built my 112g aquarium. I'm very excited to receive the aquarium which was ordered 10 weeks ago and is due to be shipped in 5 days. Cad Lights has integrated some new design features into my new aquarium which Eddie at CadLights says I'm going to be very happy about. The image below, is the same one that I sent to CadLights as the build spec for my new aquarium. Some of the details include; 3 sided starfire glass, external coast to coast overflow and drilled for closed loop.

 

Tank Sketch Sent to Manufacturer - Used as Build Spec for New Aquarium

As this project progresses, I will do my best to capture the build details both with words and photographs. I hope you will consider subscribing to my latest reefing adventure as I'm hopeful that this will be my best aquarium yet. The spot below will be reserved for my most current FTS.

 

December 2015 - FTS

[BattleAthletics]

First!

 

I really wanted the 112g to be totm.

 

In all honesty, it blows everyones tank out the water.

[d'Espresso]

Congratulations on the new upgrade. I am excited to be following your journey on your new adventure brad.

 

Your One of everyone favorites, I am just inspired of all the work you have Accomplished. I hope mine will look 1/3 good as yours someday.

[Illuiix]

[urbaneks]

Images that Helped to Inspire the New Aquarium

 

Reclaimed Barn Wood
The thought of taking something old and giving it a new purpose in life excites me! I get a real sense of pride when I’m able to take something that was destined for a landfill and make it beautiful once again. Recently I came across a company here in Arizona, Porter Barn Wood, which dismantles old barns and sells the lumber. Some popular uses of the barn wood is the creation of sliding doors, dining tables and bringing new life to an otherwise boring wall. I will be using reclaimed barn wood throughout the build of my aquarium cabinet. For those of you lucky enough to live close to Porter Barn Wood, give Thomas a call. He's been a huge help for me with this new endeavor.

 

Sample of an old barn beam that has been reclaimed – I will be incorporating a beam from a 150 year old barn that use to stand in Pennsylvania.

Table that was built with reclaimed barn wood flooring. I will be incorporating the material as a counter top

Distressed Furniture
In an attempt to match the décor in our house and marry up with the reclaimed barn wood, I plan to complete the cabinet with a distressed finish. There is something about distressed finishes that I really like. The added benefit for an inexperienced wood worker is that my finish does not have to look perfect. With the distressed finish I’m actually trying to make the cabinet look old and warn.

Sample distressed finish – I will be finishing the cabinet out with a similar distressed look

Aquascape
My aquascape plans can best be summed up as open with lots of negative space. If you look at the progression of my reefs, I’ve reduced the density of live rock with each new aquarium. My intent with the new aquarium is to once again reduce the amount of live rock to create an open scape with lots of swimming area. In an effort to create a more natural aquascape, I spent several hours searching the internet for photographs of actual aquascapes from the ocean. What resulted from the search was the image below. My intent is to create a similar scape but loaded with colorful SPS and a limited amounts of LPS and soft corals. I both look forward to and dread the aquascaping on this tank. The creative aspect excites me but with the peninsula style tank, I think this is going to be a real challenge.

 

This image will serve as the basis of my aquascape

[mpsti05]

Gonna be awesome!

[GTi]

Awesome - looking forward to this one. Your previous tank was incredible. The reclaimed wood is perfect!

[brad908]

Can't wait to see this one

[urbaneks]

May 2nd, 2014 - Response to Feedback

 

 

First!

I really wanted the 112g to be totm.

In all honesty, it blows everyones tank out the water.

 

BA, it's only fitting that you ended up being the first to reply. You were the one that recommended my 112 enter the Marine Deport featured aquarium. They are featuring my tank, the write up should go live in the next week or two. I too wish the 112 would have made TOTM here on NR. Even though I don't have a Nano, this is where I spend most of my forum time. I'm guessing if the 112 was never selected the 250 has no chance!

 

Congratulations on the new upgrade. I am excited to be following your journey on your new adventure brad. Your One of everyone favorites, I am just inspired of all the work you have Accomplished. I hope mine will look 1/3 good as yours someday.

 

Thanks so much for the congrats. It's pretty amazing to be putting a new aquarium in right now. I hope this new endeavor will stack up to your kind words.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

Gonna be awesome!

 

I sure hope so. I will be posting some photos soon of the cabinet build. It's mostly complete with the exception of a few touch up items.

 

Awesome - looking forward to this one. Your previous tank was incredible. The reclaimed wood is perfect!

 

Thanks for the kind words on the current tank. The reclaimed wood looks amazing now that it's in place and finished. I have to say that it exceeded my expectations.

 

Can't wait to see this one

 

Thanks! 5 more days til the glass gets here. All of my other equipment is here waiting for it. Plumbing pieces are also here ready to go.

[BattleAthletics]

May 2nd, 2014 - Response to Feedback

 

 

 

BA, it's only fitting that you ended up being the first to reply. You were the one that recommended my 112 enter the Marine Deport featured aquarium. They are featuring my tank, the write up should go live in the next week or two. I too wish the 112 would have made TOTM here on NR. Even though I don't have a Nano, this is where I spend most of my forum time. I'm guessing if the 112 was never selected the 250 has no chance!

Of course, the 250 stands no chance. But forum participation is what makes totm, you have been the epitome of documentation and responding to everyone's questions, remarks and admiration. I'm interested in the aquascape mostly as it's different from your other builds.

[JR!]

this is awesome news brad. ill be here for the whole process and wish you the best of luck!!!

[jahoban]

I am so excited to see how amazing this tank is going to be, your 112 gallon is truly an inspiration.

 

Jason

[plainrt]

This is gonna be good. Will be watching this one.

[urbaneks]

Do It Yourself Cabinet Build

As I mentioned in an earlier journal entry, I'm using the new aquarium build as an opportunity to get back into wood working. I started building the cabinet back in February and have worked on it for a few hours each weekend. The cabinet is completed and ready for the aquarium to arrive which ships in 4 days! Getting excited!

 

I'm going to take a couple journal entries to chronicle the build with this first entry being an overview of the build process. For those of you familiar with the DIY Stand Template and Calculator thread, you will recognize what is the basis for my stand.

 

The image below is a photo summary of my build process. Essentially, the cabinet was completed by 1) Framing it out 2) Skinning the internal cabinet 3) Skinning the external cabinet 4) Paint/wax skinned frames 5) Building the doors and 6) Building the counter top

 

Here is a collage of photos that shows the build progress of the cabinet from start to finish

You will notice that the cabinet does not have a center brace. This is possible because of the use of 2x8 construction for the top header. Based on the calculations in the linked thread, I could have went with 2x6 but chose to increase to 2x8 for some added piece of mind.

 

It may be difficult to tell from the photos just how large the cabinet is. My skimmer is 36" tall which may give you a perspective on how large the cabinet really is. The finished cabinet is 89"x 52.5"x 45". With the 45" height, the top of the aquarium will sit at my eye level. I'm looking forward to viewing the aquarium without having to kneel or stoop. An added benefit of this height is bar stools will be placed on the back side of the aquarium in the photo you see below.

 

Finished project with beam and light included

Here is one more photo for this journal entry. This photo shows a bit of the detail that is included in the cabinet. The distressed finish, reclaimed barn wood doors and counter top are all view-able in the in the photo below. I will be including future posts detailing these portions of the build process.

This photo shows some of the finished details of the cabinet

[jstuver]

Oh my that cabinet is gorgeous!

[Illuiix]

 

Wowsers. That is super clean.....never knew you were a crafter at building furnitures. Great stuff man. Clean, clean.

[mpsti05]

Holy moly that cabinet is amazing!!!

[hey]

this looks amazing great job so far

[Squared]

wow, can't wait to see the actual tank! know it will look awesome, as your tanks usually do.

[reefsahoy]

Damn Brad,

I'm really envious and jealous! Nice build so far!

[Spiderguardnano]

Holy Jesus this build is going to be insane! if this tank is anything like the 112 its going to be crazy

 

i don't even want to know what your budget for this setup was

[HM3105]

Man this is amazing, your 112 was amazing...following....

[Dylan.N]

wow. this is going to be awesome! please keep us updated *grabs popcorn*

[BattleAthletics]

Where is the equipment list? Why'd you go t5's over leds's and metal halides?

[jbb]

Wow , that cabinet is amazing. So much for being nervous about the first build going in the living room.