hopkins Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Welcome to my new adventure. I bought a local reefer's setup last month. I filled up the back of my Jeep Grand Cherokee, and made another trip with a U-haul to pick up the rest. Lets just say that it was a bigger project than I had imagined and my garage was packed to the brim. I finally went through all of the boxes and sorted into three piles... Keep, Toss and Sell. So much stuff. Everything from full buckets of salt, to 5 gallon buckets of two part solution, to 1/4 full bottles of additives... It took a while to sort through all of it. I have listed a couple of the random things for sale, nothing too exciting yet. Anyway, back to the business at hand. The tank I picked up was 48x36x22 which is huge. A lot bigger than I had imagined when I decided to purchase the setup. The tank is going downstairs in my theatre room, and the room isn't very wide. When my wife saw the tank, she asked me if I had measured and then asked if I was insane... She happened to be right. I did not measure and apparently...I am insane. She ended up vetoing that tank and sending me back to the drawing board. My last tank was a 50 Gallon Cadlights Artisan II. I still have that tank in my garage. I thought that when we moved in June, that I would just set that up again. Well, it has been 6+ months and all of my stuff is still in a 100 gallon rubbermaid feeding trough. Now, before you post about the large custom tank that blew out... I know. I read that too. This tank isn't that large, or custom built. Back to business. The Artisan series is absolutely amazing and well priced. I had my eye on the 150 gallon for a while now, and they recently added the option to just purchase the tank and stand. I did not need the sump, skimmer or any of that other stock nonsense. So, that's what I went with, the 150 eurobraced with a piano black finish(fingerprint nightmare). Back at it. In order to get ready for the delivery, I had to make a few improvements to the theatre room. Just a quick run down of improvements: Added recessed LED lighting to replace the shop lights Painted the ceiling tiles black Added a 120" framed screen Ran wires for the surround sound Painted the walls and trim Cut out a portion of the carpet and laid new flooring for the tank Lighting and Screen Flooring Added Trim I was notified that the tank would be delivered this Friday and that the total weight was 650 pounds. That is a bit heavier than I had thought, but the glass is 1/2" thick with a 5/8" bottom... Since I didn't think I could get many people over during a holiday weekend, I hired help. Three large guys from a local moving company came over on Saturday morning. They got the tank and stand unwrapped and moved within an hour. That was money well spent and my back thanks me. Friday night I slipped going down the stairs and fell about half way before I caught myself. Good think they didn't need my help! There she is... You are probably asking why I'm rambling and not giving many details. I'll get on with the show. Setup Overview 150 Gallon Display - 71.5" x 23.5" x 20" 80ish Gallon Sump - 36" x 24" x 24" Return - Water Blaster 5000 Lighting - Three AI SOL Blue with Three 403nm UV Stunner Strips ATO - Tunze 3155 Flow - Gyre 150... Might add a second Skimmer - Bubble King Mini 180 and a Vertex Omega 150 The sump and all other equipment will be located in the room behind the tank. I built a stand to hold the sump and a future frag tank. The stand is 48" x 30" x 40" and built by yours truly... I hope it holds. I also found that lovely patch of broken cement under a rug in the furnace room. Looks like I'll be patching that sooner than later. Well... that's as far as I got today. Hopefully I will be able to start plumbing tomorrow and hang the lights. Link to comment
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