Location, Location, Location...

As mentioned in the previous post, part of my debate was where do I want to put this piece of the ocean? First I thought, wouldn't it be a nice feature in the living room. The problems with the living room are that it's on the main floor, so total weight of the system would play a factor, there is a huge bay window on one end, the wall opposite has a heat/cooling vent (could pose a problem with temperature fluctuations), and there is another smaller window as well. So natural light, great! Downside, lots of algal problems....Also, size of the tank would be limited due to weight capacity and support in the floor.  I was still liking this idea, and thought a 46gallon bowfront would be a nice addition. Then after looking at the type of fish I wanted to keep, I realized the tank would be too small. I needed at least a 75gallon and by the time we add rock, sand, water, etc it would be pushing the weight. The other problem is where to put the sump/reservoir. This last part is a huge key to making the reeftank work well. It's where we "hide" our equipment (protein skimmer, pumps, heater, etc), also it allows for extra capacity and water treatment (adding live rock and sand acts as a filter for nutrients). So it would have to go underneath the tank in the cabinet, again adding to the weight issue. 

Another thought was to put it into my room/the den. There I could enjoy it while on the computer, scrapbooking etc. The downside was that it couldn't be shown off as much as I wanted. (If I was gonna invest money into this project, I wanted as many people to enjoy it when coming to our home.) And the same rules to the living room applied. I had also contemplated putting in in our bedroom, since it is a large room, thinking it would be peaceful to look at that while falling asleep or waking up. Again the same problems came into effect, except with this room being on the 2nd floor of our home the weight issue was a major factor.

Of course my wonderful husband came up with an option that I originally objected to because it's in a room we never ever use...the basement. When we bought our home last year, it came with a partially completed basement. In the basement is a huge fireplace, a sink with drinking fountain (odd right), an odd square in the corner that was linoleum and the rest of the floor was a lovely burnt orange and black carpet! The basement would allow for any size tank I wanted, as the weight wouldn't be a problem since it'd rest on the concrete floor, there are very small windows (2 of them), and would provide the most flexibility in where to put it.  But we didn't and don't use the basement, so I hated the idea of putting a gorgeous reeftank down there.

Ed's persistence won me over eventually, and we decided that we'd move the TV, Wii, etc downstairs and it could be a chillax type of room. (He gave up his "man cave" so that we could have a nice location for my tank.) Also, with the linoleum we were able to create...ta da...the fish room! Ed came up with the idea for a wall where the funny square patch was to place my sump/reservoir in, hide all my equipment, the rubbermaid garbage can full of saltwater, etc after listening to me go on and on about fish rooms seen in posts on TCMAS and Reef Addicts. It was perfect! So it was then time to go big or go home...I found an awesome deal on a used 150 gallon glass tank (glass because it's easier to clean with the coralline and doesn't scratch like acrylic, also it's much cheaper) that came with the stand, the sump, and the lights which save a TON of $$. So the total amount of water flowing through this system will be 190 gallons! The next step was to actually build the wall. I've included pictures of my fish room so far. Of course, nothing too exciting is in there, just empty tanks, but hey! it's exciting for me.