In the end of June 2008 I upgraded from a 90 saltwater tank to a 150 gallon tank.

Tank:
Custom build by Charlie @ www.fishtankfactory.com
Glass (not drilled) 48″L x 30″W x 24″H
Rimless, 1/2″ regular glass, Polished edges

Stand aka “The Beast”:
Built by Dave @ Mitchell Construction (davocean on the boards)
49″L x 31″W x 31″H
2″x4″ construction to be faced later. This thing is a tank (as in the army kind with a big gun…the run over you and squish you like a bug kind) A++++ on the construction. As Dave so perfectly put it, “Glued, Screwed, and Tattooed.”

And the story begins…
I called Charlie and got a great quote from him for the tank. Literally 1/2 the cost Leemar wanted. So I ordered and gave him a deadline of the 26th of June which was only about two weeks from the day I called him. There was a chance it would have gotten done much earlier but he had jury duty, but I give him an A+ on communication through the whole build. He kept me up to date on when to expect it the whole time. I specifically ordered the tank just as it is. I wanted it without the trim at the top and polished on the edges. I couldn’t afford Eurobracing, and I don’t mind a center brace at all, so I ordered it with 18″ openings so my equipment could fit in the openings perfectly and HOB. In then end, I picked up the tank on the 25th. I drove up to Alhembra, CA to the factory and got a pretty cool tour of the whole place up there. I’d highly recommend them for a stand or a tank. Really solid operation they have going on up there.

6/25/08 I drop off the tank in Temecula on the way down to SD.

6/26/08 Davocean begins work on the stand at his place and I go pick up 160lbs of sand and a big ol’ bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro Salt. (Pics of the stand build from dave coming soon)

Dave finishes the stand about 5pm (Rome wasn’t built in a day, but my “Beast” of a stand sure was) and we load it into my RAV4 (”Tonka”) along with 8 empty jugs of water, 160lbs of sand, and a big ole bucket of salt. That truck has never failed me in fitting an enormous amount of stuff in it and still be able to close the back door.

I make a run to the closest LFS Deep Sea Creatures on the 79 and fill up 50 gals of RO/DI water. Must give huge props to this store for having an AWESOME design and layout. I talked to the owner and I guess the store design was a design final for some student. It paid off. Nicest LFS I’ve ever been in. The livestock was sorely lacking, but that can always be fixed later. I’ll have to go back and get pictures later.

Went back home, mixed up the first 50gals with Instant Ocean salt since that is what my animals are a custom to now, and put the sand to settle in that water overnight with a powerhead for circulation.

Current Stock list from smallest to largest-

1 hecktor goby (that I think has paired up with a rainsford??)
2 rainsfordi gobies
1 blue flasher wrasse
1 osc clown
1 black osc clown (he has no time for her and spends his days far away )
1 cherub angel
2 Mandarin Dragonettes
1 purple firefish
5 lyretail anthias (one is turning to male)
1 Massive Yellow Coris wrasse
1 Copper Banded Butterfly
1 Carribean Blue Tang
1 Blue Hippo Tang

Tank Video as of September 2008

So I’ve finally got my1uplife designed how I want it. I hope you like the look and feel of the site, stay tuned for new images in the gallery. I’ve got a ton to load of all my travels.