Well after a couple of years being out of the game due to a move, I am getting back in with a bigger tank. I bought a 110 RR during DNA's annual sale at the end of December. My last tank was in a front room and I had to specifically go into the room to enjoy the tank. With this one, I made the decision to place it in the family room since it is open to the kitchen and I could get more enjoyment out of it. When I originally bought the aquarium, I bought a stand with it but the wife thought it was too big for the area I had picked out for the tank in the family room. So needless to say the stand went back and I had to come up with another option. This is how the "Aquatainment Center" was born.
I came up with an idea to have a combination entertainment center/aquarium center to place our long wall in the family room. Not a ground breaking idea by any means, but it seemed to allow a couple things:
1. Keep the original plan of placing the aquarium in the family room.
2. Not be forced to downgrade to a smaller tank to fit the original spot in the family room I had picked out.
I had preliminary design meetings with a couple different carpenters and boy was it hard to get them to get back to me with prices and preliminary drawings. Even after having a couple get back to me, it took a while to get on someone's schedule. (I almost gave up). Tomorrow is the big install of the Aquatainment Center. As soon as it is in, I will be extremely busy setting up the tank. Although I am starting this build log the night before the big setup begins, I have been taking some photos along the way which I will post on here to help document the process I went through.
So let's begin with the design. You will see the design below. As you can see, the TV is on the left side and the aquarium is on the right side. Underneath the tank I will be placing my sump and above it behind those cabinet doors I will be hanging my lights.
I came up with an idea to have a combination entertainment center/aquarium center to place our long wall in the family room. Not a ground breaking idea by any means, but it seemed to allow a couple things:
1. Keep the original plan of placing the aquarium in the family room.
2. Not be forced to downgrade to a smaller tank to fit the original spot in the family room I had picked out.
I had preliminary design meetings with a couple different carpenters and boy was it hard to get them to get back to me with prices and preliminary drawings. Even after having a couple get back to me, it took a while to get on someone's schedule. (I almost gave up). Tomorrow is the big install of the Aquatainment Center. As soon as it is in, I will be extremely busy setting up the tank. Although I am starting this build log the night before the big setup begins, I have been taking some photos along the way which I will post on here to help document the process I went through.
So let's begin with the design. You will see the design below. As you can see, the TV is on the left side and the aquarium is on the right side. Underneath the tank I will be placing my sump and above it behind those cabinet doors I will be hanging my lights.