ostrow
It's Dr. Goodluck Himself
After a July fire 
I am back in the hobby, with the same size tank I had minus the annoying Oceanic glass center brace.
Deep Sea Aquatics, based in Dallas and purporting to be the former builders for Oceanic before that company got gobbled up by AGA, built the tank for me. My thinking was that their experience and the reviews I'd read would lead to a smooth custom purchase, as opposed to the multiple horror stories about the other tank builders out there.
Throughout the design I found them to be intensely helpful. They made the tank, stand and cap to my specs. 5x2x2 (they add an inch to the height for some reason) tank with no center brace, using 3/4" glass, standard stand and a cap (canopy with no lid) tall enough to handle the pendant style reflectors starting with Lumen. Also had them build me a rack to rest inside the top of the cap, from which I would hang my lights.
It was to be delivered the week of Thanksgiving, before the holiday of course.
The long and short of it is, that this experience really differs from the other big tank builders only in that my contact at DSA was generally nice and accepted responsibility. I received the tank January 15, 2 months behind schedule.
It took them 4 tries to build the tank without bubbles in the silicone. When they delivered it, they delivered black furniture instead of cherry. Blamed me at first, despite the fact that I discussed and chose the stain on the phone with them directly. Backed off that quickly, and then took a couple weeks to make it right due to the Christmas/New Year interregnum.
Finally got it the 15th. The cap is about 3" shorter than I wanted but I adjusted. It is a gorgeous tank, and the tank itself is really nice with a single overflow on the back wall in the center, 4 1" bulkheads. Very clean work.
It's a nice system. But if you are ordering custom, don't expect DSA to be any faster or more precise than any of the others. Ok, now pics and the rest of the thread will be about my system. Right now, I only have pics of the display -- more will follow.
The rock came primarily from bstone -- huge pieces. I think right now there is a total of 7 pieces of rock in the tank. I left space for more.
The basement room I'll photograph soon but it's a 6x2x2 Behlen Country stock tank. I love this company because the sides are flat, easy for bulkhead installation. 75G fuge. ETSS 1000 skimmer with a Panworld 200ps pump. Manifold runs carbon, UV, fuge, phosphate reactor, and will have purigen. Hammerhead Gold pumps the water through the manifold and upstairs.
I think that covers the basics. Here's the first pics:
Here's the space I had to leave for my gigas/clown combo:
Gratuitous shot of my little girl:
Thanks must go to Jose Dieck for making Hotel Jose's luxurious accommodations available to these fish and clams after the fire.
I am back in the hobby, with the same size tank I had minus the annoying Oceanic glass center brace. Deep Sea Aquatics, based in Dallas and purporting to be the former builders for Oceanic before that company got gobbled up by AGA, built the tank for me. My thinking was that their experience and the reviews I'd read would lead to a smooth custom purchase, as opposed to the multiple horror stories about the other tank builders out there.
Throughout the design I found them to be intensely helpful. They made the tank, stand and cap to my specs. 5x2x2 (they add an inch to the height for some reason) tank with no center brace, using 3/4" glass, standard stand and a cap (canopy with no lid) tall enough to handle the pendant style reflectors starting with Lumen. Also had them build me a rack to rest inside the top of the cap, from which I would hang my lights.
It was to be delivered the week of Thanksgiving, before the holiday of course.
The long and short of it is, that this experience really differs from the other big tank builders only in that my contact at DSA was generally nice and accepted responsibility. I received the tank January 15, 2 months behind schedule.
It took them 4 tries to build the tank without bubbles in the silicone. When they delivered it, they delivered black furniture instead of cherry. Blamed me at first, despite the fact that I discussed and chose the stain on the phone with them directly. Backed off that quickly, and then took a couple weeks to make it right due to the Christmas/New Year interregnum.
Finally got it the 15th. The cap is about 3" shorter than I wanted but I adjusted. It is a gorgeous tank, and the tank itself is really nice with a single overflow on the back wall in the center, 4 1" bulkheads. Very clean work.
It's a nice system. But if you are ordering custom, don't expect DSA to be any faster or more precise than any of the others. Ok, now pics and the rest of the thread will be about my system. Right now, I only have pics of the display -- more will follow.
The rock came primarily from bstone -- huge pieces. I think right now there is a total of 7 pieces of rock in the tank. I left space for more.
The basement room I'll photograph soon but it's a 6x2x2 Behlen Country stock tank. I love this company because the sides are flat, easy for bulkhead installation. 75G fuge. ETSS 1000 skimmer with a Panworld 200ps pump. Manifold runs carbon, UV, fuge, phosphate reactor, and will have purigen. Hammerhead Gold pumps the water through the manifold and upstairs.
I think that covers the basics. Here's the first pics:
Here's the space I had to leave for my gigas/clown combo:
Gratuitous shot of my little girl:
Thanks must go to Jose Dieck for making Hotel Jose's luxurious accommodations available to these fish and clams after the fire.
. :thumbsup:
