Fishy Fishy Fishy!


Hello All, Normally when you read my blogs I like to talk about the internet radio station we have here at AdrenalineRadio.com or some of the different features we may have.

Today I’m going to head off the beaten path and talk about something that goes on behind the scenes here at Adrenaline Radio.

If you ever get a chance to visit the AdrenalineRadio.com studios the first thing you will see when you enter the lobby is a 120 gallon saltwater fish tank.  Most people enjoy looking at the tank and hearing about all the creatures inside of it, but they don’t know the history behind the tank.

Having a large saltwater fish tank has always been a dream of mine; I always loved the idea of seeing all the colorful fish swim in and out of the differently shaped corals.  About two years ago an opportunity came up for me to purchase a large fish tank, I had dabbled with small ones and always was interested in pushing for something bigger and better.  After discussing it with the AdrenalineRadio.com board members we agreed the best place for the new tank would be in the lobby.

Normally this would have been as simple as putting some water in it, adding some fishes and letting nature take its course.  However the tank wasn’t quite to the specifications that we would have liked it to be so during one summer we completely stripped down and re-built the tank and stand.

The following is a timeline of how we did it.

Original Stand:  Had three layers of blue paint.

Original Tank:  Three walls of the tank were originally covered with a black background that
needed to be scraped off.

Scraping black background off back of tank.

Continued scraping of black background.

Begin sanding off layers of paint.

Doors removed, continue sanding inside and out.

Begin polishing acrylic and removing existing sand.

First coat of stain applied.

Continue stain application.

Finished exterior stain, three coats of stain followed by three coats of outdoor
varnish interior was stained shortly after.

Sump test fill before chambers are built.  (Sump is an under the cabinet tank that
contains aquarium equipment)

Wall being prepared for tank.

Stand being prepared to be set into place.

Prepping the wall for paint.

Finished paint with stand set in place.

Tank Set on Stand.

Adding “Live rock” and saltwater.

“Live sand” added, the tank took a week for the sand to fully settle and clear.

Custom built canopy added.

I hope you enjoyed a look into the making of the Adrenaline Radio fish tank, stay tuned for an updated blog post on the livestock! To see a previous blog post on the Boxing Crabs within the tank click here.