I spent much of the day today helping BJ build the saltwater racks at the new store.Things are coming along well.
One nice feature of the new place is the cargo door/loading dock at the back entrance.
As for the design of the racks-BJ told me his father came up with the idea many years ago.Each section of rack is independent of the other and is freestanding.Much different than 2 of the stores I helped build in the 70’s & 80’s where all the tanks sat on a common “rail” that ran the length of the section…
I took alot of pics today - but I will only post some -I dont want to hog up the whole thread with large pics.
Maybe BJ can comment on what each pic is…and if possible I’ll post more later…
Looks pretty exciting! What size tanks are you guys going to do? It would be so fun being able to set up a fish store from scratch and set everything up the way you want!
Jcling : from what I remember seeing today : 10’s 20’s & 30 longs on the fish only salt…
and about 7 40 bdrs and a mix of 10’s & 20’s on the invert/coral/anemone section
Also going to be a show tank or 2 …150 & 75 gal
uhhhhh… its definately a lot of work. so far, ive bought 200 2x4’s, 4 gallons of paint, 20 lb of nails… and starting to get low! lol this is all for ADDITIONAL tank space. the new rows r gonna be clones of the existing rows. 10’s 20’s and 30’s. the coral section will be just like ron said, 40 breeders on the bottom and mixed 10’s and 20l on the top. im fighting the boss for control of the 125 display… maybe i can talk her into trading me for a 75! we’ll see. the first pic is new sump tubs and filter/pumps.
2nd is me testing the strength of the racks…
3rd- a 30 section and a 10/20 section.
4th- one side of the dry goods section. (believe it or not, i stripped the floors with a buffer!)
5th- a little pre paint advertising… thought about calling it THE SUPER BOWL! lmao
pretty sure this will officially be the largest fish bowl so far. (4 previous locations…) feel free to swing by and check it out. any questions or suggestions are always appreciated. got about 5 more racks to build, and both full rows along two walls. lots of paint… some drywall… some electric to move around… and LOTS of plumbing. but i feel good about whats been done on a shaky starting 1st week. i have some pics myself from what it looked like when we walked in, and a few along the way. (of course, i left my camera at the store!!)
ACTUALLY!!! truth be told… ron questioned the strength of my rack… SO I SHOWED HIM! lmao there are some talks of a re-opening event. mom is wondering how much energy will be left after the move. im pretty sure something is be held, just havent sliced up the details yet. i have honestly had SOMEONE from the store there every night so far. employees, couple different customers have lended hands painting and such, and a few family friends. the pro stopped in tonight (dad) and checked out the progress. i think i passed the exam so far. i told him to crawl up in the ceiling and run some wires! happens to be his expertise, thank god!
YahoO The new store is comming along well. I think we finished all the new free standing racks yesterday. Wish i had more free time to help out my favorite fish store.
Pat is the man! Showed up with power tools in hand! Slammed out 4 racks in half the time it was taking me. Thanks a million for the help.(and the loaned tools) even lender some engineering help lol. Coming along pretty smooth so far. Hope to be plumbing by the end of the week…
Don’t let the exhaustion stop you from having an event. Many stores have a grand opening much later after a soft opening with limited hours. One of the outlets down in Rehoboth had a “grand opening” ceremony with local bands, ribbon cutting, and all kinds of free food and stuff… I think it was 1.5-2 years after the first store opened!
“SUPER”-BOWL SUNDAY !!!
Now that I have your attention: stopped into the fish bowl for a few hours today to help out.Sorry no pics(BJ had to run out quick). BJ has made alot of progress since last week…
The back walls dividing off the filtration room are all up ,drywalled,painted & supported.
All the racks that need to be made are complete & painted.
One system has the drain lines plumbed & working on the return lines today.
Electrical to the filtration room in place…awaiting activation.
Theres a nice blue commercial grade carpet installed for the front half of the store…
Had some additional help today from Jason (store employee) Mikey “the tattoo” and Glenn (martinfamly) .Glenn is a plumbing whiz and showed us some tricks on tapping & fitting the return lines.
BJ is kicking around the Idea of running a commercial DE filter full time on the saltwater fish system.He has been doing so for years on the freshwater system with good results.
I should have time to take some more pics sometime the middle of the coming week…
stay tuned for more “Super” fish bowl news…
Hey BJ, was going to be in the area tonight wanted to try to meet up with you at the new store and check it out. Just wanted to make sure you’d be around.
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