History of the shops inception and fit-out. 

Words can't convey here just how much work was involved in this setup and fit-out. It is fair to say we have gone far beyond the relms of a normal Aquarium fit-out, but thats what makes it a boutique store and is why it took us some four and a half months to get the shop to a level, where we thought it was good enough for opening. We still continue to finish and improve, as we go.

Whilst this shop was originally the brainchild and dream of Ben Tracey, in its layout and many ideas, it wouldnt have been possible without the fantastic help and input of some very valued friends that were all called upon for various services and expert advice. 

Many thanks to all those who laboured, deliberated and performed, for what seemed an eternity, to make this shop so beautiful in functionality and layout. Absolute neatness was formost in our minds and we have gone to great lengths to make sure pipes and things are hidden or unnoticeable where necessary.

In June 2007, Ben set out to find a premesis for his new venture. After looking at many other sites a decision was made to setup in one of the vacant shops owned by Hi-Speed Networking in Killarney Heights. July 1st 2007 was the start of construction, and decisions needed to be made on what to rip out and what to keep from the existing fit out. As there was already good carpet laid we decided to keep it and the warm feeling the shop posessed, and to totally waterproof the room that was perfect for the wet/tank room. Ben chose a vynal floor covering with grip buttons and silver fleck that looks spectacular with the star ceiling he installed, it looks simply stunning. Rod and Ben designed the tank stands and Ben set about building the sumps and ordering the tanks pre-made from a premium supplier.

We called on the help of Pete Gosling for the labourious task of assembling the many stands. Dave Binder and Rod built the counter and hung the display board. Old Gill Miller, our live in painter, did a fabulous job of sprucing up the place and painting all the walls and tank stands, as Pete and Ben knocked them up in a production line style.

Peter Pritchard from Dovetail Furnature, did a fabulous job in CAD designing and building all the cabinets and draw systems in his Botany factory in a simply stunning black and silver colour scheme that is in keeping with the company colours Ben wanted. 

Craig McCole was also called upon, to build other frames for bigger tanks and was responsible for installing the pre-fabed frames and stands on a very un-level and troublesome floor.

Pete Boland performed  concrete core drilling services to provide access for the piping for our 5000 litre bulk saltwater storage tanks downstairs. The tanks feed a mains pressure pump to provide us a VERY quick saltwater filling station. Ben plumbed the big tanks downstairs with 2" camlocks and piping for a direct and water-tight connection to the trucks pumps, Again neatness was paramount allong with functionality.

A full five stage Reverse Osmosis filter and storage tank has now been installed to provide customers with superior filtered R/O water for auto-top-ups feeding all the in-house tanks, as well as supplying customers via a drum refill basis. 

With a real emphesis on quality and Hi-Tek fit-out, Rod installed hidden speakers for background music and a row of LCD screens to display the beauty of the undersea world in a continueous slide shown and semonstration videos.

Geoff and Rod installed UV steralisers and air injection on every bay and state-of-the-art Reef Octpus protien skimmers and slowly being installed on each bay.

The entire tank systems through the shop, including display, stock and hospital tanks, are also presently being fitted with the top of the line Aquatronica Marine Enviroment Computer system, that is controlling EVERYTHING in the tank systems from wavemaking, temperature, pH, ORP, conductivity, waterlevel, waterspill, UV, salinity and lighting, all reporting the data back to a central computer system that is now visable via a link on our website, allowing registed users and serious reefers to see just how good we keep our water quality. This system also ties into our security systems and will SMS us with any errors it may detect. Now that's hi-tek, and to our knowledge has never been done by any other Aquarium anyhere certainly to this level as testimonied buy the various equipment suppliers. Customers will also be able to look into our web site to see if we are open at any particular time. Hence every room has video cameras installed, not just for recording security issues on a battery backed up 24 hour recording system, but to also allow us to look at the tanks after hours as well as customers from afar to see what the shop looks like internally before embarking on a long trek to see if we were worth comming or not.

Update.....28-11-2008 

The Aquatronica installation is finished and presently we are getting faceures made to coverin the tanks and the ugly stuff which will give the shop a beautiful finish to the tanks in a gloss black polyurathane.  Phytoplankton reactors have now been installed and we are now able to sell live plankton and rotifers.

We have FINALLY finished installing an awsome coner display tank that will be up and running soon with a huge reef of corals fish and other interesting critters.

The photos here show the mamouth task it was and the people involved with the various stages we went through in building the shop to the level of quality it is today,