How “Tanked” Stars Built A 700 Gallon Fire and Water Aquarium

Bradley Jennings’ Financial Providence Group, headquartered in Westerville, provides comprehensive financial services to individuals and businesses.

In addition to an indoor pool and a hot tub, the company’s employees get to enjoy a fully-equipped gym as part of the 14,000-square-foot facility. If they are still getting any work done is another matter.

What additional amenities could Jennings add to make this facility even more impressive? What about three aquariums filled with exotic fish from around the globe?

Brett Raymer, Wayde King and their team knew this would be a big, demanding job, but there were some challenges they did not see coming and that they quickly had to work around. The hallmark of the Financial Providence Group project was the aquarium with a fireplace built in.

Read on for the juicy on how the Tanked crew built three aquariums at a go, even managing to build a fire and water aquarium.

Boardroom Fish Tank

The Acrylic Tank Manufacturers (ATM) team built all three tanks offsite and transported them to the Financial Providence Group (FPG) premises.

The boardroom tank was the first one in. Well, it wasn’t entirely placed in the boardroom; instead, the fish tank was a comforting and aesthetically appealing separation between the boardroom and the kitchen.

The 700-gallon, 132 inches long tank features corals, flowy branches, and rocks sitting at the center, and the entire aquarium is framed in rich wood built on site. This large aquarium was stocked with more than 40 fish, including the Emperor angel and the venomous lionfish.

Reception Fish Tank

The reception aquarium definitely makes a great addition to the office; when people walk in, the bright, colorful fish are what they see.

This particular tank was the largest of the three at a capacity of 800 gallons. They added green jade, a famous healing rock that can add a calm vibe to an aquarium.

The FPG logo the team put inside the tank is a really cool aspect of the reception aquarium.

How did they do this?

Well, according to Brett, they used a CNC machine to cut out the logo and then glued it into the back of the fish tank.

Another cool factor is the filtration system, which is installed and operated remotely, ensuring that the reception aquarium remains as quiet as possible. Inside the tank are fish such as California ray and the yellow clam tang from the Hawaiian coast.

But, the reception tank was too high, and the team had to think up ideas to bring it down to a more practical level.

The problem is you can’t disassemble an aquarium, reduce its size, and put it back together again when the tank is already on site. The reception aquarium was placed on a stand, so the team had to get rid of the stand to lower the tank’s height.

The other challenge that came up with this tank is the fact that plumbing is usually installed through the bottom of the tank.

Taking out the stand from under the fish tank meant either flipping the tank on its side to install the bottom plumbing or drilling the tank and installing the plumbing through the back.

In the end, Wayde thought it best to reconfigure the plumbing by drilling the tank at the back and installing the plumbing through there instead of from the bottom as earlier anticipated.

Brett and Wayde’s friends from Cincinnati Aquarium design and maintenance were in charge of acclimatizing the fish while the ATM owners took over the task of adding standing water to the tanks.

They also stocked each aquarium with pretty interesting fish, including a blue jaw trigger with a stunning yellow ribbon-like pattern on its tail.

There was also the Queen angel fish and a lion fish. In the reception desk aquarium, there was a marbled shark that likes to come out at night, and a California Ray, to mention a few.

Fish Tank With Fireplace

The tank with a fireplace combines a water-filled aquarium on one side and a fire on the other. This extremely large tank measures nine feet high, weighs 10,000 pounds, and boasts a holding capacity of 800 gallons.

Wayde and Brett admitted that they weren’t completely sure they could build an aquarium that would incorporate water and fire; they even wanted to replace the fireplace and do away with it, but that wasn’t an option.

So, how did they build the fire water aquarium?

Well, they used LED lights to create the fireplace effects and added water vapor instead of real water, of course, which safely coexists with the LED lights.

They stocked the aquarium with more than 40 different fish, including the annular angel and heniochus butterfly, also known as the banner fish, as it looks like they are waving a banner when swimming around. Other rare fish include the scribbled angel and the imperial flower loach.

The Tanked team has built hundreds of creative aquariums, and they outdo themselves each time. There is no doubt that their client, Bradley Jennings of Financial Providence Group, paid a pretty penny for the three massive tanks, but going by how gorgeously they turned out, he definitely got bang for his buck.

We sure hope the employees are still enjoying the aquariums and that the colorful fish aren’t too distracting to get any work done!