HappyGeorge
Fish Herder
Well after much discussion and being unhappy with the finish on some of the Seabray tanks I had seen I decided to take the trip from Kent to Coventry to see the Godiva tanks in the flesh.
Firstly what a nice guy Robin, the owner of Coventry Aquatics is, he also employs some good people, and his wife had made me a coffee within ten minutes of me being there.
The cabinets are very nicely made and unlike other custom tanks that use kitchen manufacturers boards to make cabinets, they use a specialist board company and offer a much greater range of colour and finish. They can also do absolutely any size, (So I'm now having a 37" tank). There are choices of cabinets types, size of hood and plumbing extras and Robin talked me through them all. The main difference is the edging, where many makers use just a veneer strip thats glues onto the cut edge of boardm Godiva tanks have a plastic shaped edge on the cut ends in the same way that large manufacturers tanks do (certainly my Rena does) this eliminates the chance of knocking it and crushing or chipping the edge. Also where the tank sits on the cabinet, even on the basic range there is a proper wooden edge round the glass and not a strip of veneer glued to the glass.
I have decided to go for a Supreme which is 2nd from top of range and has a plain cabinet where the doors form the whole front of the cabinet and the cabinet is a plain square box with no detail and full tank width without the plinth top and bottom, also has soft close hinges or the hingeless magnetic click locks and no handles, a very modern looking set up with no detail to distract from the tank or to clash with other furniture. Plumbing wise it has a twin pipe system and choice of weir positions (Acrylic Weir with comb cut in top so no unsightly plastic comb glued to top).
Tank size will be 37"x30"x18", reason for the 37" is to give room for the 36" long 6 x 39w ATI Sunpower which I seem to have come home with
. Was concerned about lighting but going with this and will be rested on acrylic bars that they have made to sit across tank, the unit will then sit directly on those and be hidden down inside the hood 
Also came home with a couple of lovely reef bones that will form base of my new tanks rock pile, very unusual shapes that I just couldn't resist, one branch piece that place upside down will form the support for a nice tunnel right through the rock and a huge flat piece (very weird) that has a lump on top but will be used upside down as a huge shelf.
I am officially a very happy bunny and sooooooooo glad I opted for the trip to Coventry rather than just going for one of the other tanks.
So looks like a new tank journal on here soon, may even get over excited and start posting pictures of reef bones before the tank arrives.
Firstly what a nice guy Robin, the owner of Coventry Aquatics is, he also employs some good people, and his wife had made me a coffee within ten minutes of me being there.
The cabinets are very nicely made and unlike other custom tanks that use kitchen manufacturers boards to make cabinets, they use a specialist board company and offer a much greater range of colour and finish. They can also do absolutely any size, (So I'm now having a 37" tank). There are choices of cabinets types, size of hood and plumbing extras and Robin talked me through them all. The main difference is the edging, where many makers use just a veneer strip thats glues onto the cut edge of boardm Godiva tanks have a plastic shaped edge on the cut ends in the same way that large manufacturers tanks do (certainly my Rena does) this eliminates the chance of knocking it and crushing or chipping the edge. Also where the tank sits on the cabinet, even on the basic range there is a proper wooden edge round the glass and not a strip of veneer glued to the glass.
I have decided to go for a Supreme which is 2nd from top of range and has a plain cabinet where the doors form the whole front of the cabinet and the cabinet is a plain square box with no detail and full tank width without the plinth top and bottom, also has soft close hinges or the hingeless magnetic click locks and no handles, a very modern looking set up with no detail to distract from the tank or to clash with other furniture. Plumbing wise it has a twin pipe system and choice of weir positions (Acrylic Weir with comb cut in top so no unsightly plastic comb glued to top).
Tank size will be 37"x30"x18", reason for the 37" is to give room for the 36" long 6 x 39w ATI Sunpower which I seem to have come home with
. Was concerned about lighting but going with this and will be rested on acrylic bars that they have made to sit across tank, the unit will then sit directly on those and be hidden down inside the hood Also came home with a couple of lovely reef bones that will form base of my new tanks rock pile, very unusual shapes that I just couldn't resist, one branch piece that place upside down will form the support for a nice tunnel right through the rock and a huge flat piece (very weird) that has a lump on top but will be used upside down as a huge shelf.
I am officially a very happy bunny and sooooooooo glad I opted for the trip to Coventry rather than just going for one of the other tanks.
So looks like a new tank journal on here soon, may even get over excited and start posting pictures of reef bones before the tank arrives.
- The gap it is going to stand in is restricted and at one end of the room are french doors complete with long curtains. I have been given strict instructions that the tank is not to crush/crumple or otherwise deform the hang of the curtains, so its a 37.5inch gap. Internal dimension worked out to only about 3mm clearance on the 36" (ATI unit is actually 35") so a 37" gives me a half inch each end and no curtain issues 
