The Fish Tank

This fish tank has become enough of a big deal to me that yes, I'm titling the post after THE Fish Tank, and we don't even HAVE the fish tank yet.  My husband has always been fascinated with large salt water aquariums.  He's mentioned in passing a few times that he'd some day like one.  I had NO IDEA that some day would be 6 months into our marriage!

Hubby's brother currently has a 125 sal water fish tank full of live rock and soft coral stuff.  (You'll pick up that I'm not overly excited about this whole fist tank business!)  He's purchasing an even BIGGER fish tank, which we assisted move this past weekend.  500 lbs. of glass...nervous much!?  Anyway, he's getting rid of the smaller tank, and selling it to us for what I'm told is mere pennies on the dollar.  Of course hubby asked me, but not in such a way I really had a choice of saying no!  He thinks it's going to be good brotherly bonding.  (I give MUCHO credit to his wifey for putting up with his fish tank madness!)

In order to fit this 6ft. long and probably about 5 ft. tall.  We may have only moved into our house 10 months ago, but filled it up with crap quickly!  I have no clue how, we moved from a TINY two bedroom apartment to a spacious 4 bedroom ranch!  No we have to quickly decide where the heck we're going to put this thing!

Ultimately we've deicded we have two options.
Option 1:  We can put it in our smaller toy/play/living room in the back half of the house.  If we do this, we have to get rid of a couch, probably paint the wood paneling in there, and revamp the room to turn it into a den of sorts with a desk and books gallore.  (I have always wanted a library in my house!)  However, we have to do this carefully, becuase at 125 gallons, with water weighting 8 lbs. a gallon, plus the weight of the tank and the cherry wood base, it HAS to sit the right way to distribute the weight across multiple floor joists.  (This makes me nervous all together.  What if it falls though our floor into the basement!?  YIKES!)

Option 2:  We can put it in the basement.  We have a room in our basement that is sectioned off with MORE wood paneling, and a drop ceiling in place, but it's a painted concrete floor.  There is a fireplace in the room and a loveseat and coffee table there now, but we NEVER use it!  The cold concrete floor is a deal breaker for me, and for the kiddos sometimes! 

I have an issue withing sinking all this money into a the fish tank, to see it sit in a room in the basement we NEVER use!  Which means we have to sink more $$ into our house to make it work LONG term, because once that thing goes in, it ain't going anywhere for a LONG time!  So now, I'm stressing about where to put it, how to prepare for it, and how to pay for it all!  AND we have to have it ready in about a month. 

Husband's solution:  "We'll just put it in now.  Then later, we'll just carpet/paint around it when we're ready."  SERIOUSLY!?  SERIOUSLY!?  Does anyone else hear dueling banjos in the background and Jeff Foxworthy yelling "You might be a redneck if..."

I'm leaning toward the basement option and stressing about the monetary invests since we just bought a new car, have tons of med. bills, and are getting the boys they very first swingset for their upcoming birthday!  So many decisions, so much work, and so little time!