WesF's In-Wall 250g DD

WesF · May 17, 2010

Hi all,

I'm new to R2R. Not really sure why I've never come here until now. My name is Wes. I live in Raleigh, NC. I moved here about a year ago and started work on my In-Wall Reef in January. So here are some pics of the build along the way.

I am copying some of the text from a build thread in a local forum so please bear with me if it appears to be "current tense" instead of past.

Regards,

Wes

The tank is a 250g Marineland Deep Dimension w/ Starphire front.

The tank will be located in the garage and viewable from the living room. Here is some of the equipment.

Tank: Marineland 250g Tank (60 x 36 x 27)
Skimmer: Super Reef Octopus 5000 Internal w/ Bubble Blaster Pump
Chiller: Tradewinds Super 1/2 hp inline Chiller
Return Pump: Blueline 70
Heaters: 2 x 1000w Blueline Titanium Heating Elements
Controller: Reefkeeper Light w/ extra control modules (power strips)
Lighting: 2 x Coralvue Lumen Bright Large Pendants
2 x 250w Coralvue ballasts
1 x 80w aquaillumination T5 retro kit w/ mira 4 reflector
R2 dual extreme LED moonlights

Rocks: 200 lbs of Marco Key Largo Dry Rock
Sand: 360 lbs of Caribsea Aragamax Sand
Sump: Rubbermaid 100g Livestock Tank

I am probably forgetting some stuff but i will try to update as I go.

Here are some before Pics:

WesF · May 17, 2010

WesF · May 17, 2010

I hired a General Contractor to do the work. Very cool people. Today was the first day of construction. I came home from work and found this. Looks like they got alot done today!

Since it is on load bearing wall, they had to install a header.

WesF · May 17, 2010

some new pics taken tonight.

WesF · May 17, 2010

WesF · May 17, 2010

WesF · May 17, 2010

ive been busy painting all weekend. I never imagined how much time i would be spending on the painting part of this project. I also took down all the christmas decorations/lights outside and made a trip to the dump to get rid a bunch of junk that was cluttering the garage.

This is the area under the stand. I applied 2 coats of the special paint called "Watertight" It is water proof and mold resistant. It is very thick and kind of a PITA to apply. It's not cheap either @ $30/gallon. Went thru 2 gallons and need to get some more. I am going to apply several coats on the garage walls around the tank also.

IT might be overkill but i think moisture protection is a good thing.

WesF · May 17, 2010

I had to repaint the interior wall because so my wife decided to paint it a slightly different color and make it an "accent" wall. I like how it turned out.

This weekend I am hoping to finish up the painting and get started on the plumbing, etc. I'll keep you updated.

Wes

WesF · May 17, 2010

ok sorry for the lack of updates...been too busy to take pictures and I only work on the tank on weekends.

I had acrylic pieces cut to cover the part of the tank that is underneath the wall. Sorry about the dust, I cleaned them before i put them in. I siliconed these in so no water can get in the wall.

Return plumbing

More return plumbing and flourescent light installed.

inactive · May 17, 2010

Whoa!

I-K@ndY · May 17, 2010

Nice Wes.. Now I can follow this thread here... Hope all is well there and post more pics.. So far all is looking good man

WesF · May 17, 2010

Finally finished plumbing. I probably killed alot of braincells w/ PVC primer and glue. I hope it doesnt leak.

Painted boards for lighting.

Aquaillumination 1x80w T5 HO retro w/ ATI blue plus bulb. R2 Extreme LED moonlights.

Installed

BuyTheReef · May 17, 2010

Thats awesome. Looks great. Welcome to R2R.

WesF · May 17, 2010

I-K@ndY said:
Nice Wes.. Now I can follow this thread here... Hope all is well there and post more pics.. So far all is looking good man

Thanks Steve, Great to hear from you.

More pics coming!

WesF · May 17, 2010

Ballast/Control board installed and cable hider stuff installed. You can also see the board on the ceiling where the MH pendants will hang. I forgot S hooks and didnt want to go back to the hardware store today...AGAIN.

Also got new garage shelves from Lowes and put it together and tried to clean up the garage a bit.

Thats it for this weekend. Next weekend i hope to fill her up and do a leak test.

WesF · May 17, 2010

tank is filled up and running...sort of.

I still have more work to do but at least i have water sand and rocks in there...
I wanted a very open scape with plenty of swimming room for the fish. I like open aquascapes. I get better flow throughout the tank and I don't need to cover every inch of the tank w/ lighting...

I used 1/2" fiberglass rods to create pillars. I got this idea from Sanjay on reefcentral.

These pics were taken with the 1 x 80w ATI blue plus T5 HO. I have not hung the MH pendants yet.

WesF · May 17, 2010

sump w/ some leftover marco rocks

WesF · May 17, 2010

Ok it's been a while since I have updated so here are a few more pics.

I have the lumenbrights hung and tried to "hide" the cables as much as I could.

I ordered some black acy-lite sheets to go around the sides and back. Right now i have them held up w/ black tape. Eventually i might get some powerful magnets to make removal for maintenance easier.

Also as you can see I have the QT system up and running.

jeremym · May 17, 2010

Great work!

WesF · May 17, 2010

The QT tank is a 30g breeder i got from a friend. It has been drilled so I didnt fill it up all the way. Also please disregard the unevenness. Next time i drain for a big water change ill try to shim it a bit.

The QT system consists of
30g breeder
2x koralia 1's
1 large sponge filter w/ Rena Air pump
3 pieces of extra MarcoRock
200w heater.
AGA 36" flourescent light that came w/ my 65g tank. I never took it out of the box for years...Then i realized it was a perfect fit for this QT tank.

The first additions.

10x blue/green chromis from TFR. Every fish will go through QT before entering the 250g. All fish will recieve Prazipro and Cupramine treatments during their time in QT.