210 Gallon In-Wall Tsunami Build

[MustaLine]

Had a variety of fresh and salt water tanks over the years and about a 20 year hiatus since the last one. Building a house, and with the blessing of the one that matters most, installing a 210 gallon mixed reef tank in wall, see-through with main entryway hallway on one side and my office on the other. Fish, LPS, Softies and who knows SPS eventually.

If that's not just awesome I'm also installing a beer tapper in the kitchen sink! Ahhh I digress, that's for a different site/thread...

Please comment and provide insight as this proceeds!


The tank is on it's way from FishTanksDirect, delivery next week.
In wall, two sides exposed 210g Tsunami (60x30x30) Acrylic
Internal overflow with 1" Bean drain setup
(2) 1" returns on the opposite end
Sump will go directly below in basement (12' head height)


Just starting, looking ahead -

1 - Take what you think what this will cost, add 20% and then double it in the first year.
2 - I want to enjoy the tank daily, not tend to it. Automate what I can. (BRS "ULM" tank)
3 - This will be Apex focused. Controller, ATO, DOS for AWC etc. Trident eventually?
4 - Patience is the key. I'm nearing retirement and in this for the long haul.


Next Steps -
Sump
Water Mixing
ATO
DOS AWC
Quarantine setup


Sump (nothing purchased)
Shooting for 500 - 750g/h flow (2x or 3x)
40g breeder? standard glass tank, 4 sections
Hard Plumbing with manifold for future reactors
Rollermat - Theiling Compact? (no socks)
Skimmer - Bubble magnus?
Fuge section - Lighting for this?
(2) Apex Cor20 run to two independent 1" returns?

Water Mixing (have the RODI nothing else)
7 stage RODI 200g/day
(2) 65g storage tanks (30% of tank)
Lot's of videos available for this (Mr Saltwater Aquarium comes to mind)

ATO - APEX
20g tank right size?

AWC - APEX DOS auto water change
Once the mixing station is running

Quarantine tank
20g tank right size?
Second 20 gallon for coral quarantine?

 

[DiefsReef]

Sounds like it will be a great build. Not pushing my thread but look at my thread and see if you get some ideas. I'm still working on it but it will be a lot like what you are working on. I went the 40 Breeder and kinda regret it now. bought the Coralvue Klir but had to modify the kit I put in. Not all sump kits are the same and I found it more then a pain to get built. I wont buy one again. I will buy a pre built sump with what I want.
Been a year long build for me so far but I dont regret any of it. I have learned along the way and getting a setup that I will enjoy and maint will be as easy as I can make it.

Take your time, enjoy the build and enjoy the hobby. Welcome to R2R!!
BTW, Love the drawings! Wish I had the software to make them.

 

[MustaLine]

Thanks for your reply and kind words. Your tank looks great, wood working too!

I'm definitely stuck on the sump, I know I don't want socks. The manufactured sumps look great and can accommodate a variety of roller mat solutions but the price tag reflects it.

Drawings were all AutoCad. Tank is being delivered today 3/31/21!

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Tagged

 

[MustaLine]

New tank arrived from FishTanksDirect. Packaged for transport really well. Arrived intact, no scratches, dents or bruises. Had the guys fork lift it into the house, ready to go on top of the in-wall stand.

We used some left over laminated beam for support so it can hold a truck without having a center support post. This left me with a 55 wide, 27 high, 28 deep opening for a sump. I'm re-thinking the sump in the basement and will likely go with one under the tank because of the access I have to it.

 

[AbdominalSnowman]

Looks nice! You’ll love it, I had a similar tank (60X30X24) built by them.

 

[MustaLine]

Thanks! Glad you have had good luck with yours. What's the distance between the top of your sump and bottom of the stand?

Finished the stand today and got the tank up on it.

 

[Aardvark1134]

I have a tank on the way from them also. Only mine is a 360 Gallon tsunami and still like 4-5 weeks from delivery. You should be really happy with their tank. Just pay attention when you clean it and all will be good.

 

[MustaLine]

The tank itself looks really well made. It will be interesting to follow your 360 progress. I'm about 4-5 weeks from moving into my house and starting on my tank. What will you use to clean your tank? Lot's of options out there...

 

[Aardvark1134]

The tank itself looks really well made. It will be interesting to follow your 360 progress. I'm about 4-5 weeks from moving into my house and starting on my tank. What will you use to clean your tank? Lot's of options out there...

On the outside or inside? On the outside of my last acrylic tank (had 13 years) I used this http://www.brillianize.com/Pages/LandingPages/acrylic.html
and after 13 years still was almost perfect.

On the inside I used an 1 size oversized magfloat for acylic (I didn't have sand and new tank won't either) I upsize it 1 more size than needed so it is extra strong to get off the tough stuff

 

[Ronin87]

For your ATO:

Instead of a 20g ATO Tank, can you plumb it directly from the RODI Storage Bin? Especially since you are running a APEX System?

Trying to work through this on my small build.

 

[MustaLine]

It seems like that would be the easiest but from what I have read you don't want an unlimited supply of RODI water available in case a valve or something fails and floods your tank with fresh water. With the 20gallon ATO my sump should be able to take most of it without overflowing and the salinity would drop but not enough to wipe out the tank.

Seems like there should be a way to hook it direct but I think this all falls under the "...everything will eventually break..." rule. Plan for when it does and prevent the catastrophe before it happens.

 

[Aardvark1134]

Agree a $20 tank from petco makes a perfect ATO just put a lid on it. I would never leave an unlimited supply on relying on float to not destroy my tank and house

 

[mattgsa]

Great build, really looking forward to seeing it come together.

 

[count krunk]

I would go bigger on the sump. Just remember, you need enough space to be able to drain the top .5-3" from your display tank.

Good idea on the ato, better to run dry then flood.

 

[MustaLine]

It took 2 years to get there with lots of great info from this site and the help from many of you. I finally have my tank up and running with 2 clowns, 2 Hippo tangs and small CUC. Tank cycled and fish went in after QT in January 2023. Water is now finally "stable", about a year later. Will be adding more CUC, fish and start with some "easy" corals soon.

My goal when this started was to be able to vacation for a week to 10 days without a tank crash. I tried to automate what I could and now glad I did it up front. The automation has been a game changer for me. No more socks, daily top off or weekly water changes. I know not everyone can cough the cash for automation etc. I couldn't 20 years ago, but can and did now and it really is great if you can manage it.


Here is where my build is at.


Tank - 210 gallon (60x30x30).
Love the look of it and it fit my space for it really well. The flipper float cleans the acrylic easily but it's difficult to clean the gravel line because I can only reach it with a with a long scraper tool. I auto feed TDO chroma pellets 2 times per day, frozen or live once in addition to the pellets when I'm around. Two Neptune Sky lights.

Tropic Marin Pro salt, not dosing anything.

Temp - 79.5
SG - 1.026
Nitrate - 1.5
Phos - 0.15
Calcium - 410
Dkh - 7
Mag - 1350

Sump - 40 Gallon Trigger Platinum
Love the fleece roller. The 2 Cor 20 pumps do fit in the return section but at 12' head height they are running at 100% all the time. Still I'm glad I put this is the basement so I'm not on my hands and knees all the time. Maybe would have done a different pump setup for the 12' height.

Water Mixing (2) 65 gallon tanks
This site was very helpful with the setup. I changed the manual drains from what I saw to come out the bottom instead of in front of it to avoid breaking them off. Iwaki pump controlled through the apex, periodically mixes the storage tank.

Neptune ATO
Petco 20 gallon high with top. Neptune LLS in the ATO calls for water at the 5" level and shuts off at 12". APEX programming shuts down the fill if it runs longer than expected. I have several leak sensors and drains around the sump should something overflow. Similar programming to stop the ATO filling the DT if it runs longer than expected or the upper sensor gets covered.


Neptune DOS AWC
Game changer for sure. Changing 1 gallon per day from 8AM - 8PM. I think this has really helped with parameter stability. Top off and water changes were always something I meant to do next weekend...

QT - Petco 20 gallon high
Drilled an overflow in the QT tank and ran the outflow from the DT AWC into the QT tank. Added a bypass to the drain when I'm treating the QT with copper etc.


Brine Shrimp Grow Out
Used another Petco 20 Gallon high for brine shrimp grow out tank. Had a couple of failures there. The tank was too clean to begin with. I didn't have success until there was fair amount of algae growth. I feed the shrimp with spirulina so they have "some" nutritional value. Fish sure seem to like the live food.

We are in an area with less than reliable power so I went ahead with a standby Generac generator. Runs the whole house including the tanks. Starts automatically in about 20 seconds. Peace of mind about 15 times already in the last couple of years. Twice when we were out of town.


I really appreciate the help from the folks here. This too has been a game changer in my reef understanding and problem solving that didn't exist 20 years ago.

THANK YOU ALL!