OrionM
New Member
Hello all. Starting my journal on this project. I have had a couple of tanks before, but its been over 15 years and nothing as ambitious as this one. We have been renovating our house for years, and I restructured the living room to house an in-wall tank. The first picture is the display view from the living room, and the others show the "closet" i built behind it with access from the garage. I put two separate circuits in the room during electrical, and as you can see, added a utility sink for cleanup and so water supply and wastewater is near by. I built a powder-coated metal stand into the framing that I got from ECon Welding. There is an HVAC register in there so that there should be a general equality of temperature. I just added that piece of 3/4" Advantech subflooring for the decking, as we used it during the house build and that stuff is great.
I may need to add some thin Hardiboard where you can see the back side of the living room sheetrock exposed above and below, or paint it with some moisture resistant paint like we did the studs that are in black. Otherwise, hopefully I am done with the infrastructure.
So the rough opening is enough to house a 96l x24w x30h display. I have now been spending many hours reading this forum and watching BRS videos to develop the rest of the plan. Other than the tank size, I "know" that I want:
- Exterior overflow tank, probably on the side just above the sink;
- Fleece roller, probably the Red Sea one, for large particles;
- Protein skimmer;
- A refugium. I really like the idea of that being part of the ecosystem;
- The lighting on a hinged bracket that can be tilted up against the wall above for clear access over the tank.
Otherwise, I am still completely in research mode and open to different paths. I had read about various reactors, algae scrubbers, bio balls and the like, but I don't want to make a rookie mistake of adding too many different things right away. And as I have not yet developed what stock I want outside of stating generically a "mixed reef tank" I don't even know what extras I need, and from what I read, may not know for a couple of years while the tank matures. The only for-sure on stock, is the pair of clownfish I have in a 15g holding tank that I took from my step-son when he broke his tank down a while back to move, and they are desperate for better accommodations.
Right now my biggest concern is trying to understand and get the right amount of flow, and thus the sump. The carboard cutout on the floor in the 2nd picture is me trying to see if the dimensions of the Bashsea Pro Series 60 could be angled in (it can't
). Because it is a metal stand, there is no removing the brace, which leaves me with only about 43" from the back, a bit more with a much smaller amount of angle-ing. If I get a sump that is no more than 16" wide/deep (the Bashsea is 18"), I should be able get it in through the opening on the end, although then it will have to be angled upward, because the wall is only about 4" from the end, just outside the picture.
So I am on the hunt for the perfect sump that is large enough to handle that size of display but that I can get under the stand. I may have to get a custom one built. I am not going to skimp on this as I have been want to do this for years, so something like a Hmahli won't scare me off, but I am more afraid of not really knowing what to tell them I need that is "future-proof" enough for my inevitable mistakes.
Then my next step/worry is the tank itself, not necessarily the buying of it, but I want to hire someone to drill the holes for the overflow tank (and I haven't determined holes for the return), and deliver it and get it into place. But I don't want to hire a turnkey installer; I am excited about putting the puzzle together myself. The plumbing for example doesn't worry me, and as I am pretty handy, I know I could drill the holes, I just really, really don't want to. There is a video online of a guy drilling the holes on his tank and he pushes through with the bit too hard at the end and chips everything up. It gives me nightmares. So I need to source someone to prep the display and get it in place so I can take over from there.
So this is the start...thanks for reading. Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.
I may need to add some thin Hardiboard where you can see the back side of the living room sheetrock exposed above and below, or paint it with some moisture resistant paint like we did the studs that are in black. Otherwise, hopefully I am done with the infrastructure.
So the rough opening is enough to house a 96l x24w x30h display. I have now been spending many hours reading this forum and watching BRS videos to develop the rest of the plan. Other than the tank size, I "know" that I want:
- Exterior overflow tank, probably on the side just above the sink;
- Fleece roller, probably the Red Sea one, for large particles;
- Protein skimmer;
- A refugium. I really like the idea of that being part of the ecosystem;
- The lighting on a hinged bracket that can be tilted up against the wall above for clear access over the tank.
Otherwise, I am still completely in research mode and open to different paths. I had read about various reactors, algae scrubbers, bio balls and the like, but I don't want to make a rookie mistake of adding too many different things right away. And as I have not yet developed what stock I want outside of stating generically a "mixed reef tank" I don't even know what extras I need, and from what I read, may not know for a couple of years while the tank matures. The only for-sure on stock, is the pair of clownfish I have in a 15g holding tank that I took from my step-son when he broke his tank down a while back to move, and they are desperate for better accommodations.
Right now my biggest concern is trying to understand and get the right amount of flow, and thus the sump. The carboard cutout on the floor in the 2nd picture is me trying to see if the dimensions of the Bashsea Pro Series 60 could be angled in (it can't
). Because it is a metal stand, there is no removing the brace, which leaves me with only about 43" from the back, a bit more with a much smaller amount of angle-ing. If I get a sump that is no more than 16" wide/deep (the Bashsea is 18"), I should be able get it in through the opening on the end, although then it will have to be angled upward, because the wall is only about 4" from the end, just outside the picture.So I am on the hunt for the perfect sump that is large enough to handle that size of display but that I can get under the stand. I may have to get a custom one built. I am not going to skimp on this as I have been want to do this for years, so something like a Hmahli won't scare me off, but I am more afraid of not really knowing what to tell them I need that is "future-proof" enough for my inevitable mistakes.
Then my next step/worry is the tank itself, not necessarily the buying of it, but I want to hire someone to drill the holes for the overflow tank (and I haven't determined holes for the return), and deliver it and get it into place. But I don't want to hire a turnkey installer; I am excited about putting the puzzle together myself. The plumbing for example doesn't worry me, and as I am pretty handy, I know I could drill the holes, I just really, really don't want to. There is a video online of a guy drilling the holes on his tank and he pushes through with the bit too hard at the end and chips everything up. It gives me nightmares. So I need to source someone to prep the display and get it in place so I can take over from there.
So this is the start...thanks for reading. Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.
