Crazyju's 10fter build

[Crazyju]

Tank is ordered! 120" x48" x30" with a 96"x24"x18" sump. I am going to build a short stand to raise the aquarium enough for plumbing and wires to run under aquarium.


About ready to pull the trigger and order a 670 acrylic tank 120"x48"x30" but I have a unique install location. This tank is going in wall in entertainment room in the basement. I have a 3ft tall and 4ft wide knee wall solid concrete area behind the installation location that currently serves as a mechanical area. My current plan is to would put the tank on the concrete (with foam) and that would leave the bottom of tank about 3' 2" off of the floor. My sump area would be to the right of it and would be around 4ft x10ft. My issue is how to plumb this tank with no access to bottom or rear of tank. Rear of tank will be against a block wall. I plan to have back and both sides solid black and would like overflows and returns on each ends. I thought about maybe building a raised platform and running under tank, but concerned on access. Any thoughts or suggestions? This is going to be a mixed reef with fish.

 

[slogan315]

if im understanding right, the issue is the left side plumbing would have to run under the tank to make it back to the sump on the right…

Assuming this is true, you could change it up a little and do a large external overflow just on the right where you need gravity, and run your return plumbing above the tank to the left.

 

[Crazyju]

Thats a good Idea. Thanks. Would 2 return pumps be better than splitting one?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I have always ran two return pumps. Always. If they weren’t on my LiFePo4 backup battery system, I’d have them on different circuits too. With a 10 foot tank, event though if you are going dual overflows, you have to push a bit. Q1) are you doing any closed loops? Q2) are your overflows going to be on the short sides similar to a peninsula?

When Joe built my tank, I almost did dual overflows like a peninsula, but I ran into permitting issues with the addition, so I relocated the tank to my dining room, which unfortunately gave me a 12x16 fish room too :) but, I was working out how to move water from the center out (96”x36”) with out a power head. Loops are your friend. Even though I wound up not doing that design, my size is the same as my original and I don’t have any lower heads blocking view (for the most part). I’m using 3 loops. But I did learn early on that with a peninsula style tank, how you dump your returns can require some creativity. I did the conventional return early on. But, one day I forgot to plug my ATO back in. Both my returns start sucking air and I watched as most of the bubbles tablet came out of my returns went right back up into my overflow box. So, I completely replumbed my returns to dump on my display side from above. That itself was a game changer. Very noticeable. Both my rollers went ape poop and burned up a bunch of fleece. I spent 7 months working poop out and still missed a few things. I’m jealous of your 4 foot width. My next tank will be much much wider. Looking forward to watching this unfold. My build thread is a couple down from yours.

 

[Crazyju]

My tank will be in wall sitting on a concrete ledge. The plan now is for one external overflow on the right side and the returns will have to run over the tank to the left side. The tank will be against a block wall so I will not have access to the rear or under the tank. I would love to have closed loops with nothing in the tank, but I am not sure how that would work. This is what I am working with

 

[Crazyju]

Tank ordered! Time to start ordering equipment. Talk to the builder for quite a while and think we have a solid plan for the plumbing and sump.

 

[Wonkabar]

This is going to be awesome. Definitely following along here.

 

[Crazyju]

The tank will be centered on this wall

 

[Crazyju]

This is my upteenth tank, but I have never used UV or Ozone. Any suggestions on each?

 

[Wonkabar]

This is my upteenth tank, but I have never used UV or Ozone. Any suggestions on each?

I absolutely love running UV. I am partial to Aqua UV since I have found they last much longer.

 

[Crazyju]

I am wrapping up ordering the stand. They came up with a pretty good design and will raise the aquarium 12" on the ledge. What would you use under the tank to cover the stand?

 

[Wonkabar]

I am wrapping up ordering the stand. They came up with a pretty good design and will raise the aquarium 12" on the ledge. What would you use under the tank to cover the stand?

I used magnets that I attached to the back of cabinet doors. Then I put plates on the rally for the magnets to attach to.

 

[Crazyju]

Stand has shipped, will be delivered on Monday. Time to start tearing down walls! The stand top will be covered in black 1/2" HDPE. Would you use a foam mat as well? If so what size and type?

 

[Crazyju]

Stand was delivered today. Frametech was great to work with and delivered in exactly 3 weeks.

 

[Crazyju]

Construction of the tank has begun! Ordered on April 9.

 

[Crazyju]

Removed the wall this weekend and assembled the stand. The stand is a beast. It was a little tough to assemble but it is solid.

 

[McPuff]

You read 120 x 48 x 30 and think, "that's a great size tank." Then you see the stand with a person on it and the thinking changes to, "That is going to be a huge tank!" Looking forward to seeing it!

 

[royaleFork]

Any special stocking plans?

 

[Crazyju]

Any special stocking plans?

It will be a mixed reef, but light stocked for a tank this size. I plan to only light 3 islands with shaded area in between. Plan to have plenty of room for the fish to swim.

 

[Crazyju]

Mini Split and Sink installed.