DangerDave’s 160 gallon reef in wall build

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hello R2R! After a few posts and a lot of reading I began putting together my build, and this is the thread I’ll use to document it.

I already had a 120 gallon tank that was set up as a saltwater estuary. It was a 60x18x26 tank from one of the big box pet stores. It started as a freshwater tank, and I changed to the estuary after about 4 years. I went with this set up to mimic the environment I live in. It was successful for about 6 years. After a major mishap with that tank, it sat uninhabited (aside from a few hermits from the bay beach down the road)for almost a year.

I recently decided I wanted to try my hands at a reef tank. I’ve always admired them, and I have a couple friends with reef experience to lean on (and R2R of course!). I was originally going to use the tank I had, but I wanted to stop using the diy overflow system I made. Although it ran for years without an issue, I hated relying on an aqualifter to maintain the syphon on it. It was always a failure waiting to happen. I couldn’t drill the tank either since it was tempered glass.

I decided on a new tank, and had it built by Coast to Coast. I’m using my original stand that my father and I built in my garage that’s shows the tank in my family room. I had space unused on the stand, and went a little bigger on the new tank to have more space and fill out the stand. The new tanks measurement is 60x24x25.5. It uses a 18x5x12 scupper box for an overflow. The tank is drilled for 2 1” return lines, and 2 1.5” drains.

I initially asked for an overflow box in the tank, and I’m really happy I listened to the guys at C2C about the scupper. The scupper box frees up tank space, really gives it a nice clean look. The fellas at Coast to Coast really took care of me, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. Probably the best thing I can say about them is I would definitely spend my money with them again!

This is the first time I’ve ever taken the time to document a project before, so sorry if I jump around a bit. Ask me questions, I’m really excited to talk about it!

Dave (the dangerous kind [emoji23])
 
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Here are the pics of the tank, I picked it up on Halloween. My sons were out with their friends, and my friends were out with their kids, so I was on my own. I stopped at Home Depot and rented a package lifter.

2c376882cd881bdccc9181e31ba1fd0d.heic
117c51f744362a766c0166f5a74825d0.heic
1767df77db141a6db845e80d9469152b.heic
4ca6d10258850836bf1e5575d0222259.heic
b690a790c2860471954b0d39466c2cf6.heic
 
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’ve had the dry rock I purchased in a 100gallon container for a few weeks. I’m running a large canister filter, a circulation pump, and a bag of purigen. I recently added a skimz algae reactor a few days ago. I’m not reading any ammonia or nitrite in the water. The phosphates are there, but not too bad, but that’s what I started the algae reactor. I ran a diy algae scrubber in my last set up, this is going to be waaaay easier to maintain.


9b66baa65afe3040a04db3e64d984b10.heic
 
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I wanted to check in the Skimz algae reactor, see if there was much growth (I’m just anxious) and I found the light bar full of water.

1f45d41067f82a69247b164880698e2c.heic


Upon closer inspection I found a tiny hairline crack at the base. I inspected the light at before I used it. I’m not sure if I missed it, or if it cracked while it was running. it was really small, around a 1/4 long, and I could only see it by a certain angle. Maybe without the funk in there I couldn’t see it anyway.

I bought from BRS, so I’ll reach out to them first to see how to get a replacement.

Dave
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
For my sump I went with a Leviathan Reef 45 by Windrider creations. It’s very nice, it’s pretty, I got almost exactly what I wanted, it’s pretty, and I didn’t have to build it. Did I mention it’s pretty?

adad01c1eeae61ae50c829c05506f555.heic


It wasn’t exactly what was expected though. They did not include the heater holder or refugium lid as described on their website, but it did include a couple LEDs (which I don’t need). When I reached out to them, they told me “it was a product in development, and is constantly changing”. Kinda lame if you ask me, but its a nice unit still. The handles are on the lids aren’t sturdy, and have already broken off, which is fine. I can reattach, but I don’t think I will. They are not necessary.
 
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’m losing my mind waiting for the water mixing tanks. They’re supposed to ship Friday. If they don’t, I’m going to pick up a few brute cans and start making water that way....
 

Crimsonvice

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Messages
1,375
Reaction score
948
Location
Cincinnati
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome build so far. Bummer on the sump handles breaking, and no heater holder or refugium lid. You would think they would alter their description if it doesn't include it. Glad your still happy with it though. It does look pretty.
 
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome build so far. Bummer on the sump handles breaking, and no heater holder or refugium lid. You would think they would alter their description if it doesn't include it. Glad your still happy with it though. It does look pretty.

Thanks! Disappointed on the heater holder, the rest is no biggie.

I started hanging the water filter and apex stuff. I have a few parts coming in this weekend so I should have the water making set up, still need the tanks. I hope they make it here next week....

Dave
 

Crabs McJones

I'm so shi-nay
View Badges
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
27,292
Reaction score
138,256
Location
Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome set up, I have one potentially stupid question though...And forgive me as I am unfamiliar with tanks that are in wall mounted. But with the back and sides both painted/covered, how are you able to see what you're doing in the tank during maintenence ect.. with only just looking top down? This may be a stupid question but I know when i'm doing maintenence I'm always looking through the glass into the tank to see what i'm doing.

Thank you
 
OP
OP
DangerDave

DangerDave

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
2,048
Location
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awesome set up, I have one potentially stupid question though...And forgive me as I am unfamiliar with tanks that are in wall mounted. But with the back and sides both painted/covered, how are you able to see what you're doing in the tank during maintenence ect.. with only just looking top down? This may be a stupid question but I know when i'm doing maintenence I'm always looking through the glass into the tank to see what i'm doing.

Thank you

It’s a good question. It’s an issue I’ve had to deal with for years with my old tank. My wife (aka my shift manager [emoji23]) doesn’t want to see the garage. I deal with it just like you mentioned, only looking down. If I’ve needed help, I grab my wife or one of my boys. Either they yell to me, or we FaceTime so I can see what I’m doing through the phone screen. With my last tank I had a black background taped to it, the idea being that I could take it off for maintenance. Only did that once, since it was such a pain, which is why I went painted on this one.

The real pain is going to be the rock set up. I have a general idea of what I want it to look like, and it’s going to be a lot of back and forth as I place each one.
 

Crabs McJones

I'm so shi-nay
View Badges
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
27,292
Reaction score
138,256
Location
Wisconsin
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It’s a good question. It’s an issue I’ve had to deal with for years with my old tank. My wife (aka my shift manager [emoji23]) doesn’t want to see the garage. I deal with it just like you mentioned, only looking down. If I’ve needed help, I grab my wife or one of my boys. Either they yell to me, or we FaceTime so I can see what I’m doing through the phone screen. With my last tank I had a black background taped to it, the idea being that I could take it off for maintenance. Only did that once, since it was such a pain, which is why I went painted on this one.

The real pain is going to be the rock set up. I have a general idea of what I want it to look like, and it’s going to be a lot of back and forth as I place each one.
Thank you for answering my question :)
 
Back
Top