Mike’s 300 gallon In-Wall Tank and Fish Room Build

[Mike Jenkins]

Hello fellow reef2reefs! I am new to the forum but have been soaking up its information for months now.

I am in the early stages of my dream tank build: A 300 gallon (72x36x27) in wall with full fish room. The tank will be viewable from the rec room of our finished basement and will be accessible from the rear with a 13’x9’ finished fish room.

The tank has been ordered from customaquariums.com. I should be taking delivery by end of Feb/first of March. The sump is also on order from synergy reef.

The fish room was sheet rocked this week and I have finished building the main structure of the stand.

My previous tanks were a 46 gallon bow front (converted from freshwater) basic softie tank. I then upgraded to a 120 mixed reef with a basement sump room in our previous house. Less than 6 months into that tank we were pregnant with child number 2 and had decided to build a new house. The tank struggled from my lack of attention during the house build and when it was time to move into the new house I attempted a tank move but unfortunately the livestock did not survive. This was disheartening and soured me to the hobby for awhile. Fast forward 3.5 years and I have the bug again! Kids are at the right age to enjoy it with me, life has stabilized, and I am ready to take this nice and slow and fully prepared for the time and money this is going take to be successful!

Here are some pics of the progress of the fish room thus far: (Not much to look at...yet)

 

[Deep dive coral]

Very nice. I love that tank size. The build I just did/still doing a 350 72x37.5x30.5. There is a ton of info on this site. All you got to do is ask. I'm now on stage 2 of the cycle. So I cant wait to start stocking.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

The support stand for the tank has been completed also. It is 42” tall and is constructed of 2x material with 3/4” plywood for the top and bottom. All 2x’s were ripped out of 2x10 SYP floor joists. I jointed and planed all members before construction to insure everything was straight and true. (My other hobby is woodworking.)

I laminated three 2x6 for the rear top rail as an attempt to avoid needing a center post which would block access to the sump. I will monitor deflection on the stand during the initial leak test of the tank. If any deflection is observed, I will be adding the middle post!

The “show-side” of the stand will be skinned with a poplar face frame (and doors) and plywood sides once the stand is in place and secured to the wall.

The wider side posts are where the stand will secure to the wall. 12” of the tank will protrude into the room.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Very nice. I love that tank size. The build I just did/still doing a 350 72x37.5x30.5. There is a ton of info on this site. All you got to do is ask. I'm now on stage 2 of the cycle. So I cant wait to start stocking.

Thanks for the reply! I will definitely check out your build thread.

 

[zalick]

Welcome! Awesome looking build out! I have tank of same dimensions and a 42" stand as well. Great size!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

This is my inspiration for how I would like the tank to finish out in the room. I will be adding doors above and below the tank though.

I like how it protrudes some from the wall for partial side viewing. But, enough of the tank is still recessed into the fish room so that I can mount the EcoTech dry sides out of site.

 

[Deep dive coral]

Very nice. Great idea

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Welcome! Awesome looking build out! I have tank of same dimensions and a 42" stand as well. Great size!

Thanks for the affirmation on the stand height. It feels a little tall now that it’s built but I keep telling myself I want to view it standing up not crouching down! The kids will just have to use a stool. With 9ft ceilings in the room it makes the canopy height almost equal to the stand height.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

A sketch up drawing I did before building the stand

 

[Mike Jenkins]

And two more pics for tonight: the sink that will be going in the fish room and my water change station (I had to work on something while I was waiting on the drywaller

 

[Jagg]

Hello fellow reef2reefs! I am new to the forum but have been soaking up its information for months now.

I am in the early stages of my dream tank build: A 300 gallon (72x36x27) in wall with full fish room. The tank will be viewable from the rec room of our finished basement and will be accessible from the rear with a 13’x9’ finished fish room.

The tank has been ordered from customaquariums.com. I should be taking delivery by end of Feb/first of March. The sump is also on order from synergy reef.

The fish room was sheet rocked this week and I have finished building the main structure of the stand.

My previous tanks were a 46 gallon bow front (converted from freshwater) basic softie tank. I then upgraded to a 120 mixed reef with a basement sump room in our previous house. Less than 6 months into that tank we were pregnant with child number 2 and had decided to build a new house. The tank struggled from my lack of attention during the house build and when it was time to move into the new house I attempted a tank move but unfortunately the livestock did not survive. This was disheartening and soured me to the hobby for awhile. Fast forward 3.5 years and I have the bug again! Kids are at the right age to enjoy it with me, life has stabilized, and I am ready to take this nice and slow and fully prepared for the time and money this is going take to be successful!

Here are some pics of the progress of the fish room thus far: (Not much to look at...yet)

Looks lovely very nice job. Personally speaking I would go bigger, do away with the stand and put the tank on the floor rested on 100mm structural grade styrene. May sound odd but 1) it insulates and 2) it ain’t half strong. Comes in different grades of compressive strength. I just finished building a 3 storey concrete house on a 300mm styrene slab and it ain’t sunk yet. It’s also what I will be sitting my 1800g on. Just off the insulated concrete slab. I’m envious of the fish room. I’m making do with my garage.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Looks lovely very nice job. Personally speaking I would go bigger, do away with the stand and put the tank on the floor rested on 100mm structural grade styrene. May sound odd but 1) it insulates and 2) it ain’t half strong. Comes in different grades of compressive strength. I just finished building a 3 storey concrete house on a 300mm styrene slab and it ain’t sunk yet. It’s also what I will be sitting my 1800g on. Just off the insulated concrete slab. I’m envious of the fish room. I’m making do with my garage.

Sounds exciting! But 1800g isn’t in the cards for me and I want to be able to work inside my tank without a scuba mask

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Update time!!

Fish room is coming along: Sheetrock, trim, painting, flooring, electrical, ventilation, and plumbing are complete. And the stand base is permanently in place. I will be skinning it with plywood/doors/trim and building a canopy once the tank is in place. I will be building cabinets/counter in fish room on wall opposite the tank for supplies, quarantine tanks, frag tank, etc but I haven’t quite decided how I want to design it yet.

So far all work has been done myself (except the Sheetrock, I can’t finish Sheetrock to save my butt!).

The tank is scheduled for delivery tomorrow and the synergy reef sump is supposed to ship out this week!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Forks purchased and installed on tractor ready for the tank delivery tomorrow. The tank will need to be moved from our driveway all the way around the house to our basement covered patio. There it will be drilled and the back painted black. Then I will have to figure out how to get it in the house and up onto the stand!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

110lbs of rock from my old 120g acid cured and currently being bleach cured. Another 180lbs of Marco’s reef saver from BRS scheduled for delivery on Thursday.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Tank arrived and I managed to get it around and in the house by myself! Tractor and pvc pipe for rollers to the rescue!

I’m still waiting on the sump and shadow overflow from synergy reef before I drill the tank. Hopefully it’ll arrive in the next week. I might go ahead and paint the back and sides this weekend.

 

[AJsReef]

Looks like a great start! Love the fish room and floor drain. Where did the sq footage come from, the garage?

 

[Wrangy]

Daannngg that fish room is such a clean setup! Looks unreal mate!!

Can't wait to see the tank in place though!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Looks like a great start! Love the fish room and floor drain. Where did the sq footage come from, the garage?

The space was a portion of the unfinished part of our basement. When we built the house 3 years ago I knew that one day it would probably become a fish room so we had them put in a floor drain and rough-in for a sink. We also have an extra washer hookup just outside the fish room for filter socks. The wife is happy about that one!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Daannngg that fish room is such a clean setup! Looks unreal mate!!

Can't wait to see the tank in place though!

Thanks! Getting the tank to the stand wasn’t so bad by myself but to get it up on the stand I’m going to have to call in some favors for extra man power!