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

[Mike Jenkins]

I've dabbled around on the 8020 website, but nothing too serious yet. Now that I have the light at home, it's feeling more urgent. So you have a schematic of the 8020 portion? How are you attaching the Kessils to the 8020? I just started sketching mine out this last weekend, and dang....the amount of options on the website is a little overwhelming.

This was my order:

I plan to use these two brackets for attaching the lights. Left bracket for the kessils and right bracket for the reefbrites.

Don’t make any decisions based on this info yet though. I’ll let you know how it goes once I try to put it all together. I spent hours on their website, I hope I made the right choices. I ordered 9 days ago but order still says “processing”. Apparently, it’s a 10-12 day lead time on anything black anodized. I’m anxious to receive the order,I’ve been too spoiled by Amazon and BRS regarding shipping times.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

I've dabbled around on the 8020 website, but nothing too serious yet. Now that I have the light at home, it's feeling more urgent. So you have a schematic of the 8020 portion? How are you attaching the Kessils to the 8020? I just started sketching mine out this last weekend, and dang....the amount of options on the website is a little overwhelming.

This was my “sketch” for ordering though it probably doesn’t make sense to anyone but me.

 

[BAPrince]

Oh, I UNDERSTAND. This was my first rough sketch over coffee this morning. Then I got lost on the website looking at brackets, braces, etc

 

[beenum123]

I think I have finally decided on a final design for the control boards. There will be a total of 6 control boards. (The 6th board, not shown, will be on the perpendicular wall next to the RODI system and will house my 24" touchscreen monitor and minipc.) The board in the lower right will have a deep shelf on the bottom to house the Trident or any other additional equipment that may be added in the future. I won't have this many pumps and modules initially but this leaves plenty of room for further expansion (hopefully). Now to start building!

How did you put this together - this is so helpful for me planning my build.

 

[beenum123]

I think I have finally decided on a final design for the control boards. There will be a total of 6 control boards. (The 6th board, not shown, will be on the perpendicular wall next to the RODI system and will house my 24" touchscreen monitor and minipc.) The board in the lower right will have a deep shelf on the bottom to house the Trident or any other additional equipment that may be added in the future. I won't have this many pumps and modules initially but this leaves plenty of room for further expansion (hopefully). Now to start building!

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I've looked at tons of build threads, and this is my favorite. I plan to model my equipment build and room after yours. This is the most well thought out build I have seen.

How did you put this diagram together? - this is so helpful for me planning my build. Do you have any more plumbing diagrams?

 

[Mike Jenkins]

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I've looked at tons of build threads, and this is my favorite. I plan to model my equipment build and room after yours. This is the most well thought out build I have seen.

How did you put this diagram together? - this is so helpful for me planning my build. Do you have any more plumbing diagrams?

Thank you! I am a architectural draftsman by trade. I used my CAD software to draw everything out to scale, down to every plumbing fitting. Tedious, but very helpful for me because I do my best brainstorming and troubleshooting inside the CAD software.

 

[beenum123]

Thats awesome. I know you may consider it proprietary, so certainly no pressure, but would you consider sharing the CAD files? Would be a great starting point for my project, which i'm modeling after yours (only that it will be 28" instead of 36").

Thanks!
Muneeb

 

[rwreef]

Awesome build. I am working on a upgrade to a 84"x30x25" peninsula build and fish room update. I am taking notes!

 

[Chrisfish]

Still making progress, slowly.

After seeing Ryan at BRS aquascaping and watching his Facebook series on negative space aquascaping I knew I had to do this for my tank. A month later and a couple hundred dollars in superglues, mortar, and sand these are the final results. Close to being ready for saltwater; making the RO water now.

This build is absolutely beautiful and I love the rock scape!!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Thats awesome. I know you may consider it proprietary, so certainly no pressure, but would you consider sharing the CAD files? Would be a great starting point for my project, which i'm modeling after yours (only that it will be 28" instead of 36").

Thanks!
Muneeb

I don’t mind sharing the drawings, but I may be the only one who could interpret them, they are just 2d diagrams. I understood my intentions, but not sure anyone else would, but you can try! I’ll try to export them to jpg and post them on here sometime this weekend.

 

[rwreef]

Thank you! I am a architectural draftsman by trade. I used my CAD software to draw everything out to scale, down to every plumbing fitting. Tedious, but very helpful for me because I do my best brainstorming and troubleshooting inside the CAD software.

As an Engineer and former full time Draftsman. I 100% use CAD to also plan out all my projects. I'm glad I don't have to do board drafting anymore! Nice to know other people also nerd out in CAD.

I need those cabinet build files! Sweet cabinet work...well done!

I like to use Fusion360 for 3D stuff...and AutoCad for 2D.

 

[ReefSakes]

Such a nice build out!!

 

[beenum123]

I don’t mind sharing the drawings, but I may be the only one who could interpret them, they are just 2d diagrams. I understood my intentions, but not sure anyone else would, but you can try! I’ll try to export them to jpg and post them on here sometime this weekend.

Thank!!!

 

[primo21]

Do you have a consolidated equipment list? planning a 300 and would like to compare my list to yours. specifically temperature control and water movement. also, how many #s of rock and sand. and apex modules. thanks.

 

[beenum123]

Sounds like this build has become many folk's favorite!

 

[Woodneers]

Read this 9 different times and now im finally gonna post so i get notified of new posts! Amazing work!

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Thats awesome. I know you may consider it proprietary, so certainly no pressure, but would you consider sharing the CAD files? Would be a great starting point for my project, which i'm modeling after yours (only that it will be 28" instead of 36").

Thanks!
Muneeb

So here are jpegs of my plumbing diagram and materials list. I don't know if you'll be able to make heads or tails of the drawings, I really only drew them where they would make sense to me, wasn't planning on anyone else needing to interpret. It's really 5 different systems transposed and intertwined with each other. I moved 4 of the systems off to the sides jsut so it was a little easier to see. I only drew them in 2d so it was faster and easier for me. You can kind of see what's going on in the y-direction by looking at the top view. You should be able to piece it together by looking at the drawings and comparing to the materials list. Some of this may have changed during the build, but I don't recall all of the details as its been about 8 months since I did the plumbing, so proceed at your own risk Any specific questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Read this 9 different times and now im finally gonna post so i get notified of new posts! Amazing work!

Welcome to the party! The very very slow moving party....

 

[Mike Jenkins]

Do you have a consolidated equipment list? planning a 300 and would like to compare my list to yours. specifically temperature control and water movement. also, how many #s of rock and sand. and apex modules. thanks.

I do not have a consolidated list. I may go back in the future and add one but probably no time soon.

For your specific questions: I have two 600w BRS titanium heaters (now I realize this is overkill for my indoor climate, but it still works). I have an inkbird controller for one and a BRS controller for the other (BRS was out of stock when I decided to use two.) The apex handles the majority of the on and off, the controllers are just there for redundancy, set to turn off at higher temps than the apex. The first heater is set at 78.0-78.5 in the apex, and the 2nd heater is set at 77.7-78.2 in the apex. The first heater cycles on 6-7 times a day, the 2nd one has yet to be needed.

For rock and sand: No sand, and I started with about 300# of marcos rock and some pukani I already had. I used much less than half of that to create my aquascape and have the rest in a remote "sump" (two brute trash cans in an adjoining unfinished part of my basement) that is tied into my return system.

For apex modules: I currently have three FMMs for ATO, optical sensors in my storage tanks and for flow sensors. I also have a VDM for the reefbrite VHO lights. More may be added in the future for additional temp and ph probes, not sure yet.

For water movement in the tank I have 2-MP60s and 4-MP40s. The 2 return pumps are Reef Octopus varios-8s. And I have another Varios-8 for the UV closed loop.

Any other specific questions, feel free to ask.

 

[CorbetJackson50]

just wow! Taking notes!