Osler's Odyssey

[Osler]

Let me pose a question to you. What would your aquarium look like if you spent 3-4 years planning it? Would you have a fish room? Would your aquarium be an integral component of your home that blended into your décor in an aesthetically pleasing manner? Would you have a special place for fish towels other than on the floor next to your tank? Follow along with me and I’ll show you what I came up with within the constraints of the layout of my house. For a little background on me and how I got to this point, please see my post in the Meet and Greet Forum here.

In 2004, my wife and I bought a little plot of land in North Texas and began construction of a house that we hoped to stay in at least until our children were through high school and off to college. We only had one daughter (Age 1) at the time but there was another one planned for the not-to-distant future. Construction of the house was completed 2005, which also happened to correspond to me shutting down my existing aquarium and going without a tank so we could get settled in the new house. During construction of our new home, my wife and I identified a wall in the family room where we could put an aquarium that also allowed access to a closet under the stairs. Can you say fish room?!

While the house was being framed, I had the builder rough-in a 48” (122 cm) header on the chosen wall that would make it easier for me to make an opening whenever I got around to installing an aquarium. Below is a close-up of the header as well as the potential tank wall in context to the remainder of the living space.

Header, close-up.

Header, relationship to living space.

For those of you who may have trouble visualizing the space without sheet rock/dry wall applied, here is a rendering in SketchUp to give you an idea of how that wall would look and the relation to access to the area under the stairs.

Wall for tank placement, viewed from breakfast bar.

Wall for tank placement, closet area access.

As you can see from the pictures, the height of the landing for the stairs precluded a full in-wall tank. This is most apparent in the framing pictures and also meant that the majority of what will become the fish room does not accommodate a normal sized adult in the fully upright position. As a result, I planned for a partially in-wall tank. The idea was to have the tank recessed ~4” (10 cm) into the wall with the remainder jutting out into the room as a traditional aquarium would look. This approach would allow for a deeper tank front-to-back while minimizing protrusion of the tank into the walkway that passes in front of this wall.

Between moving, working, raising a child, having another child, and life in general, it wasn't until 3 years after closing on the house (2008) that I started to seriously contemplate installing an aquarium. It’s not that I didn’t think about it and plan over those three years, it’s just that there was a fair amount of inertia to start a project that would disrupt the major living area of the house and had an absolute requirement NOT to look like my first aquarium (at least on the outside).

The design had to be holistic and take into account not only the needs of the critters, but also the design aesthetic that we had chosen for our home. I also had to pay attention to the fact that I’m going to have in excess of 200 gallons (757 liters) of water hanging out in my house with all the attendant concerns about leaks, humidity, water damage, etc. Likewise, consideration needed to be given to the fact that I really dislike visible equipment when I’m looking into my window on the sea. My design parameters for the tank centered on having pumps and other vital equipment hidden as much as possible. I had 4 Tunze Turbelle 6100s from my previous tank sitting in a box in my garage that would be used for this tank.

Concealing these pumps was a significant consideration when I designed the aquarium. I needed to come up with a way to keep these pumps as unobtrusive as possible. They are effective, but bulky and tend to detract from the aquarium viewing experience. I also wanted to have a Tunze-style wavebox integrated into the tank.

Pictured below is the final aquarium design that I arrived at.

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Aquarium, front.

Aquarium, back.

To minimize intrusion, the Streams will be housed behind the back wall in the three "Stream Boxes" (left, center, and right). Each of the three holes in these boxes was cut so that the front port of the Stream could be slid into the hole (see single Stream photo above). I also had caps constructed for these holes, thereby allowing one of the boxes to have two of the three holes plugged to function as a wave box if desired. This approach keeps the Streams out of the viewing area and should not have a significant impact on flow given the nature of propeller pumps.

The tank has dual overflows that were built to be used Herbie-style. The water path to the overflows are ¼” slits to make them less obtrusive and still function to keep any critters from going for a ride into the sump. The holes underneath these slits returns from the sump.

After the plan was completed, I conferred with James (Acrylics on RC) at Envision Acrylics in Oregon and the tank was ordered on 07/1/2008 (a little over a year after my second daughter was born).

I ended up increasing the front-to-back dimensions from 22” (56 cm) to 24” (61 cm) after the plans were sent to James. The final tank dimensions were 66" long x 26" high x 24" deep (168 cm x 66 cm x 61 cm), excluding the overflow/Stream box. The main tank was specified at 1” (25 mm) acrylic to eliminate the need for a center support. The Stream and overflow boxes were constructed of ¾” (19 mm) acrylic with ½” (13 mm) internal acrylic dividers. The back wall of the tank was made from black acrylic, with the remainder being clear.

Given the dimensions and thickness of acrylic used, the tank volume was a little over 146 gallons (553 liters).

Now, you may be asking yourself how I’m going to fit a 66” long tank into a 48” long hole.

Next up…delivery!

Osler

 

[Osler]

@fishguy242 @Peace River @Hemmdog
Thanks for looking!

The aquarium arrived in good order on a very cold day in December 2008. Total weight on the thing had to have been over 500 lbs and it was just me and the freight driver to get the thing off the truck and into the garage. James (@acrylics) did a great job packing with lots of foam and the construction was top notch based upon my first pass look:

Crate top removed.

Crate back removed.

Crate back removed (my two daughters who are now 12 and 16 and my dog who has since passed).

Crate side removed.

Crate side removed.

Here the tank stayed for more than two years, the box ultimately becoming the resting place for a variety of garage stuff.

So here are some shots of the area underneath the stairs. This is looking through the door into the space:

Long leg of "h".

The layout of the area is basically a lower case "h". The above picture is looking up the long leg of the "h" and this next picture is peeking around the corner and looking down the short leg of the "h":

Short leg of "h".

One big issue is that the maximum height in this area is about 55" under the landing. This means I have to stoop and it also meant that having the tank completely in the wall was impossible.

Soon after the tank arrived, I started demolition. Of course, life wasn't terribly cooperative so it went very, very slowly:

Demolition begins.

In May of 2010 I finally got serious and removed the remainder of the above drywall so that I could see precisely what needed to be done to increase the length of the header that was previously installed

With a plan in mind, it was time to remove the drywall on the family room side and make life a bit uncomfortable for my wife for a few weeks. The next step was to install a temporary wall under the stairs to handle the weight transfer while I cut out the old header and installed the new one:

Temporary support.

Once that was done it was time to send the wife and kids our for a bit while the saber saw and sledge hammer were put to good use. As expected, the final result was a rather large hole in the wall. Here is my youngest daughter in shock upon returning home that day:

New header in place.

New header in place.

The next step was to remove all of the drywall within the under stair area. The plan was to make this space sound proof as well as water/humidity proof.


Short leg of "h", drywall removed.


View from short leg of "h" to closet door.

Now it was time to start planning the stand and get it built. More to come later.

Osler

 

[Osler]

@fishguy242 @Hemmdog @Peace River
Thanks for following along!

On to the stand we go...

As noted in my Meet and Greet thread, one of my favorite tanks was pictured in The Reef Aquarium, Volume 1. It was constructed by Royal Exclusiv and featured a cantiliver design. The tank I am referring to is this one:

I love how the tank overhanging the pedestal gives the illusion of lightness. It is also visually appealing and prevents you from ending up with a huge monolithic box-shape to the aquarium install. With this in mind, you will get an understanding of why I built my stand the way I did.

The stand started by filling in the bottom of the new hole with a small framed wall that would serve to support the back of the tank:

Nice and level:

The remainder of the stand was built off of this with the idea that the two sides and front of the tank would overhang the stand by 4" (10 cm):

The plywood was actually recycled from the crate the tank was shipped in. It was added to the front and back of the vertical supports as sheathing to increase stability. Once these were in place, a 2-part epoxy was used to bond the front of the vertical supports to the tile floor.

Next up was the platform to actually support the tank. I ended up using lamination in conjunction with steel bars to ensure that the platform had minimal deflection due to the overhang. The first step was to lay down a sheet of 3/4" plywood with the same footprint as the tank on the the stand. I affixed 1" square steel tube as well as wood blocking to this in order to approximate a torsion box effect:

Once this was done, I added another sheet of 3/4" plywood on top of this and then used some glue (Titebond II) to laminate a 3rd and final sheet of 3/4" atop all of this:

At this point, the overall thickness of the platform was 3.25":

Next, all of the exposed wood was covered with Hardie board, skimmed, textured, and primed. The idea was to make the stand appear as if it was part of the house:

And the area was painted, after which my wife became much more subdued since the area started to resemble more house and less construction area:

The final step was to use a 2-part epoxy to laminate a piece of 1/2" PVC atop all of this to provide additional protection from deflection as well as protect the plywood from exposure to moisture:

With much fanfare, the tank was brought into the house and placed atop the stand. Finishing details such as baseboard and molding were then added:

Molding used near the top of the tank was made from PVC as opposed to wood.

Now that this area was relatively finished, I could turn my attention to finishing out the fish room area and sump construction.

More to come...

Osler

 

[Osler]

I had two main things I wanted addressed for the equipment area. First, I needed to make sure that the room could handle a water spill and reasonably contain it. Second was to address humidity in the small space, which would more than likely become an issue, especially if I had a sump, refugium and frag tank in the area.

The first thing I did was to run electrical around the space. I had 2 20A circuits installed under the stairs when the house was constructed. I also tapped into an additional circuit to add additional outlets. First up was adding recessed lighting to make it easier to work.

I then tapped into one of the 20A outlets and began making electrical runs.

To help with humidity control, I installed a fan that would take air from within the fish room space, blow it up a stud cavity, and out into the kitchen directly underneath the HVAC intake for the downstairs. The product is made by Tjernlund and is sold under the name of AirShare:

This blower fan was installed under on the fish room side of the wall and connected up to electrical:

And this part was installed on the opposite side of the same wall to allow the air to be shot out adjacent to the HVAC return in the ceiling:

The fan is controlled by a dehumidistat that was purchased at the same time:

After this was done I insulated the walls (mostly for sound proofing), covered with greenboard for moisture/mold resistance, and then had the area textured:

Here the walls of the fish room have been textured and painted.

Next to be done was the floor...

Osler

 

[Osler]

The first step on the floor was to fill all of the divots left from the carpet tacking strips. I used a fast drying concrete polymer from Maupe called Planicrete (available at Lowes). If you use this stuff, do a little at a time because it is unworkable after about 6-8 minutes (see last image above).

I decided to use a liquid membrane to turn this area into a shower pan like structure. The whole floor ended up being like a tub that could hold several inches of water. I accomplished this by using a product from Maupe called AquaDefense. It comes as a thick green liquid that you can pain or roll onto the floor. To create the shower pan effect, I used fiber tape where the walls met the floor to create a seamless, water-proof cove transition:

After this was done, the product was applied to the remainder of the floor (3 coats were applied):

After this was dry I added some tile that matched fairly closely to that in the main living area:

Once this was done I went back and ran a commercial vinyl baseboard around the whole area to give it a finished look:

Next up...the sump...

Osler

 

[Osler]

I picked up some 3/8" acrylic on the way home from work while the fish room was being finished in anticipation of sump construction. After deciding on using a SRO XP3000 internal for my skimmer, I drew up some plans and went to work.

Here is the acrylic after it was brought home, waiting patiently in the garage as my tank did:

I finally got a weekend to work and started cutting pieces to size. They were rough cut on the table saw and sized to final dimensions using the router table:

After the pieces were cut it was time to move into the house and take over the kitchen. Here are some shots of the glue-up:

After the bottom was put on it was time for a water test:

After it passed the water test it was dried and all of the edges were eased using a chamfering bit. I recieved some fairly nice cuts while working with this stuff. I also remember why I hate working with acrylic:

The shavings get everywhere and obtain a static charge quite easily. It sticks to everything!!

Next up, I had purchased some AI Sol Blues for the tank and needed to figure out how to mount them:

The question of how to mount the lights perplexed me for quite a while. I wanted to mount them so that they blended in as opposed to becoming a focal point of the tank.

Osler

 

[Osler]

I had the hardest time coming up with a plan for putting lights over the tank. I contemplated a pendant-style configuration but that was shot down by my wife. I next thought about some type of thin, enclosed hood that would bolt directly to the wall...kinda like a floating shelf but with light coming out the bottom. That ended up being too complex and I thought it may not look right and also present a problem for routine maintenance. So back and forth I went until I remembered back to my days in chemistry lab and the variety of structures you could build to hold stuff over bunsen burners using these cool little pipes and clamps. I searched far and wide to find some of these things in a configuration and size I could use, but no luck. I then stumbled on J. W. Winco's site, a supplier for assembly line process construction. They had all kinds of cool tube clamps and tubing in just the right size (and finish) to do what I wanted to do.

This idea probably isn't too clear to you at this point, so I'll show some pictures. These are the main components that I used:

The parts with what look like antennas will be what support the lights. These pieces actually clamp to a length of square aluminum stock as is pictured here and allow another square bar to be clamped to it at a right angle. The antennas are actually quick-release knobs. I ended up not using the knobs since they were so huge and awkward. The other pieces in the picture are screwed into the wall and will support a square aluminum tube that runs the length of the tank. The bonus is that I can then use the aluminum tube running along the wall to hide all of the wires for the AI Sols.

Alright, so here is a shot with all of the pieces in place:

And a close up:

And here I have run the wires for each AI Sol to a central point to go through the wall. This was accomplished by cutting the wires off of the transformers. They will be reattached at a later time. AI was nice enough to mark the wires coming out of the transformer with the polarity, saving me a step.

Next I had to cut some bar stock to length and drill it so I could mount the lights to them. If anyone is wondering, the proper screw to fit the AI Sol heat sink is a #10-32 fine. I mounted each light to the bar using a nylon standoff to prevent the fan from being completely covered by the aluminum bar:

And here is a shot with all of the lights mounted:

A mounting board for the AI Sol transformers was constructed and painted:

Wiring for the lights was run from the tank wall to the back wall of the fish room near an outlet for power:

And the finished mounting board with power supplies was added:

Once everything was connected, it was time to test the lights:

More to come.

Osler

 

[Osler]

With the tank recessed into the wall, a problem soon became apparent. The jack studs used for the new header were visible through the sides of the aquarium:

While I was cutting the boards to mount the AI Sol transformers, I also ripped a couple of pieces of 1/2" PVC, chamfered one edge, and then cross-cut them:

Here they are in position. I will silicone them in before I add water to the tank. Problem solved:

Now it was time to move on to plumbing. First up was to get the sump positioned in the fish room where I wanted it so I could start planning:

Once the position was decided, I cut a piece of pink insulation to go underneath the sump and placed the SRO-XP3000 and BR-110 into the sump. This would be my first experience with a biopellet reactor or any type of carbon dosing.

Next up was to start roughing in the plumbing. Did I mention I hate plumbing.

The connections from the overflow to the main drain line were planned.

Once I was satisfied, everything was put in place and glued up.

The stand pipes for the overflow were then cut and put into place.

And the return line was put in placed and plumbed to the tank.

I opted to run the return above the tank to 1) minimize back siphoning and 2) minimize the amount of plumbing along the wall under the tank.

You can see a John Guest fitting on the end of the return line above. A 1/4" tube will be connected to this and directed into the overflow. This line will act as a siphon break when the return pump turns off.

Once this was completed, the overflow drain line was capped in anticipation of water testing.

I also wanted to take a minute to show how the Tunze Streams fit into the back of the tank. Here you can see a Stream slotted into one of the holes in the Stream box.

Sponge was used between the back of the pump and the back pane of overflow box to wedge it in place. Here is a closer shot of what the holes on the Stream boxes look like when viewed from the front.

And here is a close-up of the view from the front when a Stream is in place.

Nice and unobtrusive.

Next up, the tank gets wet.

Osler

 

[Osler]

While this was all going on, I acquired a used RO/DI unit from a fellow reefer and installed it in the laundry room above the utility sink.

I also got the dry live rock left over from my previous tank that was in the garage out and moved to the backyard so I could soak and clean it:

This is the left over Marco rock that I didn't end up using:

Once the rock was cooking I proceeded to leak test the plumbing that I had done:

Not a leak to be found. I think that is the first time that has happened to me.

Since the wet-dry vac was already on standby, I figured it was a good time to fill the main display and make sure my engineering abilities for the stand were OK.

All the way up:

It took a bit to fill up the tank and I was squawking at the kids like a chicken to stay out from in front of the tank the whole time.

Now that the RO/DI unit was in service it was time to make some water.

Osler

 

[Osler]

Water was made, water was added to the tank, and then live sand was added to the tank. I waited, and waited, and waited for the tank to clear. Even with skimming it took nearly two weeks and the sump was full of grey sludge from the sand. An involved wet/dry vac cleaning of the sump and the addition of an industrial sized filter sock I could fit my leg into finally achieved improved clarity in the tank. Here was my initial aquascape for the tank:

(December 2011)

Shot looking down the left side of the tank:

And looking down the right side:

And here are some close-ups of the two islands:

Right

Left

I added some One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria from Dr. Tim's Aquatics and started planning the acquisition of critters for the tank.

Still more to go.

Osler

 

[Osler]

The first addition to the tank were 3 Yellow Tangs followed by a clean-up crew.

You can see a layering of coral skeletons at the front of the tank. This was necessary as the Streams were kicking up a ton of sand as the current hit the front pane of the tank and flowed down.

I also got the AI controller set up and running.

I even set it up for "Thunderstorms". It was quite funny the first night a thunderstorm kicked off. My dog was deathly afraid of thunderstorms (RIP) and the controller triggered a pseudo-thunderstorm at about 3 am in the morning. My dog had the same response as if a real thunderstorm was rolling through. She was panting and trying to lay on my head the whole time the simulated storm was occuring. From the bedroom, the simulated lightning looked very much like the real thing. After that, thunderstorms were no longer allowed.

In my sump design I had decided to use a standpipe in between the initial sump chamber (where the skimmer sits) and the remainder of the sump so that I could maintain some control over the water level in the skimmer chamber. Unfortunately, I put in a 1.5" bulkhead for the standpipe and this really wasn't large enough to handle the flow from the HY7000 return pump without having water stack up in the skimmer chamber. As a result, I ended up draining the sump, redrilling the hole, and installing a 2" bulkhead and standpipe:

At the same time, I installed a 2" to 1.5" rubber reducer on the SRO XP-3000 to allow me to plumb from metric to US PVC sizes and create a muffler for the skimmer (see also picture above).

Since I had better control over the water level in the sump chamber, I was finally able to create a stand for the skimmer. I cut some 3/8" acrylic to 10" x 14.5" to create the platform, with a total height of the stand being 3.75". The height of the water in the chamber is 10" giving me 6.25" of water for the skimmer to sit in.

I also noted that the flow behind the rock structures in the tank wasn't optimal. I first addressed this by putting 90 degree elbows on the returns. This improved the flow but made huge holes in the sand below the returns. As a result I used schedule 80 PVC and built a spray bar for each return that points the return output straight down behind the rocks.

The look was a little more obtrusive than what I was hoping for; however, I think I had to sacrifice some form for function in this case.

I also added 8 lbs of live rock after making these changes (2 rocks....wow).

Next up, what to do when you idiotically buy a bird wrasse and put it into a tank you just stocked with a clean-up crew and tons of rock to hide in.

Osler