XSiVE's 120 in-wall+fish room upgrade/build.

[XSiVE]

So I've always wanted an in-wall aquarium and this is finally my chance to do things right.

I've currently got a 55g that isnt drilled, with all sorts of equipment buried underneath in the stand, and it's all running off a single GFCI.. no real ca / kalk dosing system other than when I remember to do it manually in the ATO water. The list of things I've done improperly, or half-assed along the way is a mile long, so I've decided to actually have some patience and start from scratch to build things the way *I* want them.

It also helps that the wife likes the idea of a fish room, so our 1 yr old kiddo "can't get into any of the equipment."

So here's a generic FTS of my 55, which will eventually become the sump.


and the under-tank shot:



the new.. well, new to me 120 with the corners drilled for a safer overflow.. I hate u-tubes but was forced to use one on my 55. Im exrtemely happy to have a drilled tank.



The 29g that will become a Fuge, and the lights that will hang over the display in the background.. the t5's over my 55 will be moved to sit atop my 20L sump that will be converted to a frag tank.



pics of what will become the fish room.. it's part of our storage room now, and there is a wall that needs to be torn down in order for more space to be available.

before:


after:


I'm also making my own rockwork (for a lot of places) to save cash on buying so much live rock. I'll post pics of how that's going a little later.

So my next steps are to finish tearing up the walls, and I'll be pouring a small concrete slab on top of the floor where the tank will sit to ensure that the home-built stand will sit level.. the floor is definitely uneven in the area where the tank will go, as I've seen water pool in areas when we had a little water-heater issue :wacko:

so, anyone know any good water resistant paints? I'm trying to figure out what to do with the moisture that will no-doubt accumulate in this room.. Since the furnace is close by, Im actually considering adding a cold-air return to the fish room so the humidity can spread around the house (our furnace humidifier doesnt work and is too hard to get to, to fix.)

[XSiVE]

On to the DIY rock for this tank:

first off, none of this stuff is totally cured, it's all going to be in the water for another 5 weeks or so before it will be safe to put in the tank.

My very first attempt at some of the "ULTIMATE DIY ROCK" I totally messed up the proportions of salt to cement and ended up with some pretty dense stuff:


This one was my second "batch" (I got the ratio near perfect this time) that I just made into a massive rock, molded in a bucket full of rock salt, here it sits outside after being rinsed and before going into the curing bucket. This stuff is super-porous!


On my third(or was it fourth or fifth) attempt, I decided to go with a sand mold... This piece will probably sit upright against the back wall of the aquarium, where you see sand, there will be holes in it.. and what you cant see in this image is that the whole thing is arched up from the sides to the middle to create a cavity behind / underneath.. It will either provide a good amount of hiding space for animals, or a good hiding place for PVC pipes to stick out of and provide water flow from a pump somewhere else.


My most recent batch I decided to go one step further and use eggcrate like a rebar for the stuff because these pieces will sit upright as the "rear wall" of the aquascape.
a pic of the "skeleton"


and then of the finished product


The hole you see in the middle-top is there on purpose, so I can put my Koralia-4's right there.. I also made a channel behind the cement to the top so the power cord can hide behind it..

Today I go home from work and take some of the garbage/mess out of the storage room so I can start working on sealing the drywall against moisture and thinking about exact positioning of the concrete pad that I will be pouring.

[mille239]

Subscribed!

[XSiVE]

I got the studs taken off the back of the wall to make room for the tank / stand tonight.. I'd take a pic but it's pretty much the same as the last one.

Tomorrow I'll build a 4'x2' box out of 2x4s on the floor against the drywall and pour it full of concrete to make a nice level slab for the stand to sit on.

[Rustylugnuts]

That DIY rock looks good. How do you plan on kuring it? I left mine dry for a month and then started the fw soak. It didn't seem to take any longer than soaking it the whole time and I saved a bunch of water.

[XSiVE]

Originally posted by Rustylugnuts
That DIY rock looks good. How do you plan on kuring it? I left mine dry for a month and then started the fw soak. It didn't seem to take any longer than soaking it the whole time and I saved a bunch of water.

good to know! It's already kuring in the water, so I figure I will finish that process for now.

I've got a few pieces in toilet tanks around the house too.. this weekend I will probably make more rock and I'll give it a shot drying for a few weeks, then give it the bath for another 2 or so.

[XSiVE]

Tonight I mixed up some concrete and poured it where I want to put the stand..

This should give me a nice flat surface to work with, since the floor below is somewhat uneven. It is about a 1 inch lift off the ground.. not much, but enough to clean up the uneven floor.

[kingsland]

Your going to love having the fish room. In wall tanks are so much easier to take care of.

[XSiVE]

No new pics today, but I'll add to the build thread anyway.

Installed 2 new 20amp breakers into the main electrical box, and ran wires into the fish room, installed 3 GFCI plugs in there for all of my pumps, lighting, etc.. It might be a little overkill, but I figure why not overbuild a little, that way when I want to move up to 400W halides or get a massive closed loop pump I wont ever have to worry about power.

I also hung some sheetrock on the ceiling to contain the insulation that was hanging down a little (you can see it in the "after" pic above).. I didnt want any of it dropping into any of the tanks that will be in the vicinity.

[XSiVE]

Well today I bit the bullet and decided to drill the back of the tank for a closed loop system.

I'm going to start small with it and use it in combination of water circulation from the 2 Koralia #4's that I have and the dual returns. In total with the CL I should have something like 40x turnover in the display, with 6 sources of current.

I drilled 2 holes, each for a 1" bulkhead, even though I will probably use a Mag7 or 9.5 (which has 3/4" plumbing). I went with the 1" size in case I want to upgrade in the future.



Then I figured I should probably complete the rear wall facade with the spaces for the bulkheads... I'll use the other that i originally made for the rear wall as a sort of channel to hide the CL output manifold.

the middle section of the rear facade:


I will start to frame out the shelving / sump stand tomorrow.

[XSiVE]

For anyone who might be following along, I got motivated today.. Bought a bunch of lumber and went to work with it.


The framing that will go underneath the sump:


Got the top onto the framing, and erected the table area where my fuge & frag tank will hang out, also started the stand construction:


Stand completed, and margarita ready to drink:


but no drinking yet.. let's cut a hole in the wall, since I can line up where the tank will actually sit now


Here's what it looks like from the room.


I'm going to brush on some primer tonight or tomorrow and get it ready to put the tank(s) into the room.

[XSiVE]

I painted the stand last night instead of today, but while I was painting it I realized the structure wouldn't work with my corner overflows so I had to do some cutting of a non-load-bearing piece and place some brackets in there to keep the legs in place.

Since I was motivated again today, after fixing the stand I had my neighbor help me lift the tank from the garage down the stairs and onto the stand.. this thing is a beast, about 200lbs dry.

I couldn't get the wife to pose in it for a mermaid shot, so we threw my kid in there instead




Next I wanted to get something ready for a sump, I was planning on using my 55g which is currently set up, but.. it's going to be a major pain to try and leak-test the new system, and get it cycled with the 55g running in the other room instead of as my sump. So I went over to the LFS and picked up a 50Long and then Lowes for some glass for baffles. and we have a sump!

[spleify]

Looking forward to seeing this come along, I'm a big fan of in walls. I love mine!!

Spleify

[XSiVE]

I built the lighting rack tonight, and sealed it with some Perma-guard.

I decided to go with XM 10k bulbs and generic spider reflectors (thanks DiYReef.com ) and I'll be mounting two of my T5HO retro's with actinic bulbs on the "legs" of the rack once I start making the transition over from my 55g..

I was counting on using a pulley system to raise and lower the whole rack, but the amount of space between the ceiling and the top of the tank just wont allow it so I just went with the plastic chain route.



and then there are a few goodies waiting to be put into use.. Mag 9.5, Mag 12, 2x Koralia #4, OM Squirt 2-way, bulbs, etc..



It'll probably be this weekend or next week when I get the plumbing done.. I used my visa points to get Home Depot gift cards to buy all my plumbing, but the cards have yet to arrive.. BOOOOOOOOOO

[XSiVE]

Well I got the plumbing for the display tank done on Sunday, I think I've still got the smell of PVC cement in my nose ..

I had a little leak issue at first on the closed loop , but it was due to the impeller housing on the mag9.5 was cracked... a new housing from the LFS and I was ready to go!

pic of the "main plumbing"


and of the top of the tank for the second closed loop outlet.



The closed loop inlet is the top hole drilled in the back, the water flows into the mag9.5 pump then an Oceans Motions Squirt 2-way to divert the flow.. It either goes back into the bottom port, then runs to about mid-way thru the tank and Tee's off with two 45 degree elbows to point upward... or.. the other Oceans Motions outlet takes a straight pipe up then across the center brace, Tee's off and then points down into the water, so I've basically got a good up and down divergent flow pattern across the middle of the tank.

[XSiVE]

Well I found some nasty slime eating one of my Ricordia's in the 55g so I decided to pull the trigger and move everything over to the 120 before it was cycled.. I got a bunch of live rock from Choice (Thanks Guys!) and then...

when I got it home, my power went out, and I had more water in the basement from all the rain.. ugh. Luckily my neighbor was generous and allowed me to plug in to his generator so I could keep pumps running in both tanks while I cut soaking wet carpet off the floor

All of the rock is just thrown in there, and I just put corals wherever there was space.. I'll get it arranged once the rest of my DIY rock is done kuring.

anyway, almost FTS from the front:


and from the back:



I traded in my Powder Brown Tang because he was just wanting to rush from one end of my 55 to the other and I didnt feel right keeping him in a 4ft tank anymore..

In exchange for the powder brown, a LPS-nipping Coral Beauty, and a frogspawn frag, I got this little beauty.. It's tiny, probably about an inch and a half long and my Occy's are being very territorial around it.. so it's hiding for now.. it did eat though!

[XSiVE]

I got my rock wall installed tonight but the rest of my DIY rock is still kuring. I cant do any aquascaping till that's finished. Im hoping that will be all done this weekend but we'll see.

pic of the DIY rock wall.

[atrox]

Looking sweet man nice job. I like your monti (my favorite corals)
What are the dimensions of your tank. Im guessing length is 48" width is 24" but is height 30" ?

[XSiVE]

They say its 48x24x24, but it's actually about 26 high... which makes it somewhat of a pain to get to the bottom front from behind.. hehe

[XSiVE]

I've got my Rubbermaid Brutes all set up and plumbed.. the top one is hooked into my RO/DI with a float valve.

The bottom one is for mixing salt water for water changes.

Both buckets have bulkheads plumbed into them, the RODI so I can just dump a ton of water into the bottom to mix up some saltwater.

The saltwater bucket is plumbed so I can hook it into another ball valve that will drain it right into the return pump, that way my water changes are super easy, and super easy means I will do them more often!!




I also got my frag tank set up.. I ordered some 24" lights from DIYreef, so I can get those 48's off there since they are taking up a bit too much space

[Pacific Reefs]

Looking good. I wish I had my own fish room. I also like your waterchange setup.

[XSiVE]

Originally posted by Pacific Reefs
Looking good. I wish I had my own fish room. I also like your waterchange setup.

I'll take a pic of how it's set up.. I've yet to do a change, but I did use it to add saltwater to the system to compensate for filling the frag tank.

[XSiVE]

ok so here's a pic of how it fits together with the system's plumbing.

Currently I just slip the 1" pipe into both ball valves, but it leaks a little so I might put unions on both sides.. that way the system is more adaptable to other things that I might want to use (like a garden hose to drain the water for changes out..

[ZC]

awesome build thred so far, can't wait to see how this one turns out.

[mrbncal]

Great thread. Cant wait to see the finished product.