125 Gal in wall project... tank is in :)

G

Gawdly

New member
29861Construction5.jpg


Constuction in progress pictures can be found in my gallery.

Summary:
Between myself and a local handy-man, my new 125gal AGA is in the wall with a new fish room behind it. the wall is in my entryway and is easily viewable from the living room (most pictures taken from there). Took about 3 weeks start to this point.

Features:
2 @ 20amp circuits
8 outlets inside tank room on tank wall, 3 above tank, 3 below tank, 2 elsewhere in room
Drain in the floor
80cfm exhaust fan direct wired to a temp/humidity controller
Sink in corner
Plumbing run under house to office for future 65gal FO tank
Plumbing run underhouse for in-crawl-space chiller if needed
Plumbing for auto-top-off line run under house from sink to sump area
AC/Heating duct in room to help with heating/cooling

Future Planning:
The whole room was planned for asy conversion to a 1/2 bath if I ever need to sell the house. The vanity and sink are in place. Bath fan and lights are in place. Fan is prewired to run to a capped-off box for a timer instead of temp/humid controller. The floor drain is of the right size to become a toilet flange. All I have to do is pull the tank stand, drywall the hole, plumb one line to feed the toilet, replace the drain with a toilet flange adn drop a toilet in place.

Now please, someone help me in this thread figure out my closed loop plumbing so I can keep this project rolling. :D

Thanks Reef Central... This whole project is based in knowledge obtained from all the great people here and on Reef Aquarium Guide.
 
Dubbin1 said:
Very very nice work!!! Now you have me thinking, and Im sure the wife isnt going to like that :D
Click to expand...

:lol:

It's all in how you sell it. It's not that I'm getting a bigger tank, new equipment and more livestock... no sir. We're doing the project to rearrange her pantry to work better (changed it a little to make space for the fishroom), get all my fish stuff out of the living room and build her two big new plant shelves (plants are her hobby). :D
 
Now thats what I call selective planning I'm gonna be in big trouble now!!!
real nice setup can't wait to see it finished.

think I'll tag along to this one
 
More pictures up...

Basically we moved the wall that the tank is now sitting in 22" forward and moved the back interior wall around 12" back into the kitchen panrty (think deep shelves become can shelves). We also took over a coat closet (side where door is).
 
Just wondering , great job by the way .. Why is the inside wall frame at an angle on the top and sides? extra room to reach in or something?
 
Exactly...

I saw this trick done on another in-wall on this site. Angling the the inside of that front wall where it meets the top of the tank makes the top of the inside front glass easier to access and clean. otherwise you have to reach back under the stud to get to it.

The sides actually aren't angled. they are square though there is a little space on each side of the tank after you get away from that front wall.
 
29861Plumbing.jpg


Ok, so it's been a while since I've had any progress to show. The year long kitchen remodel project seemed to be more important to my better half so this was on hold for some time. More pictures in my gallery too, check-em...

Let's see... what have I done since last time.

1. I tiled the floor and installed all the baseboard trim.
2. I tiled the counter, set the sink and did a tile backsplash.
3. Had the tank drilled, one 2" drain (center rear) and four 1" returns (bottom corners and top on each side of drain).
4. Painted the back of the tank wiht black spray paint.
5. Used "Carpet Protecter" adhesive sheeting over the paint to protect it, worked pretty good too. :)
6. Had the sump drilled (3 drain holes, 1 return).
7. Added all acrylic deviders/baffels to the sump.
8. Bought an azz-load of true-union valves.
9. Installed the front trim around viewing pain of tank.
10. Did enough plumbing to keep me satisfied until I'm 50 (ways off).
11. Painted the room High-gloss white (hoping to get more light reflected back into the tank).

That would bring me to what's next...

1. Fill it with water and leak test... Tomorrow!
2. Find a cheap OM 4-way (anyone want to donate one? :D).
3. Install OM and finish closed loop.
4. Tap return manifold for 1/4" Speed-fit to feed future Calcium Reactor.
5. Order and install floats and solenoids from McMaster-Carr for auto top-off.
6. Sand, water and rock.
7. Lights (going with hanging T5s)
8. Check for tempurature stability and likely buy a chiller and install it under the house (plumbing is already run though :))
9.10.11.12.13.14..... It never ends does it? :rolleyes:
 
29861TankFull.jpg


Not one leak... I'm good! :smokin:

I will also upload some more of the pictures from the last year a little later. Have pistures from the tile job, the sink, painting the tank etc.

Now tank test runs for a few days while I find money for an OM 4-way.
 
Ok... 2 lessons learned tonight.

1. Neat and tidy plumbing run up under a stand out of sight is nearly impossible to work on.

2. Never under any circumstances... no really... ever state that your plumbing has no leaks. Seriously. You will anger the gods of water dispersion and they are vengeful gods.

So in short.
Tonight I am tearing out all all the screw in fittings I used to connect to the bulkheads in the bottom of the tank which are leaking. These, of course, are absolutely impossible to reach and have slip elbows glued to them. They sit in the corner on both sides right against a wall and you can't unscrew them without removing the elbow.

1 flex-shaft dremel, a cutting wheel bit and 2 hours later the offending connections are out. Had to cut the elbows in half so I could rotate them. Still not sure how I actually accomplished it. :confused:

Tomorrow I will wrap the sh*t out of the new thread to slip connecters with Teflon tape. Twice around the first time didn't quite do it.

I also took a moment to cut the 1" true union valves out of my drain lines. I will replace these with 1 1/4" true unions. The drains are 1" pipe and I am suspicious that the reduced internal diameter at the valve may have been limiting my potential drain volume and possibly causing the "flushing" that I described in another thread..

All in all not a bad evening. I expected that I would have to rework something. Just glad removal is over, instalation is much more fun. I'm saving that for tomorrow night. :)
 
Love the setup but one consideration: If that floor drain was originally intended to have a toilet on it you should make sure it's trapped under floor so you don't get that lovely sewer gas smell. Toilet has it's own trap built in so many times toilet hookups will not be trapped to prevent sewer gas.
 
BruiseAndy said:
Love the setup but one consideration: If that floor drain was originally intended to have a toilet on it you should make sure it's trapped under floor so you don't get that lovely sewer gas smell. Toilet has it's own trap built in so many times toilet hookups will not be trapped to prevent sewer gas.
Click to expand...

One step ahead of ya ;)

The floor drain was installed with a P trap under the floor. It ties into the sink drain in that room and is actually setup so that a bit of the drain from the sink will flow into the trap for the floor drain and keep it full. So, no sewer smell and no need to dump water down the floor drain on a regular basis to keep the trap full.

Can't take credit for that one... this idea was put in place by the contractor I worked with early on.
 
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