180 in-wall upgrade!... pics!

platax88

Active member
This time is for real... and i have the pictures to proove it!

I am upgrading from a 125 gal to a glass cages 180, built in-wall. First, here is a pic of what i am upgrading from:

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This is the room that will now serve as my fishroom/office:

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And this is the wall of the family room ... Already cut the hole!

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Here you can see the wall inside the fishroom. Below that, how it looked after cutting down the studs... nope, not load-bearing

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Stand construction pics coming next!
 
Here are some pics of the stand or "platform". I used 2x6 for the top frame and the rest is 2x4 ... on the top a 3/4" plywood board and 3/4" foam on top of that for the tank to sit on. You can also see the concrete floor on the first pic. Oh and a bit of a challenge was getting the stand nice and level. The floor was actually almost .5" off-level in length. Instead of using shims i cut down some 2x4 to size and reinforced all the verticals. The stand is rock solid! no movement whatsoever.

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Looking really good... I get jealous of people with the space to do an in-wall. Not even necessarily because of the look of them, but because they have a nice room to put all of the fish stuff in that is right there with the tank.
 
Very nice, man! Thanks for sharing the pics.

I'm planning on doing an in-wall one day as well, and mainly for the reason Brian mentioned... a cozy fish room behind it. :)

Brandon
 
Thanks guys ... The room will also serve as an office, so it still needs to remain somewhat neat. The challenge will be making sure the system is quiet... More pics coming in a bit!
 
that will be a great build and i am sure you will enjoy it for a long time. I too love the dedicated fish room! That is going to look great from the livingroom!
 
Hey guys! Sorry it has taken me so long to post more pics. Here are some pics of the new Glass Cages tank, getting ready to drill the Glass-Holes 1500gph overflow.

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Well it turns out that the overflow will not work for me as is. Glass gaces puts a 3" strip of glass going horizontally on the top back wall (which looks like crap! BTW) and also a "Euro style" like bracing which woul prevent me from tightening the nut and servicing the unit. so ...

After a brief freak-out i contacted glass-holes which are the BEST company to deal with. The said this was a common problem and offered a fix! Simply, glue the nut to the inside on the box and then i would tun the actual bulkhead to tighten. Also, the sent me two pieces of 1/4 acrylic with the wholes already drilled, which i sandwiched together to create the spacer to clear the 3" strip on the back glass ... here are some pics:

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And here is a pic of the tank on the stand, ready for a fresh water test! Please ignore the elbos on the back glass -- this is where the overflow box will go.

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Sweet man!

I was going to suggest you give the guys at Glass-Holes a yell and they would find a solution for you, but then I read that you did. :)

Looking awesome so far!

Brandon
 
As someone that has built many stands and canopy's in my day that looks real good, solid but not over done like so many people do! You should have no issues with it and I'm sure you'll be real happy with a fish equipment room. Put mine in the garage 2 mo ago and i love it. One suggestion would be to go with the biggest sump you can, I used a 100 gal cattle trough on mine and its great. Keep the pitchers commin!!!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14246361#post14246361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by poolkeeper1
As someone that has built many stands and canopy's in my day that looks real good, solid but not over done like so many people do! ...

Now who in the world, especially around here, would overbuild a stand???? *cough*James*cough*

:D

Brandon
 
Thanks poolkeeper ... I agree a bigger sump would be sweet. I think what i may do in the future is go with a remore refugium so i can free up the space in the sump.
 
The addition of the large sump, which increases total water volume = success = SPS = stability promotes success. The bigger the better IMHO. Now Now Brandon that stand wasn't that overbuilt but my eyes are not that good anymore!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14247541#post14247541 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
Now who in the world, especially around here, would overbuild a stand???? *cough*James*cough*

:D

Brandon

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to see the other smiley for my reply, right-click on this smiley, goto properties, copy the url & change it from wave2 to wave
hehehehehe

btw....my stand was not only overbuilt, i have come to realize it was also over-conceptualized LOL

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14248008#post14248008 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
You must not have seen the 1.5 million screws in it then! :D :lol:

Brandon

so it was the screws that made it weigh 200lbs....i knew it was something
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Looking good, Jack. Can't wait to see some after pics:).

I don't have an in wall design, but am plumbing almost everything (125 SPS, 120 Softie/LPS, 40B with frags and other things, and a soon to be 30 gallon (currently less than 20) Acan tank) into the closet behind the tanks. Having some place behind the tanks for a tank room was a prerequisite on the house. They are being plumbed into a 150 livestock tub (more grow out area-I'm a junkie), a 100 sump/fuge, with a 50 gallon frag tank mounted above them (fed from the 150 into the 100). Livestock tubs rock for a number of reasons, but trying to put a baffle in one is a major PITA. Cost and durability help thme outweigh tanks as sumps, though (IMO).
 
Wow, Gary ... looks like you got quite a project ahead of you. I am sure it will rock! If i ever move again, the new house will have to have a fish-room ... i could never go back now :)
 
Ok, as far as aquascaping goes, i will go with some "pillar" like structures. I will try to minimize contact with the floor and also make sure that fish can swim all around the structures.

I picked up some acrylic rods from ebay at an amazing price. I also got a 1/2" x 12" drill bit from home depot. While i have all the rock out i will drill numerous 1/4" holes so i can peg frags to 1/4" acrilic rods and be able to insert them right into the rock.

Here is a pic of some of the rock removed from the tank:

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and the drilling and pegging process:

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