730g In-Wall Display

[tgreene]

My wife and I just bought a new home 2 weeks ago, and we began the de-construction of a couple of walls last evening for a 730g in-wall display which will have another 400 or so gallons of support systems attached to it.

The tank is 130" x 37.5" x 36" and the opening in the foyer wall will be 96" x 30". The idea is to have the top of the water and the sand bed be blocked by the viewing port, as well as the sides which will be drilled and have Loc-Line behind and through the rock work on the edges of the system.

We're converting half of our 2-car garage into a dedicated fish room for this project.

Since we've just begun, I don't have any pics to share yet, but hopefully will have something by the end of the weekend.

-Tim

 

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

Sounds fun!

 

[SeaJayInSC]

We're converting half of our 2-car garage into a dedicated fish room for this project.

Doh! I was all excited until I read that part. I think the next house we have will simply have a warehouse instead of a garage... Enough room for at least a half dozen cars, trucks, and motorcycles, plus boats, dive shop, etc.

I could never LOSE garage space. The garage is my "man cave."

When you do finally have pictures, you'd better post them! By the way, where are your pictures from your trip? Video?

 

[dahenley]

and some deconstruction pictures too.

this sounds cool, and always wanted a tank that had some of the sides hidden. i want to know how that looks later on down the road.




this is so cool

 

[tgreene]

More of the garage wall was ripped out last night and hopefully there will be even further progress today, but I'm not sure because my contractor (a personal friend) has another project deadline within the next couple of days that is far more important right now... Once he's done with the other project, he's all mine.

Once this is all completed, there will still be enough room in what's left of my garage for all of the basic "garage stuff" without cars, have a dedicated area for storing my dive gear gear and hanging wetsuits, and still have just enough room for me to buy and store a 2nd motorcycle once this is all done.

-Tim

 

[tgreene]

I just ordered all of my lights, pumps & other stuff this evening... Yep, not cheap! :eek1:

 

[dahenley]

wheres that list of all the equipment you ordered? that way we can all drool............

 

[tgreene]

The CL will be run with dual Hammerheads and the lighting will be (8) 250w MH's running 20k XM's in LumenMax-II reflectors with a pair of T5's fixtures mounted up high for "moon lighting" from (4) UVL Super Actinics.

10 cases of salt arrived last week, and I ordered several new diamond-tipped hole saws last week as well.

The rest of the stuff is things like heaters, valves, LocLine, bulkheads, probes, etc. Not sexy, just necessary and expensive!

 

[Elliott]

have any pics of your shark tank?

 

[dahenley]

why all the drillbits?
are you getting a used tank that you are modifing, or are the bits going to be used for sumps and such? just trying to get a feel.

(i run 400w 20K xm's and love them. they are run off Mag ballasts so they are not as blue plus XM bulbs are not as blue as other 20k's)

cool!!!

 

[tgreene]

have any pics of your shark tank?

I don't have the shark tank anymore.

why all the drillbits?
are you getting a used tank that you are modifing, or are the bits going to be used for sumps and such? just trying to get a feel.

(i run 400w 20K xm's and love them. they are run off Mag ballasts so they are not as blue plus XM bulbs are not as blue as other 20k's)

cool!!!

The reason for all of the bits is because I always drill my own tanks. I'll have a better feeling about how I want it drilled for particular flow patterns once it's sitting in place. Also, since this is all 3/4" glass, I will never use a bit for more than 4 holes, and prefer to limit them to 3. In the grand scheme of things, the bits are very cheap when compared to a $6000 tank.

Personally I think the XM's are one of the more blue bulbs out there, which is why I prefer them. I would love to see XM produce something in the 24-26k range!

-Tim

 

[tgreene]

I just realized that when I ordered everything last night, that since I'm so used to having 250w lights that I accidently ordered the same, when what I meant to order was (8) 400'ers.

Fixed!

-Tim

 

[tgreene]

Here's my most recent order list for those that are wondering what it takes to build a monster tank. Keep in mind that I already have a full set of Ca, Kalk, Carbon and PO4 reactors as well as the Octopus FDNW-400 and Reeflo Orca-250 skimmers. I also have a few 1270gph PanWorld 100PXX-MD40X pumps that I will be using.


8 -- 1 ft. Modular Pipe, 3/4' dia
6 -- SLIP ON SIDE/ THREAD OTHER SIDE BULKHEAD FITTING
4 -- BH15-STR ARP270557 1.5" Strainer Threaded
10 - 20K-400XM 400W XM 20K MOGULE HALIDE BULB
16 - THREADED BULKHEAD FITTING 3/4''
8 -- DURA 1 1/2" True Union Ball Valve
2 -- DURA 1" True Union Ball Valve
1 -- Finnex 800W Deluxe Titanium Heating Tube
4 -- IceCap Single Lamp T5 Reflector ''
1 -- 3/4" LocLine Assembly Pliers
8 -- Mod Pipe, 1/2'' Flrd Nzzl Wide, 2 1/2''
20 - Mod Pipe, 3/4'' NPS male thread conn
4 -- Mod Pipe, 3/4'', Flared nozzle Wide, 3''
16 - Mod Pipe, 3/4'', Straight Nozzle, 5/8''
4 -- Mod Pipe, 3/4'', "Y" reducer, 1/2'' outlet
2 -- ReeFlo HammerHead Water Pump 5800 GPH
4 -- RID-VOLT GROUNDING PROBE
8 -- LumenMax 2 mogul pendant
1 -- TIGER MAGNET - UP TO 3/4'' GLASS
6 -- UV Lighting 36" 39w T5 Super Blue Actinic Lamp
8 -- Vertex 400 W Electronic Halide Ballast
1 -- AQUA-UV 120WATT
1 -- Enaly Aquarium Ozone Generator OZAC-PLUS-200 reef fish
10 - Instant Ocean 200g box salt

 

[tgreene]

Ripping out the garage drywall in order to remove the studs and place a new header. Once the new 10' header is in place, then the remaining studs will be removed and the tank stand will be built. Another factor is/was the closet in the back of the garage, where the short header is... That currently holds the water heater, but it will be removed and relocated so we can completely eliminate the closet.

The 100" x 30" hole into the foyer won't be opened up until the stand is built and the tank is ready to be put into place. It's a bit harder and more time consuming to do it this way, but the reasoning is to eliminate as much dust & dirt inside our house as possible, and also to contain the heat & AC as much as possible.

 

[SeaJayInSC]

Yikes! This stage always scares me.

 

[tgreene]

Oh hell, it gets worse... We just decided today to have a new roof put on too, so that should probably begin taking place within the next week or two. The house needs a roof since the original "low budget" one is 12 years old. We were hoping to hold off for a year or 2 since we just bought the place and have done so much already, but we figured we might as well go ahead and do everything all at one time and just be done with it! We're having a 30-year architectural roof put on and having the slope changed in one section to elimiate any chance of a water collection issue that had previously been a problem. Also having heavy duty water & ice guard installed at all edges.

Dare I say that we also decided just this evening to add on another room too..? :hmm2:

So yeah, we bought a perfectly good home that really didn't need a thing done to it just yet, and we're ripping it all apart and making it way better!!!

-Tim

 

[SeaJayInSC]

Wow... You rob a bank or somethin'?

 

[TenKreefer]

Sounds like you're in it for the long haul, looking forward to this one

 

[tgreene]

Wow... You rob a bank or somethin'?

Figuratively speaking, YES!

My mother-in-law who recently began living with us inherited a large sum of money and out of state property that I spent all last summer and fall renovating for her to be able to sell, and then I found a buyer and handled that sale which took place on February 1st. Since Cathy and I had been renting for the past 5 years, we all figured the most sound investment that we (or anyone) could ever possibly make was to buy a home and then "invest" in the renovations and upgrades for said home...

The house that we bought is 12 years old, and by all standards is classified as a luxury home in an upper middle class neighborhood. With the real estate market being a "buyers market" at the moment, we were able to get the place for $14k5 and have added another $50k into renovations and furnishings. The appraisel was $190k, so we're right on par, though since we're having friends that are in the respective businesses (HVAC, carpentry, electrical, roofing, granite, etc.[/i]) do all of the work we're saving a ton off what we would otherwise be paying to have all of this done. Once everything is complete, we'll have increased the appraised property value by nearly another $100k in 2 months time.

Being that weve paid ca$h for everything (home included), we don't have a dimes worth of interest to have to contend with, so anyone can do the math and figure out the amount of savings in that regard. The biggest factor for the roof is that as new home buyers we get the $8k home buyers incentive rebate and are able to simply roll that over since the new roof is going to cost us $8k... It would ordinarily be close to double that, but a friend that is a top notch roofer that hasn't had a lot of work lately is'nt making a dime for the materials over and above his cost. He's working strictly on a reduced labor rate. This is how all of our friends have been doing everything for us, so it's made a huge difference in determining what all we can or cannot do at the moment. Another aspect of all of this is that we're hoping to be able to showcase our new home in the local/regional "Parade of Homes" magazine, and everyone working on a part of it is pretty eager to have their names attached to it for business and marketing purposes.

Sounds like you're in it for the long haul, looking forward to this one

I've been in it for the "long haul" for many years now, and while this new system is huge, I'm actually down sizing from (4) separate systems totaling just over 1400 gallons that were strewn throughout our last house.

-Tim

 

[SeaJayInSC]

Since Cathy and I had been renting for the past 5 years, we all figured the most sound investment that we (or anyone) could ever possibly make was to buy a home and then "invest" in the renovations and upgrades for said home...

No doubt! Especially now... Real Estate is so down that you tend to get a lot for your money as compared with just a few short years ago. Very smart!

The house that we bought is 12 years old, and by all standards is classified as a luxury home in an upper middle class neighborhood. With the real estate market being a "buyers market" at the moment, we were able to get the place for $14k5 and have added another $50k into renovations and furnishings. The appraisel was $190k, so we're right on par, though since we're having friends that are in the respective businesses (HVAC, carpentry, electrical, roofing, granite, etc.[/i]) do all of the work we're saving a ton off what we would otherwise be paying to have all of this done. Once everything is complete, we'll have increased the appraised property value by nearly another $100k in 2 months time.

Sounds like a great plan. This new aquarium, I think, might make the house a little harder to sell, although the right buyer might fall in love with it.

Regardless, historically, real estate is the very best place that someone can place their wealth. Sure, over the past couple of years that hasn't been true (it would have been much better for someone to have had their wealth in gold for example), but I believe that from now to a decade from now, it's going to be real estate again... Particularly if you can find real estate that's in a growing middle to upper class neighborhood with lower property taxes.

That said, of course, that's just my opinion... But it sounds like y'all are doing a great thing.

Being that weve paid ca$h for everything (home included),

*jealous* Wow, man, that's awesome...

we don't have a dimes worth of interest to have to contend with, so anyone can do the math and figure out the amount of savings in that regard. The biggest factor for the roof is that as new home buyers we get the $8k home buyers incentive rebate and are able to simply roll that over since the new roof is going to cost us $8k... It would ordinarily be close to double that, but a friend that is a top notch roofer that hasn't had a lot of work lately is'nt making a dime for the materials over and above his cost. He's working strictly on a reduced labor rate. This is how all of our friends have been doing everything for us, so it's made a huge difference in determining what all we can or cannot do at the moment. Another aspect of all of this is that we're hoping to be able to showcase our new home in the local/regional "Parade of Homes" magazine, and everyone working on a part of it is pretty eager to have their names attached to it for business and marketing purposes.

Wow... Yeah, it sounds like you're doing a great job taking advantage of market trends in 2010.

Kym and I need to duplicate your efforts. I really like your thought process. This may be our generation's last hope of financial stability...