Cromedogg's 180g in-wall build

[cromedogg33]

To the beginning of an adventure..... :beer:.

I think all of my interest in the hobby came from my first trip to Sea World where I was chosen to be....licked....by the original Shamoo. I think I was about 10 years old at the time and it stuck in my head that I would always want a part of the ocean in my life.

I bought my first tank at 18 and had no clue what I was doing but before places like RC and LFS's I had to learn on my own. I had a 55g with PC lights and a couple clown fishes and damsels. Being 18 I was always on the run and doing what a 18 year old does. I got rid of the tank and have forever regretted doing so.

I recently bought a house and set up a 75g tank that lasted all of about 6 months before it was too small and not set up correctly. Luckily in buying my equipment I always knew I was going bigger so I had a decent head start.

I want to give credit where credit is due before I ever start another post. If not for drummereef's 180g in-wall build, I don't think I would have the motivation or great ideas on how I wanted my tank to be setup. With everyone's ideas/opinions/suggestions in his thread I would be lost.

Onto the build...Hopefully everyone is able to chime in and help me and I can give pictures and updates slowy but surely.

 

[cromedogg33]

To give everyone a look into the room that I will be building my fish room in. I recently had a new A/C and furnace installed that took up a little more room than expected so I've had to move the tank over a little more than I thought.

This is a utility room with a washer/dryer and my furnace. The wall to the left will be the display wall which is a load bearing wall in my basement.

If you look at the header I was completely dissapointed to find out the header was rough cut, and it is extremely rough cut which will make for a ton of fun framing out the tank.

I plan on using pressure treated 4x4's on each side of the tank as well as in each corner of the wall along with a header above the tank to provide the support the wall needs. I'm going to have to jack up the wall to get the 4x4's in there so that my floor/ceiling will not move.

 

[cromedogg33]

First things first I am going to be moving all the electrical out of the wall. It was a 3 way switch that I'm going to be elimating completely. I have to move all the plumbing for the washer/dryer as well as the electrical for that about 6 ft.

This plumbing will provide me with a hookup for my RO/DI as well as a drain that will be plumbed for easy water changes.

 

[cromedogg33]

To give everyone a rundown of the tank that I will be doing along with equipment.

It will be a 180g all-glass w/corner overflows. I have a 50g long acrylic tank that I will be using as my sump.

I will use my PCI PS-3000 skimmer and will be running a DIY kalk stirrer as off of my auto top off. I plan on using drummereefs manifold design where I plan on running carbon, CA, and potentially a biopellet setup. I'm not completely sold on GFO but we'll see where I'm at on that.

I will be using 2 mp40w's with the old drivers that I may upgrade to the ES as well as a Reeflo Dart as my return and pump to run my manifold. I plan on having a 40g frag/refugium tank in the future.

I will be running 3 radium bulbs with m80 ballasts. I have a Bluewave 7 and 3 to run the radiums to spec. I'm still debating on which reflectors but leaning towards LumenMax Elites. Supplementing with VHO's or T5's is still up for debate as well. Blue LED's for nightlighting.

I'm also in the market for a controller and looking at the reefkeeper elites or the neptune apex.

 

[cromedogg33]

While doing my house plumbing yesterday it occured to me that my pipes were copper, so I had no choice but to use copper. Obviously copper is not good for my water but I don't really have a choice. Is there any precautions I can take to ensure no copper gets into my water?

 

[dave.m]

Using a properly sized RO/DI unit should handle the existing copper but if you're adding new piping you may want to add an additional canister of AC. As well, always flush copper pipes by letting the water run for several minutes before routing it to your RO/DI unit.

Dave.M

 

[sjmantis]

GO Giants.....in Idaho?

 

[cromedogg33]

Better believe it!! Most of my family lives in California and I go to a game or two every year. I tried playing college ball at cuesta and santa rosa area but had a pretty serious injury that curbed that passion

Hope they make the playoffs because I will definately be down there.

 

[dzfish17]

Looks like a fun project. Go Giants.

 

[cromedogg33]

Should get some updates tonight. All the plumbing was moved about 6ft over last night and will be doing electrical tonight. I will be running 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits for the fish tank.

 

[jefathome]

Keep up the good work. here is a link to my recent in-wall build.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17062895#post17062895

 

[sjmantis]

Better believe it!! Most of my family lives in California and I go to a game or two every year. I tried playing college ball at cuesta and santa rosa area but had a pretty serious injury that curbed that passion

Hope they make the playoffs because I will definately be down there.

Sweet! Got season tickets upper deck right in the shade. Caught 3 foul balls already :dance:

 

[cromedogg33]

Just want to make sure everyone knows I'm a true Giant's fan

And before anyone asks/pokes fun. I had those jerseys put up and I got a "suprise" from my mother who thought it would be a good idea to put all my old little league world series stuff on the wall with the two greatest players of all time.

 

[cromedogg33]

I did manage to get some stuff done last night. You can see here that the plumbing was only moved about 6 feet over to the right side. I was baffled to see when I took the sheetrock back that the drain did not have a p-trap installed. It is actually a cause for concern because the gas from the sewer would have been coming back up into the pipe and into my house, so I'm glad this project got under way.

During the plumbing I just capped off the old lines to the washer hookups as well as what will be used for my RO/DI and was very happy to see that in the wall was the water for a bathroom on the other side of the wall. I cut the copper pipes and soldered on some T fittings and a few hours and a couple cold ones it was done.

I started to work on the electrical as well last night as the washer/dryer hookups all needed to be moved. I don't envy electricians or plumbers at this point.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

update? Any boxes full of water added to this build yet?