Custom 210 gal. in-wall build with steel stand and DIY rock walls
- Thread starter ReefWhatYouSow
- Start date
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
I was so busy with electrical stuff at my place i didnt get to go help. Sorry. I still want to come by but life gets crazy sometimes
ReefWhatYouSow
New member
Totally get it Roger... I was right there with you. I ended up doing a lot of cleaning to equipment on Sunday instead so if you are available feel free to come by this weekend. My plans are to make some big progress.
And I am really going to make an effort to get the updates on the board this week as well!
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
I should be able to come by on Sunday or Saturday afternoon
ReefWhatYouSow
New member
ReefWhatYouSow
New member
Update as of January 13, 2015
Update as of January 13, 2015
Sorry that it has taken me so long to update, but life caught up to me. I want to say I have made some strides since my last posts, but I know there is still a good amount of stuff that I have left to do. Unfortunately I did not take as many pictures as I have been. It just slipped my mind, but I will try to explain everything well.
To start… I put all of the pieces in the tank to see how they would fit. I started with the pieces that went around the overflow since I had to get all the way into the tank to push the pvc pieces together. Thankfully there were no pictures of this taken. I really didn’t have too many issues with this except for some areas where the foam didn’t line up right and had to be trimmed.
The foam on a lot of pieces had expanded to where the pieces did not fit into the tank nicely. There was some ripping of foam and cutting that had to be done. To be honest, I have one small piece for on top of the cave that I still have to cut. Other people suggest using less foam upfront. I actually prefer having too much and having to cut it. I’ll explain why a little later.
Once the pieces were cut to fit better it was time to silicone them into place. I started doing this by using beads of silicone and noticed that in some areas I could push the rockwall against the glass and the silicone would still not make contact with the glass of the tank. What DID work was putting big globs of silicone sporadically on the back of each wall piece and then bracing that piece against the tank walls with the use of 2x4s. When looking at the back of the tank you can see what a mess I made with the silicone, but it holds really well.
Update as of January 13, 2015
Sorry that it has taken me so long to update, but life caught up to me. I want to say I have made some strides since my last posts, but I know there is still a good amount of stuff that I have left to do. Unfortunately I did not take as many pictures as I have been. It just slipped my mind, but I will try to explain everything well.
To start… I put all of the pieces in the tank to see how they would fit. I started with the pieces that went around the overflow since I had to get all the way into the tank to push the pvc pieces together. Thankfully there were no pictures of this taken. I really didn’t have too many issues with this except for some areas where the foam didn’t line up right and had to be trimmed.
The foam on a lot of pieces had expanded to where the pieces did not fit into the tank nicely. There was some ripping of foam and cutting that had to be done. To be honest, I have one small piece for on top of the cave that I still have to cut. Other people suggest using less foam upfront. I actually prefer having too much and having to cut it. I’ll explain why a little later.
Once the pieces were cut to fit better it was time to silicone them into place. I started doing this by using beads of silicone and noticed that in some areas I could push the rockwall against the glass and the silicone would still not make contact with the glass of the tank. What DID work was putting big globs of silicone sporadically on the back of each wall piece and then bracing that piece against the tank walls with the use of 2x4s. When looking at the back of the tank you can see what a mess I made with the silicone, but it holds really well.
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ReefWhatYouSow
New member
After all of the pieces were in and the silicone had fully cured it was time for touchups within the rockwall. This was definitely harder to do now that everything was in the tank. I started with adding foam to the edges of the rockwall on the overflow to try to hide the 90degree pvc pieces. I started low and worked my way up. This helped keep the foam from falling down. I was building upon itself with more foam. I added foam between the rest of the rockwalls and tried to make it blend enough to not look like separate pieces. You will also notice the foam towards the top of the tank above the walls. It is important to me that I hide as much of the tank as possible – without driving myself crazy. You might remember that I said that I would rather have to trim the foam in the tank than use less foam to begin with, and this is why. It allowed for me to maximize the look by not having more area to try to cover with sand (not the most successfully) inside of the tank.
Once the foam cured I had to go back to the process of adding the adhesive and crushed coral/sand mixture to the foam. Uh oh! How was I going to do this with everything already in the tank? Upside down of course! This was not fun… and that is why I did not try to perfect the look to 100%. In fact, I only did one coating compared to the multiple coatings I did on the rockwall when the pieces were laying on the ground. Imagine trying to throw sand upside down at the wall!
You CAN see a slight difference between the new areas and the old, but guess where I plan to stick some coral frags first! Lol…
Before adding any sand I tried to clean up the tank a bit. I didn’t want to mix my types of sand, or have pieces of foam floating around in the tank. Well, guess what… I didn’t get it all. It was a pain in the butt trying to clean the tank to perfection. I’m going to assume that the foam will either float to the top in which case I can scoop it out or it will be caught by the filter sock, or it will be buried by the sand until a snail dislodges it and at that time it will be caught by the filter sock. Not the worst thing in the world.
Once the sand was added the tank definitely started to come together and look less like a project a more like a finished product.
I bought 4 ½ (40lb) bags of CaribSea Fiji Pink Reef Sand. This gave me a gradual incline from about 2” to 3” in the tank; 4” in some areas. Personally I like the look of the Pink Fiji. There isn’t much “pink” as the name suggest but it gives a very consistent look in grain size and from the research I have done, if given time the sand will settle and not blow around. A really good weight to have, but only time will tell once I’m blasting the Jebao RW15s.
A few things next on the list are… plumbing in the fish room, plumbing in the garage, lights in the fish room, and putting the wire shelves back in the fish room... And of course cycle the tank!
Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback! It definitely keeps me motivated as I continue and it is great to learn from others at the same time.
Once the foam cured I had to go back to the process of adding the adhesive and crushed coral/sand mixture to the foam. Uh oh! How was I going to do this with everything already in the tank? Upside down of course! This was not fun… and that is why I did not try to perfect the look to 100%. In fact, I only did one coating compared to the multiple coatings I did on the rockwall when the pieces were laying on the ground. Imagine trying to throw sand upside down at the wall!
You CAN see a slight difference between the new areas and the old, but guess where I plan to stick some coral frags first! Lol…
Before adding any sand I tried to clean up the tank a bit. I didn’t want to mix my types of sand, or have pieces of foam floating around in the tank. Well, guess what… I didn’t get it all. It was a pain in the butt trying to clean the tank to perfection. I’m going to assume that the foam will either float to the top in which case I can scoop it out or it will be caught by the filter sock, or it will be buried by the sand until a snail dislodges it and at that time it will be caught by the filter sock. Not the worst thing in the world.
Once the sand was added the tank definitely started to come together and look less like a project a more like a finished product.
I bought 4 ½ (40lb) bags of CaribSea Fiji Pink Reef Sand. This gave me a gradual incline from about 2” to 3” in the tank; 4” in some areas. Personally I like the look of the Pink Fiji. There isn’t much “pink” as the name suggest but it gives a very consistent look in grain size and from the research I have done, if given time the sand will settle and not blow around. A really good weight to have, but only time will tell once I’m blasting the Jebao RW15s.
A few things next on the list are… plumbing in the fish room, plumbing in the garage, lights in the fish room, and putting the wire shelves back in the fish room... And of course cycle the tank!
Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback! It definitely keeps me motivated as I continue and it is great to learn from others at the same time.
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trickedout900
New member
Awesome build man. Not sure of what fish you are putting in there but the one thing I can add about exposed foam, my emperor angel loved to bite it off and spit it out. I was constantly cleaning pieces of foam out of my filters. It does eventually stop but it was annoying for a long time.
Good luck on the build.
Good luck on the build.
stinkyreef
New member
I love seeing these kinds of tank builds, you definitely have a winner going in!
ReefWhatYouSow
New member
Hey trickedout, thanks for the warning. I'm planning to do all reef/invert safe fish, but it would probably be worth spending the extra 10 mins of hassle to cover the exposed foam. Thanks again!
Hey bigz! I'm hoping to make some strides on the plumbing tomorrow. I've had tons of things popping up that have delayed the build. Maybe I'll be done by the Super Bowl? 2016 that is! Jk...
I'm crossing my fingers that I can start putting water in it next weekend. I need to drill a hole in a 10gal tank and possibly pick up some missing pieces first.
I appreciate it Sonicboom! I'm not far at all. Tomorrow is a plumbing day from 9:00am on if you want to come by : )
ReefWhatYouSow
New member
Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I'm learning a ton as I go along (from fellow readers and my own mistakes) so feel free to hit me up with questions!
