Dane's 175 Gal in-Wall Tank Build
- Thread starter TulaneDane
- Start date
Shawn O
Active member
I saw you cut holes in the left side of your sump and over-tank area for fans. Is that venting directly into the wall cavity? I don't know about your area but in my area this would cause black mold inside the walls pretty quick. It may be better to cover the holes and vent your system directly to the outside.
Nice looking house, btw. Did you buy the house because of the built-in tank or did you get interested in tanks and decide to restore the system after you bought the house?
Nice looking house, btw. Did you buy the house because of the built-in tank or did you get interested in tanks and decide to restore the system after you bought the house?
TulaneDane
New member
Tough news. Lost my yellow Tang over the weekend. :sad1: A collection of errors I suppose. The largest of which was me leaving town. When I left Thursday around noon, he looked fine. Was pulling at the algae sheets I would stick in. On Friday morning, the Ms. sent me a text as she left for work that he was on the bottom of the tank. By the time she was back home, it was too late. :sad1:
Tested the water when I got home:
I suppose the NO3 could have done it. He was in the QT for about a week by then. My other theory is I refilled the QT a bit more than previously when I did a 50% water change after moving my clowns to the Display Tank. This likely caused less surface agitation from my powerhead, possibly reducing O2. However, I still had the airstone running... :hmm2:
Will do a 100% water change before trying my next fish. Also try some meaty foods as suggested. Finally, not headed out of town anytime soon (though not sure what I would have done other than immediately toss him in my Display Tank had I been the one to find him Friday morning). :thumbdown
@ Shawn - I decided to restore the tank after buying the house. I've had no prior exposure with tanks. The final and most lethal of my mistakes here..
Tested the water when I got home:
- NH4 0
- NO2 0
- NO3 32 PPM
- SG 1.025
- Temp 77.5
I suppose the NO3 could have done it. He was in the QT for about a week by then. My other theory is I refilled the QT a bit more than previously when I did a 50% water change after moving my clowns to the Display Tank. This likely caused less surface agitation from my powerhead, possibly reducing O2. However, I still had the airstone running... :hmm2:
Will do a 100% water change before trying my next fish. Also try some meaty foods as suggested. Finally, not headed out of town anytime soon (though not sure what I would have done other than immediately toss him in my Display Tank had I been the one to find him Friday morning). :thumbdown
@ Shawn - I decided to restore the tank after buying the house. I've had no prior exposure with tanks. The final and most lethal of my mistakes here..
Make sure you sanitize that QT and maybe even let it sit dry for a day or two before refilling it. That could take care of any possible nasties the yellow tang was carrying. You also might want to think about a slightly longer QT period than 4 weeks. 6 is a pretty good benchmark. Some parasites/diseases take longer than 4 weeks to manifest. So, especially if you aren't treating prophalatically (and I spelled this so poorly, even spell check can't save me), 6 weeks would be a good idea. I learned this the hard way. I ended up getting ich in my DT from an unknown source, and had to leave the DT fallow for 12 weeks and treat all the fish. That suuuucked.
Also, don't feel too badly about the tang. Sometimes, fish just die from unknown reasons (stress, handling prior to you receiving them). And never ever ever toss an almost dying fish from your QT into your DT (unless it was uber expensive or rare and you're pulling all the stops to try to save it). You only run the risk of contaminating the DT.
Indymann99
New member
I don't care how "uber expensive" the QT fish is... not worth killing all your long time residents of the DT... even if they are damsels...
True, true. To each their own. I do know if I was dealing with a $5K fish, I would probably be desperate enough to try the DT (depending on how the fish was looking and relative value/hardiness of other specimens in the tank). But if I was in the habit of buy $5k fish, my house would probably be an aquarium at that point so I'd have my pick of tanks to try. lol. I can see cases that could justify that action is all.
My point here, was that it is just not even remotely worth it to toss that fish in the DT after a few days of QT b/c it's not doing well in an attempt to save it.
TulaneDane
New member
Wow. Very helpful guys, thank you. Hopefully this won't happen again, but if it does I'll go for a large water change rather than going straight for the Display Tank. :worried2:
You really think I need to breakdown, sanitize, and re-cycle my Quarantine Tank? I changed 100% of the water last night. Sure don't want to spend that extra 6-8 weeks unless its absolutely necessary. :debi:
You really think I need to breakdown, sanitize, and re-cycle my Quarantine Tank? I changed 100% of the water last night. Sure don't want to spend that extra 6-8 weeks unless its absolutely necessary. :debi:
TulaneDane
New member
So the slippery slope continues...decided I'm getting a chiller. :eek1:
Tank ranges from 79*-80.5*, and we haven't even had a true Memphis summer day yet. I have to set my AC to 73* to keep the tank from topping 80.5*
Also, with all the fans my 20 gallon ATO only lasts a week now. I used to get 12-14 days out of it. :angryfire:
Problem is...with the in wall setup...where would I put it? Only place I can think of is ABOVE the tank:
The shelf above where the vase is now. I already have the hole drilled that I need to run the vinyl tubing & power cord (from my original CPU vent idea).
So...any reason this idea is idiotic? Better in wall solution? :uhoh2:
Tank ranges from 79*-80.5*, and we haven't even had a true Memphis summer day yet. I have to set my AC to 73* to keep the tank from topping 80.5*
Also, with all the fans my 20 gallon ATO only lasts a week now. I used to get 12-14 days out of it. :angryfire:
Problem is...with the in wall setup...where would I put it? Only place I can think of is ABOVE the tank:
The shelf above where the vase is now. I already have the hole drilled that I need to run the vinyl tubing & power cord (from my original CPU vent idea).
So...any reason this idea is idiotic? Better in wall solution? :uhoh2:
I would encourage you to not put the chiller in a closed cabinet. As you probably already know, they put off the heat into the air that they remove from the water. up on that vase shelf would work and if the shelf is deep enough (from the wall to the edge of the shelf), you may be able to put the chiller behind some more decorative items.
The biggest hurdle is getting water pumped up there from the sump and balancing head pressure to achieve the proper gph flow for which your chiller is rated.
The biggest hurdle is getting water pumped up there from the sump and balancing head pressure to achieve the proper gph flow for which your chiller is rated.
TulaneDane
New member
@Ikserk. Great points. Inside the cabinets is not an option.
I'm going with a JBJ 1/4 HP Chiller. So I'll need 480-1920 gallons per hour. Anyway I could draw from my emergency overflow weir?
Perhaps mount a pump where my AFS is and draw from the weir? Would cut the head pressure by about 6'..
I'm going with a JBJ 1/4 HP Chiller. So I'll need 480-1920 gallons per hour. Anyway I could draw from my emergency overflow weir?
Perhaps mount a pump where my AFS is and draw from the weir? Would cut the head pressure by about 6'..
Well. My advice would really be to either sanitize the QT, and fill it with new water (I think it's less important that it be cycled since you don't treat with CP...you can add prime as an ammonia neutralizer) or leave it fallow for 6-12 weeks. I only say this b/c I learned the hard way from not QTing and sanitizing 100% of everything I put in my tanks. Unless you know why the YT died, I think this is the wisest yet sucky course of action.
TulaneDane
New member
Rolled the dice on my QT. Changed the Hang on the Back filter and did a 100% water change. Waited a week, and I'm on my second yellow tang now.
I'm watching him like a hawk. What's different this time: Feeding him much smaller pieces of seaweed salad (2"x2") clipped to the glass. Pulling out what he hasn't eaten after 6-8 hours. Supplementing his diet with a couple frozen mysis shrimp. Not using the tank lights yet.
He seems much more active and expands his sail...hadn't seen that before. He's shy though and will skirt behind the PVC if I walk in the room (I can still peek my head around the corner without him noticing). :clown:
On the chiller...this is going to be a project. I just don't see how I can make it work pulling from one of the overflow weirs...am I missing something? :idea:
Going from the sump...It's 9' to the shelf. The chiller is another ~2' tall, giving me 11' of head loss. Suppose I can power my way through that...but I'm out of room in my return section of the sump. :sad2:
Ideas?? :hmm5:
I'm watching him like a hawk. What's different this time: Feeding him much smaller pieces of seaweed salad (2"x2") clipped to the glass. Pulling out what he hasn't eaten after 6-8 hours. Supplementing his diet with a couple frozen mysis shrimp. Not using the tank lights yet.
He seems much more active and expands his sail...hadn't seen that before. He's shy though and will skirt behind the PVC if I walk in the room (I can still peek my head around the corner without him noticing). :clown:
On the chiller...this is going to be a project. I just don't see how I can make it work pulling from one of the overflow weirs...am I missing something? :idea:
Going from the sump...It's 9' to the shelf. The chiller is another ~2' tall, giving me 11' of head loss. Suppose I can power my way through that...but I'm out of room in my return section of the sump. :sad2:
Ideas?? :hmm5:
Indymann99
New member
Dane, before jumping to the chiller have you tried running the tank with the top and bottom cabinet doors open? If the temp drops to acceptable level you could simply replace the panel doors with louvered doors? (maybe some fans to pull air from side-side) Would not look as pretty but would work without the expense, complexity, and noise of a chiller.... also the chiller is going to have to have somewhere to exhaust the heat it produces...
my 0.02
my 0.02
Indymann99
New member
So I just read the earlier post, that you are worried about temp @ 80deg?? I would consider that no problem... many run tanks at 79-80... and even higher.
The 20g per week top off is a "bit" excessive (I loose 2g per day to evap) but may work in your favor if you are planning on running Kalk in your ATO.
The 20g per week top off is a "bit" excessive (I loose 2g per day to evap) but may work in your favor if you are planning on running Kalk in your ATO.
TulaneDane
New member
@Indyman99: Good points. Actually, since I added the CPU fans venting to the interior of the house, opening both top and bottom cabinets doesn't change the temperature but ~0.1*.
Now if those fans, and the larger fan pointed across my sump, are turned off (or fail) the temp heads north of 82.5* in a couple hours. Opening the cabinet doors then brings the temps back down.
What worries me is we've had an incredibly mild summer here thus far. Only a few days over 90*. Couple that with having to set my house AC at 73* to keep the tank from topping 80.5*, and turning through 20 gallons of ATO in ~7 days, leads me to the Chiller conclusion.
However, unless I can figure out the physics of a Chiller on this tank, my hand may forced away from one anyway.
Now if those fans, and the larger fan pointed across my sump, are turned off (or fail) the temp heads north of 82.5* in a couple hours. Opening the cabinet doors then brings the temps back down.
What worries me is we've had an incredibly mild summer here thus far. Only a few days over 90*. Couple that with having to set my house AC at 73* to keep the tank from topping 80.5*, and turning through 20 gallons of ATO in ~7 days, leads me to the Chiller conclusion.
However, unless I can figure out the physics of a Chiller on this tank, my hand may forced away from one anyway.
TulaneDane
New member
@Indyman99: I see you have two amp meters on your apex. Are you running two energy bars? Also, what interface is that you screen shot? I only access my Apex through Apex Fusion via Safari. Doesn't look anything like that...
@Cymonous: Now that is an idea! I could move that vent above the top shelf down and then use a 90* duct to feed it through the mini duct I added above the tank... I shall research this further! :reading:
@Cymonous: Now that is an idea! I could move that vent above the top shelf down and then use a 90* duct to feed it through the mini duct I added above the tank... I shall research this further! :reading:
TulaneDane
New member
Still racking my brain on the cooling. Haven't settled on my planned solution yet.
Did make a few minor changes to the Display Tank:
Did make a few minor changes to the Display Tank:
- I'd been running three Koralia 1500s and one Koralia 1150 on alternating schedules. I swapped out one of the 1500s for another 1150. My clowns rarely leave their top right corner of the tank. Thought maybe I was pushing too much flow...
- Bought a bracket to hold the float valve that shuts off my skimmer if the sump water level gets too high (yeah...magnet holders don't work here):
