It begins... 345-gallon Starphire in-wall system

[polywise]

you are a toughie..

Remember that a pat on the shoulder, and a "your doing a good job" will help your project move along at a good clip V.S. waiting until the end,,, uness you doubt his skills and are waiting to see the sparks fly and breakers trip... just kidding.

your project looks great !

 

[mrcrab]

No doubt whatsoever with his skills. We're dealing with construction workers here. A kick in the keester and a cold beer work much better than a pat on the back in this situation. :lol:

 

[polywise]

mrcrab,

beer does the trick for me !

:beer:

 

[mrcrab]

Hope all the Americans following had a nice Thanksgiving.

The pillars are done and in the tank as well as the sand. Sorry no pics of them going together. I was rushed trying to get everything completed before the holiday. Just painted the matt white at this point until the boss decides on colors. One of the reasons for moving the tank was to get started remodeling the entire house.

Pics aren't the best as there are no lights on the tank at this point. T5's arrive Wednesday and the MH's won't be on until the changeover from the 120.

The Full Monty

Side Shots

Sump is up and running. Frag area is in the middle. We've plumbed the RO/DI tank and the salt water tank for easy water changes. I'm waiting on an aqualifter dosing pump for the top-off system.

2 Vortech pumps should be here this week. There will be 4 total, 2 on each side and 2 on the back blowing forward.

Electrical box is on the wall, just need to pull the wires and hook it up.

 

[mflamb]

Great work. I was woried about the number of pillars, but it works well in your tank.

 

[rayman45]

looking good man... love the ''towers'' of rock work

 

[jnarowe]

4 Vortechs may be too much flow for that size tank, at least when full blast. I have 4 on my 1000g and they really rock that tank!

 

[polywise]

mrcrab,

I might have missed it, but what make is your tank?

 

[mrcrab]

A fellow out of Miami made it for me. He's been making them for 40 years.

 

[Bax]

That looks great!

Was it running for Thanksgiving dinner?

 

[George Grogan]

Man, those rock pillars are great!! I'm now rethinking my future upgrade!:eek1:

 

[onehundred20]

awsome love the framing around the tank, hopefully soon ill buy a house I can do a inwall with.....Might have missed it have you started the lighting yet?

 

[mrcrab]

From front to back:

2 X 54W ATI Blue plus

In Maristar fixture:
2 X 39W UVL Super actinics
3 X 250W HQI Ushio 14K's
2 X 39W ATI Aqua blues

2 X 54W UVL Super actinics

Front row and back row will be overdriven on an IC 660 ballast.

T5's should be here on Wednesday.

 

[mrcrab]

Bax,

Yes, but it was cloudy. Didn't finish adding the sand until about 12:30am.

 

[mrcrab]

larrydawg5,

I really liked the pillars when I saw Sanjay do them. Lots of room at different levels for corals, lots of swimming space for the fish. The best part is they're just drilled and stacked so if I decide to change things around it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

BTW how do you have time for the fish and 3 Jack Russels. We have one and that's enough. Active little buggers!

 

[Sparkss]

We were originally planning on having front side access to our inwall tank, but seeing how you laid out the framing and viewing portal we are rethinking our plans. Was there anything that you would do differently if you had to start over ?

 

[mrcrab]

I was originally thinking of front access also, but I really wanted the look of a picture hanging on the wall.

At this point the only thing I wish was that the tank was wider than 30", 36" or 48" would have been nice. The thicker glass really magnifies the view and makes it look less deep than it really is.

As far as anything else, it's hard to say at this point as I'm not really doing any maintenance. Ask me again in a couple of months after it's cycled, the livestock is in and I'm having to do regular maintenance. A height of 2' would have been much easier for reaching into but I think it would have looked out of proportion. I definately wouldn't go any deeper than the 30" than it is.

Since you're going with a 180, if you have the room I might only go 4' long by 2' high and make up the rest of the volume in depth.
Proportinately that should be quite pleasing.

 

[George Grogan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8633180#post8633180 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mrcrab
larrydawg5,

BTW how do you have time for the fish and 3 Jack Russels. We have one and that's enough. Active little buggers!

Yes, very "busy" dogs. They do need a lot of attention. Fortunately, with 3, they keep themselves fairly well occupied, sometimes anyway! Our youngest (male, 1 year, he's a "puddin" named Shorty Britches!) loves to sit in my lap and watch the fish swim in the aquarium!

 

[mrcrab]

LOL, Roxie barks at the fish and tries to catch them.

 

[Sparkss]

oh, sorry, I need to update my sig

The tank we are working on putting in wall is a 380 (78" X 48" X 25"). I should have mentioned that when I posted. I just picked up the LVL header this afternoon, likely won't be until next weekend before I get it installed though, so I have time before I start making those "final cuts"

Plus, I was playing around with the idea of cutting a "typical" opening for a tank (full tank sized, no "cropping") and then building an insert of sorts as a separate piece (like your "matte", but not part of the existing wall) . That way I could play around a little with the viewing portal size without worrying about the wall itself (just create a new insert/matte if I cut too large an opening for our tastes). There are of course caveats to doing it that way, what with the possibility of dealing with seams in the matte (depending on the material used and available sizes of that material), adequate holding in place of the insert, what to make it out of, etc. Although plywood seems like the obvious choice, sheetrock could also be used, or white (hopefully paintable) acrylic sheet, or a couple of other possibilities. The border itself (that ties the matte in with the wall) would then be used to literally tie it in, holding the matte/insert flush up against the tank, but the matte would actually rest on the sheetrock edge on the bottom of the opening (I would need to reinforce that edge with wood trim or something to avoid it going all raggedy on us). This also means that the border would need to be a bit beefier than otherwise would be necessary, but I am not sure if that would be an issue or not.

Any thoughts on any of this ?

And thanks again for a very inspiring thread