It's Started!! 120g Tech 120 in wall build

[monty]

Well, with the recent purchase of a new house came the decision of what to do with the fish. Unfortunately, there was no logical space to stuff my current 180g setup of five years, so I decided to get creative. FORTUNATELY, I've had years to think about what I would setup if I had the opportunity to start with a clean slate. So, here we are.

Making the trip from old house to new will only be:
-Bermuda Aquatics BPS 5C
-PFO 250w Halides
-Couple of fish, tons of sand (all going into the new fuge), rock, and mixed reef.

And the NEW.......
-120g Oceanic Tech (finally got myself a starfire!!)
-2 100g stock tanks (1 fuge, 1 sump located in basement)
- Reeflo Barricuda (should take care of everything with no need for powerheads........well, maybe one)

Please enjoy my progress with me, and feel free to chime in with any tips or thoughts, and ill try to post as many pics as i can.


Here is day one:

 

[monty]

I'm building the stand to be somewhat overkill. I always get paranoid that something could fall for whatever reason. The front is just framed like a regular wall, except im spacing the studs @ 10". I am making use of kind of a wasted space/wall which faces the living room and behind it is just the stairs to the basement. Because I am not going with any rear braces, I am using a 4x6. All corner studs are 4x4's. I am connecting the rear section to the front with 2x6 joists and skinning it with 3/4"birch, and the same on the top (days 2-3 below - i actually started all of this sunday afternoon and have had no time to post)

 

[monty]

here are the pics of the stand progress, everything is level, plum, and square (surprisingly)

thats it for now, more to come as i make progress this weekend

 

[nicole977]

Like you said, that stand is overkill.
It could hold up a 1,200 gallon tank!

 

[arctictwist]

are you going to coat the stand and the joist hangers?

 

[mikelaubach]

Are you looking at the back of the tank as you walk down the stairs?

 

[cato]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14709116#post14709116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nicole977
Like you said, that stand is overkill.
It could hold up a 1,200 gallon tank!

Ditto. ^^^ lol

 

[monty]

Thanks everyone. Overkill=extra comfort, especially when you dont see the stand. I've Poly'd the top of the stand and will paint everything else in time. There is a lot to do.

As far as the view from walking down the stairs, yes you do look at the back of the tank. The Tech tanks are blacked out though, so you dont see anything.

my two stock tanks come tomorrow, and i will build the stands for them in the basement quickly. Should pick the tank up in a day or two, so there will be a lot more to come soon.

for now, here's all i got. Stand is done (un painted).

 

[mikelaubach]

Cool. I wasn't making any comment about seeing the back of the tank, just wanted to be sure i understood the setup and where the tank was located. It's pretty slick use of "wasted" space.

 

[rexdenton]

A couple of observations from somebody who has recently done a similar in wall build. Your tank looks deep. If more than 30" deep your PAR for coral off of the 250 W MH may be unexpectedly low at maximum depth. You may find that 400W's may be necessary for SPS and other difficult coral (if you are keeping coral). If you figure that this could be an issue, also consider your ventilation, as 2-3 400W bulbs generate lots of heat within the enclosed space. I built mine such that the heat was exhausted to the room in winter (thus capturing the heat and humidity to warm other inhabitants of the house) and vented to the attic in the summer (so as to not add burden to Air conditioning). The basement sump is also designed (ultimately)to be placed onto the concrete slab for maximal surface area radiation in the summer (cools water) but is raised and placed onto foam in the winter.

Just my two cents on my recent build. Looks great. Good luck!

 

[FroMan]

I think you need a longer blade for your saws-all

What are the sizes of the rear brace and legs?

 

[monty]

haha. that thing cuts through anything.

all four corner braces are 4x4's, this baby is solid.

Got the sump/fuge in position today, just waiting on the pump to arrive to work out the plumming. Im going to use all 4 holes in the tank as drains and run a separate ruturn and split 4 ways at the tank. im hoping that i will get enough juice out of that to not have to use powerheads.

Tank will be going in tomorrow! Ill post more pics then and show the sump.

until I move my RO/DI to the new place, im going to have to probably load up a few carts at walmart bc i dont want to use my well water. What do I buy, just regular spring water????

MORE PICS TOMORROW!!

 

[erbgo]

it would be cheeper to go to a lfs and buy rodi just bring buckets or just temp hang the rodi someware and just let the product water right into the tank jmo

until I move my RO/DI to the new place, im going to have to probably load up a few carts at walmart bc i dont want to use my well water. What do I buy, just regular spring water????

MORE PICS TOMORROW!! [/B][/QUOTE]

 

[ilikelps]

You buy distilled water, but watch your phosphates, becasue remember, they have not gone through a thorough filtration process.

 

[monty]

Thank you for clarifying that for me, im going to inquire with my LFS and see which way is cheaper just to get things started.

Today I put the tank in the wall and started to see this take shape. I still need to trim everything up, but you can get the point.

Stock tanks are in the basement. I put them at different heights to facilitate drainage from one to the other. I plan on putting ALL of the live sand from my current 180g and the majority of the liverock that I have in the first tank (the higher one) as well as some macro algae, and nothing but water in the second one which will return to the tank. Still need to build a spot for my skimmer too. I think my current fish will reside i the fuge as well.

All in all, happy with the progress in just a week, things will begin to take shape a lot over the next few days/weeks. Next step is plumming and the dreaded transfer.

Stay tuned for more pics as I pretty things up, etc.

 

[ilikelps]

wow, this is really cool! do you plan on doing some frag racks in those rubbermaids, becasue that could be a great place to grow things out before they go in the main display. Just pop a 250w-400w halide over it and there ya go!

 

[monty]

you guessed it. I figured I have an extra 250w PFO ballast from the corrent/old setup, that would be perfect for some fragging!!

 

[yasmar01]

looks awesome keep posting pics of the progress

 

[NoSchwag]

I didn't see mention of a skimmer?

 

[erbgo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14726940#post14726940 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by monty
Thank you for clarifying that for me, im going to inquire with my LFS and see which way is cheaper just to get things started.

Today I put the tank in the wall and started to see this take shape. I still need to trim everything up, but you can get the point.

Stock tanks are in the basement. I put them at different heights to facilitate drainage from one to the other. I plan on putting ALL of the live sand from my current 180g and the majority of the liverock that I have in the first tank (the higher one) as well as some macro algae, and nothing but water in the second one which will return to the tank. Still need to build a spot for my skimmer too. I think my current fish will reside i the fuge as well.

All in all, happy with the progress in just a week, things will begin to take shape a lot over the next few days/weeks. Next step is plumming and the dreaded transfer.

Stay tuned for more pics as I pretty things up, etc.

Still need to build a spot for my skimmer too.