new 300 gallon reef tank with fish room setup, need help

[scott11106]

so I am starting to look into tanks now that i have the fish room designed and off to the builder. I really dont know where to get my tank and the only one i saw that peeked my interest was lifetime aquariums but that was because i only found a couple to choose from. any input would be great.

Also i was a LFS and in talking with them they were trying to convince me to have the tank hang out of the wall 6" or so to be able to see a bit in the tank since i am building it into the wall. I like the idea but wanted to run it by you all to see any pros or cons

thanks

 

[anthonys51]

i would also set up a refugium or second sump. have this sump dedicated to growing nothing but gha and other algae. basically like a 50 gallon algae scrubber. place where pods, worms and other critters can grow and then go back into your tank to feed your corals and fish. have the skimmer before this tank.

 

[Thornbreaker]

1. You can buy sound proofing insulation.

2. I wouldn't worry about smell. The exhaust fan will take care of most (if not all) of it.

3/4. There are many ways to handle this. Depending on your choice of lights, you might want to run separate circuits above and below the tank. That way, one gets the lights and the other gets pumps/heaters. Just plan things out and make sure you're not overloading any circuits. You can mount the controller almost anywhere, but make sure it won't get splashed.

- Ivan

+1

1. Depending on the insulation you're doing, most installers probably offer a sound dampener option too. Were doing this in our home between floors, just not the fishroom in our case because it's on the end of the house. It's less than $1/sq ft.

3/4. Ivan makes a great point I saw someone else do and just added to mine. Putting an outlet above your tank so you can plug your hanging lights into will keep the cords from hanging over your tank. Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture or I'd upload one here.

 

[Thornbreaker]

so I am starting to look into tanks now that i have the fish room designed and off to the builder. I really dont know where to get my tank and the only one i saw that peeked my interest was lifetime aquariums but that was because i only found a couple to choose from. any input would be great.

Also i was a LFS and in talking with them they were trying to convince me to have the tank hang out of the wall 6" or so to be able to see a bit in the tank since i am building it into the wall. I like the idea but wanted to run it by you all to see any pros or cons

thanks

I'm doing mine flush with the sill maybe the drywall. 6" isn't much viewing from the side. If you can expose a full corner (haven't checked your drawing lately) then that may be worth it, IMO. Just be sure to have front access on top regardless of what you do. If you go flush, make the height of the opening ~6" taller, and then use trim with something like a piano hinge to allow access from the front.

 

[ReefKeeper64]

Here are a couple of pictures that may provide some inspiration. This is a means to hide pvc pipe and improve flow.

 

[scott11106]

i would also set up a refugium or second sump. have this sump dedicated to growing nothing but gha and other algae. basically like a 50 gallon algae scrubber. place where pods, worms and other critters can grow and then go back into your tank to feed your corals and fish. have the skimmer before this tank.

yes i agree and i plan to do that , thanks for the input as i also will have a QT tank for obvious reasons..

 

[scott11106]

+1

1. Depending on the insulation you're doing, most installers probably offer a sound dampener option too. Were doing this in our home between floors, just not the fishroom in our case because it's on the end of the house. It's less than $1/sq ft.

3/4. Ivan makes a great point I saw someone else do and just added to mine. Putting an outlet above your tank so you can plug your hanging lights into will keep the cords from hanging over your tank. Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture or I'd upload one here.

I will most defiantly do that with insulation, about the power above the lights how will that work with a APex type controller system? do the lights have to plug into that unit or does that not matter? sorry if this is a stupid question but I have never dealt with a full system controller

 

[anthonys51]

yes i agree and i plan to do that , thanks for the input as i also will have a QT tank for obvious reasons..

What I did was have a temporary qt. Didn't set up a space. Did ttm. The used one of my frag tanks to house the fish fir 30 days before moving into my main tank. Also used uv on my tank did 4 on the output going into each tank. I only used 3100 gph pump for 4 tanks. I don't really believe turn around is that important to tanks 2 to 3 times and hour is more than enough


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[scott11106]

I'm doing mine flush with the sill maybe the drywall. 6" isn't much viewing from the side. If you can expose a full corner (haven't checked your drawing lately) then that may be worth it, IMO. Just be sure to have front access on top regardless of what you do. If you go flush, make the height of the opening ~6" taller, and then use trim with something like a piano hinge to allow access from the front.

totally agree on the from access and i plan on having the front with woodwork and having doors that open up above the tank for easy access.

As far as having 6" of tank sticking out of the wall I am not sold on and as you stated might not be enough to make it worth doing...

 

[scott11106]

i would like to talk tanks....

who should i buy my 300-400 gallon tank from?

should I get glass or acrylic?

 

[Joe0813]

what smell? very rarely do I get a smell out of my 180. When I had a algae bloom I got that low tide smell but that's it.

 

[scott11106]

construction begins

construction begins

well i have pretty much figured out the room and tank, here is a rendering of what it will look like and how the floor will relate. I ended up going with a 84x24x46 tank so it is pretty deep. The reasons for that are the tank will be half in the wall and half in the living room. this will make it so 20"+ are in the living room giving access to viewing the sides of the tank. the depth will give room to do some creative aquascaping.

i have not shown the cabinetry that will surround the tank on the living room side

 

[Nugooch]

just my two cents... I know the controller can do it all, but I'm still a fan of having master switches for everything.... you never know when the controller could crash.... I would recommend putting a wall panel in with breaker type switches that could be labeled electrical connections. mount it in the wall and have an little access door to get behind it to plug in items. Heck, you cold run conduits from the tank so all the wires are in the wall.

 

[scott11106]

i really like that idea so i am going to put together a electrical plan and run wiring and plumbing so it works just like you noted. thanks for the input, i will post electrical plan as soon as i put it together.

 

[scott11106]

well i am back and things are starting to progress with my new tank build. I purchased 8 acres and the house has come out of the ground and will be dried in next week....woohooo

I have decided to put a all glass starfire 400 gallon tank (just under 400 at 7'x3'x2' tall)

i will take some pictures next week and record the progress as we are lowering the floor for the 13'x8' fish room and will build it around the stand.

 

[zheka757]

i would like to talk tanks....

who should i buy my 300-400 gallon tank from?

should I get glass or acrylic?

I also have in-wall aquarium (and somewhat fish room) the first aquarium i had was glass it was 96x18x30 (30 tall) bought it used for $300. so i cut my wall out to fit it. had it as fresh water for 3 years. then decided it was very hard to get into 13'' space to work inside aquarium (18''- 5''wall thickness=13'') so i start looking for a new tank 96x30x30 i was looking state wide to get one. the new acrylic was over $3000 the glass was around $1800-2100 luckily i found one for $1700 from the guy who lives 10 minutes away. lol
that was of topic. but to answer your question, look at pros and cons for each one. personally i would prefer glass mainly cause its clearer to see through and doesn't scratch as easy as acrylic.

 

[rocsec1]

I did the same thing. Built a new house two years ago and had a fish rom built behind where the tank is. I built the room to be a large as I could possible image I would need. It was high when we moved in, but as I started the build I quickly began to run out of space. I should have doubled the size of the fish Ron. The room I have is 8x8 and I could have mage it another 4x 12 and really wish I had did that.

 

[scott11106]

well here we go, the walls are going in and things are starting to come together. here are some pics of the fish room 2x4's and all

 

[scott11106]

so i ordered the tank and stand and the stand was delivered, however the tank and stand are 36" wide and wont fit through the door, since i have a tractor i just loaded it up and away we went

 

[moneymm]

well here we go, the walls are going in and things are starting to come together. here are some pics of the fish room 2x4's and all

looks like you gonna have your hands full with about 100 other things besides a fish tank.