New 55g salt setup.. thoughts, suggestions, help... etc. :)

[Modemagic]

So I've had fishtanks for the better part of 20 years off and on. My current 30 gallon setup houses a Irredesscent Shark and an Algae eater. Its time to move to the darkside and build a Saltwater tank. I am in the process of remodeling my dining room and decided the best place to put it would be in the wall so I did. This project is not complete yet, but here are some recent pictures.

Yes, the pink panelling in the office/computer room is so sexy. I'm too lazy to care what color it is. I can build and fab just about anything from metal, plastic, wood, and anything in between.

Never having done this before, (setting up a saltwater tank) I'm in need of all the information, equipment, etc. that I will need. I have the tank set and currently have water in it load testing the wall/stand for it until I am ready to toss up drywall. The end result here will be to frame the outside of the tank as a picture frame with the tank inside, completely flush in the wall. All access to the tank will be from the backside in my computer room/office. On the shelf below I also have room for a 30l tank that i would like to purchase as a refugium tank. As a beginner I don't think I am quite up to the level of a full blown reef tank yet, but want to run a FOWLR style tank, giving me something to enjoy I prolly will never eat in the dining room.

I am located in Davenport, IA so at some point in the near future I will be looking for live rock, sand, etc. as well to get this tank and money pit into full force as quickly as i can.

Thanks all,
Dave

 

[lllosingit]

The first question I have is....How much room are you going to have to get into the tank?
Is your 55 48X12.5X20 ?

If you only have 12 1/2" to start with and the wall is around 5-6" It doesn't look like your going to have much room with the wall coming all the way down to the top of the tank.

 

[Modemagic]

I have well over half the tank to get into it via the top. Almost 8" or so.

I also have added some more bracing on the backside of the setup since the pictures were taken. Doubling up the 2x4's and adding a 3rd leg for the bottom shelf for example.

 

[jbrunken]

How about lights? It doesn't look like you've got much room for lighting unless you plan to have it all over the back side of the tank. That would probably work ok for FOWLR, but I don't think it would be ideal at all for a reef tank.

-JB

 

[Modemagic]

As of right now it will be a FOWLR tank. Down the road I may upgrade. As it is right now, the lights will be towards the middle, but offset to the back slightly. I intend to notch the hole on the backside so i can center up the lights more.

 

[papagimp]

I think I would have asked these question prior to stickin' it in the wall, lol. looks good though. albeit a small tank for such a large project.

 

[Modemagic]

Well a 55 is all i can fit in that wall without moving the door. I already had to reroute some venting for one of the upstairs bedrooms as it is. I thought about running a pair of 55 tanks one on each side of the doorway in the diningroom, but the chimney is in the way.

Maybe someday I will teardown a different wall and put a bigger, badder, more obnoxious tank in it

 

[phishcrazee]

I would have left more room for lights and getting into the tank......... If your lights are taking up most of the available open space on top, you won't have much room to get into the tank. You'll want easy access to the tank, even if it's a FOWLR. Many pieces of live rock will easily be over 8". As the tank is not drilled, you'll be needing room at the top for return pipes/feed pipes, an overflow box to the refugium/sump, room for cords for powerheads, etc., etc.

Good idea, but you don't have enough room right now over the top of the tank, imo

 

[Modemagic]

Can someone explain 'drilling' a tank for me? I'm guessing its exactly what it is, drilling a hole in the tank for the inlet or outlet of some sort. Is there someone in the QC that can do this for me?

 

[atram]

A lot of people have a sump under their tank, water flows from the main tank to the sump and is then pumped back up to the main tank. A drilled tank has holes drilled in the tank that allow water to flow out of the tank then be pumped back in.

Aquatic Environments and most any glass shop will drill your tank it the glass is not tempered. You can contact the tank manufacturer to get that info. If it is tempered you can setup a U-tube overflow and bring your return over the rim of your tank.

The tanks looking good, but you'll probably want to cut some of the wall above the tank to allow for installation of lights.

 

[glaspie69]

I wouldn't drill a 55, the chances that you have a tempered side are far greater with a 55 than any other tank. If it were me I would exchange the 55 for a 75 or 120.......I know your just getting started in saltwater but if your planning to have this tank for awhile your going to eventually want the room. 55's are nice tanks but are a huge pain to aquascape and light. Don't want you to think I'm shooting down your hopes.....just thinks you might want to consider.......anywho glad to see you've found our forum and if you have a chance check out our club......http://www.greateriowareefsociety.com/

 

[got2lb]

I agree with Jason, I would at least put a 75 in there. If you're doing all the work anyway you might as well make it as big as you can to fill the 4' width you have to work with.

Also you better make REAL sure that thing isn't tempered almost ALL 55 gallons are!

 

[musty baby]

If you don't want to mess with making the hole bigger, a 75 has the same height/length dimensions, or very nearly so, and all you'd have to do is extend the bracing in your office 4" or so. That would also give you extra room for lighting. 55s usually are tempered, and you don't have too much room for a hang on back overflow on the sides, though I think you could find one that fits. For FOWLR you'll surely want a skimmer, and that, too, will take up space along the top edge if you can't drill the tank. Personally, what I would do would be buy a 110 (4 ft long, same as your 55, 18 inches or so deep, and 30 inches tall) and drop the tank down the wall about 22 inches, which would leave you room with the existing hole for lights AND make the tank much more accessible (looks like you'll need a stepstool as it is) and put it more at eye level. Looks as though you'd need to move that electrical box, but since you're tearing into your walls I assume that'd be no big deal for you. A deeper tank will also give you more room for a sump underneath to keep the skimmer, heater, etc. Drilled tanks are much, much easier to work with and you don't run the risk of losing siphon with an over-the-top overflow and putting your salt water on your floor.

I'd also think about using two metal legs on the office side of your stand and using your 55 as the sump.

First things I'd do, though, are to move the tank down the wall a ways and leave room for lighting in case you do end up upgrading in the future.

 

[Modemagic]

Thanks for the quick lesson in drilling tanks. What size holes and inlets/outlets are used for drilling them? Anyone by chance have a drilled 75 laying around they want to sell/make a deal for?? I can bring it back into the office with any issue. I had no clue that a 75 was still the same width as the 55, otherwise I would have went after one of those originally. Part of the decision to run the 55 was the cost. I got it for cheap!

Moving the electrical boxes would be no big deal, since I put them there originally. The box under the tank is for the switch that controls the outlet above the tank. Its fed from the GFCI outlet down below protecting the whole circuit. I'm learning that most people simply run timers on their lighting though, so I may pop the switch out and just cap it or wire a timer in there.

The tank is pretty high in the air, measuring in the bottom of the tank @ just under 53". This is about the average picture height hanging on the walls, giving it a 'picture on the wall' look that I am trying to achieve from the diningroom side. Your right, doing any sort of work inside the tank does require a step ladder, but it also keeps it high enough that little neices and nephews are out of arms reach of it.

The more I think about it though I need to make some sort of notch to be able to get more lighting over the tank. Hmm... I'm sure I'll figure something out.

 

[Modemagic]

After doing quite a bit of research I think I may step into the big leagues and go into a 120 in the wall.

Trying to learn from past mistakes, what sort of extra space should I leave on top of it to accomodate the lighting and such?

 

[lllosingit]

I assume the 120 will be 48x24x24 This is a size I have currently.
If you want a true picture frame look (no front access) your going to want to make your lighting easy to move for maintenance.
If you look at some of the setup's in the large tank forum you will see many of them use a track system to slide the back out of the way another option is mounting the lighting on an arm that can be swung to the side then your wall can come down to within an inch or so from the top lip of the aqaurium.

If you went with front access then I would suggest at least 10"-12" opening so you will have room to get in there with a long handled scraper or net when needed.
Personally I like the clean look of the true picture frame style and the track system can be made with parts from your local hardware store.

 

[Modemagic]

Yes, a standard 120 measuring 48x24x24 is what I had in mind.

I will be going for a true picture frame look with no front access to the inside of the tank. I am thinking about just slightly above the top of the tank putting a 2x2 across to give me a mounting surface for my drywall and frame molding. How high up should I go before I bring the header across, 10 - 12" as well??

For my electrical what are the recommendations? I plan on running a pair of dedicated 15 or 20 amp circuits for the fishtank. One for the lighting and one for the pumps, heater, etc. I can pretty much do whatever I need to do as far as this goes, just want to do it right the first time.