Newbie's 180 Reef in Wall Progress (Image Intense)

[marinelife]

why not have the sump behind the tank for easy access

 

[Briankook]

daveinky, I will have my electronics "boxed in" a shelving system with greenboard as the "walls." The components will be fine because they will not be exposed to the room behind the tank. They will be exposed to the living space.

 

[Briankook]

mantisshrimp248, Having the sump on the floor will affect the temperature, but in a good way. It will help from keeping the water from overheating because my lighting will be putting off some intense heat & the concrete is always cool. Otherwise, it should be fine.

 

[Briankook]

marinelife, I was going to do that, but I need all of the room I can get. I have a 6ft skimmer to fit behind there yet. Also, I have easy access to the sump from behind the tank. I have no cabinet doors, it is open for access.

 

[Briankook]

Water is still clearing up. As you can see, I started to put some rock in already. I decided to build a spraybar & it seems as though it is really pushing flow.

 

[Briankook]

Another View. Its hard to see, but I have 4 returns, the 2, 1" ones toward the middle of the tank & I have 2, 3/4" returns out of my overflow, I have all 4 coming from 2 SCWD's, its creating a lot of current, corals should be happy

 

[Briankook]

 

[VoidRaven]

You know....just a thought going back to someone's comment earlier about the salt and increased humidity damaging the electronics in the room. You stated that the TV and entertainment stuff is encased in greenboard and only open to the main living area. That's all well and good....BUT....

.....what about all your main breaker boxes and everything??? That appears to be in the same "room" as the exposed areas of the tank. Have you taken that into account? I'd hate to see you have this awesome setup only to have your whole house have electrical problems a couple months from now because your breaker boxes are compromised.

 

[Briankook]

voidraven, good point. I'm not sure if I posted any pics of it, but I have an large exhaust fan above my tank & it goes directly to the outside. It is on a humidistat so that I can regulate how often it will run. I'm lucky in that I only have about 3 feet of flex piping from the fan to the outside & I have no real bends in it...the fan really blows the air outside. I'm just hoping that it will eliminate any electrical problems, excellent point!

 

[VoidRaven]

Ah, I see....good planning! Being the over-cautious person that I am, I would still watch those boxes for the first couple months of full tank operation (and fan operation) just to be certain. Nice idea with the fan though!!

Everything looks awesome! My wife and I are quite jealous. This setup will look awesome when all is said and done! Keep the pics coming.

 

[Toledofishguy]

Nice stand, looks steardy. I am starting work on my 180 this winter and like the looks of your stand.
How much did it cost you for the wood?
Also, it will be my first reef with a sump, is there any thing i should know when building a stand for a tank with overflows?

 

[tatoofr]

Nice job!
keep us posted.

Frank

 

[Yose]

 

[Briankook]

Thanks Yose, great pics! Who is the stud...oh, never mind. lol

 

[A Reef Scene]

Very cool, what kind of rock?

 

[Briankook]

It is all "Fiji" Live Rock. It is beautiful close up.

 

[bassman57]

where did you order the rock from?? and how much was it?

 

[Briankook]

bassman, I paid $4/lb. for it, but I bought 400 lbs. of it so I got a good deal.

 

[Briankook]

 

[Kreeger1]

looking good