Rowdeus 240g in-wall build

[Rowdeus]

So I have finally decided to get off the porch and start runnng with the big dogs. I am building a 240g in wall tank in my basement. My current setup is a 110g long that I have had setup about 7 months. A big shout out to my buddy Will (willj313) for digging thru the forums and finding me a sweet deal on a tank. I figure I would journal this build (really because I plan on doing this one right) to get suggestions from fellow reefers.

I have the tank at my house now in the garage so I can clean and prep it. I drilled my holes for my overflow and returns last night (it had a small corner overflow in it that I removed and plan to plug). I am having Great Lakes Aquariums build my new overflow. I will up date with more pics and story as I go!

 

[hagar101]

Looks great so far

 

[dzfish17]

The ultimate man cave has to have a big in-wall tank. Good luck on your project.

 

[Rowdeus]

Cleaned the tank up some last night. Still have a few spots to go over but I was able to get the first coat of black paint on the back wall. Ran into a little snag... I am going to have to cut out part of the family room wall to get it down the steps!!! Good thing I have a friend who can help me fix it the same day! The mrs is not gonna be happy!

 

[Rowdeus]

So after not updating what has been happening for a while.. Now I have a ton of updates and pictures! Jumping in where we left off:

1. Got the sump ready to go. Thanks to Great lakes Aquarium for the glass pieces I needed.

2. Started building the wall and stand for the tank to sit on. First time doing construction work like this. Not that hard except trying to get it as level as possible on a sloping basement floor. Fun!

3. Building the stand.

4. Had to cut out a piece of the wall in the hallway to be able to get the tank down the stairs! Guess how happy the wife was about that!!!

5. Got the tank down the stairs and put in place. Need to shim it in a couple places to make it level.

6. Started the plumbing for the sump. I am using a Reeflo Dart for the return so i plan to run a few things off of it to save on the electric bill. I will be running a carbon reactor, phospate reactor, and a recirculating skimmer off the pump. I plan on running the skimmer at about 500g/hour. I am going to use a bubble blaster 5000 pump for the recirculation pump. should give me good results.

7. Started playing around with aquascaping. Had a buddy of mine trade me Marco rock pieces he had for a pump. Amazing what you can do with a idea and so glue. the structure I built is about 15 inches tall so you can get a idea of the size.

So that is where I stand so far. All of the pumping is in, but I need to drill the sump for the reeflo pump. I originally planned to use a internal water blaster pump but the reeflo pump that I got was a deal i couldn't pass up.

 

[willj313]

Looking good buddy

 

[SPotter]

looking great....tagging along as I am getting ready to a similar build in my basement as well. Question about the sheet rock...is that regular sheet rock or is it backer board or dry rock? If its regular sheet rock I would suggest sealing it with dry lock or skilz as well as possibly doing the same to the wood used on the stand. With that volume of water the moisture levels in the air will be pretty high. Just my .02 and I hope you dont mind me making the suggestion.

 

[Rowdeus]

Thanks for the suggestion and I am actually about to take down so I can do just that. I was more trying to dry fit everything.

The nice thing for me today was that my drill bit showed up today in the mail so I can drill my hole in my sump for my pump. Should take me a few minutes to drill the hole. I am also building my own skimmer for this project and my uniseals showed up as well.

 

[SPotter]

new toys are always fun!

 

[Rowdeus]

Took a little time yesterday and start the build on my skimmer. I am building a recirculating skimmer which will be fed off of my main pump.

I am having a flange made for me by dtitanks.com. The thing I am trying to decide is what pump to use. I have looked a few different pumps Coralvue Bubble blaster pump, Sicce, OTP, or Sedra. I am leaning toward the Bubble blaster pump but kinda want some input from everyone. And no I don't want to just buy one with the money I am spending on doing this. I like to projects like this and enjoy DIY! Just wanted to add that before some one tells me to just go buy one lol!

 

[SPotter]

I have a reef octopus skimmer with the bubble blaster pump and love the pump...powerful, quiet and reliable. I would go with that pump. I admire your ambition for the diy aspect of things.

 

[Rowdeus]

Thanks Spotter I will keep that in mind. I was kind of leaning that way but just wanted to get some other opinions on what others have used. I started doing some aquascaping with some Marco rock that I came across for a excellent price! Check it out.

 

[Rowdeus]

I have a few flat nice display pieces I am going to add to the tank that are covered in coraline. I want a little purple in there to start. The rest will catch up!

 

[ef200098]

Lookin good. I want a large tank someday. nice work!

 

[SPotter]

looks great!!!!

 

[mpschottjr]

see the rocks worked great for you. glad i could help.
here is mine with all marcorocks and foam build in 2/2011

this is 8/2011, ill try getting a better pic

 

[Rowdeus]

So I haven't updated this post in a little bit and I have made a lot of changes since my last update. So here we go:

After putting the rocks that I picked up in the tank I started filling with water. Unfortunately I don't have my own RODI unit!! So thanks to my friends that helped me with 5 gallon jug after 5 gallon jug of water. Yeah I know that was a lot and I am in the process of buying one from BRS now. I did take as much water out of my old tank and put in the new tank to so it was only about 120+ gallons to go get.

Added my salt and let it run for a couple days to mix and come up to temp. I am keeping it at 77.5 degrees right now.
Added my live sand and rock to my sump.

 

[SPotter]

Updates?

Steve

 

[Rowdeus]

Updates Yes! Sorry been working a lot and only browsing for things I need when I get a change to get online. So here we go:

1. Added my sand to my display and some more Marco rock that I picked up.
Lol got mad because a buddy of mine told me it just looked like a FOWLR tank! I had to explain that I planned on adding the live rock from my other tank give me a minute! lol.

2. Added my carbon and phospate reactors to the system. The reeflo pump is great! no extra pumps in the tank just run them right off the manifold.

3. Added the live rock from my old tank... Found out I didn't anywhere enough rock to touch the new tank. I will be purchasing some more live rock in a while. got some other things coming up first. (Yeah I know it will cause some recycling... blah blah blah..)

4. Started adding the trim around the tank and some access holes above the tank. Kind of hard to place rocks and corals looking down from the back of the tank which is painted black. I plan on going to Home Depot and buying some cabinet doors for it. Also have my ReefKeeper setup.

5. Time to add my fish. So I took my fish out of my old tank and put them in buckets. I had removed a nice bit of water before I added my live rock and stored in another tank I have for later use. (perfect for my first water change) Added water from my old tank into the new tank and let it mix for about 20 mins. then aclimated the fish with the new water for about 45 mins. All of them are doing fine and eating like pigs now! WARNING!!! the only thing that I did that I really did not want to do was add my corals when I added the fish and tank water. I have quite a few corals that were attached to my live rock and since I was getting pressure from the wife to tear down my old tank (she is not a reef person, she calls my Rose anemone "Inigma"...) I was really afraid I would start to losing them. Nothing like pressure when you want to take you time.

6. Fired up my old protein skimmer, carbon, and phospate reactors and everything is running fine. The corals kind of closed up for the first 2 weeks as I watched the ammonia spike and then disappear. I haven't lost an anemone or anything! I was really suprised!! I was worried about my pride and joy anemone, I nursed him back to health as he was bleach white when I got him. The LFS had told me that this was natural color. Funny what you learn in a year. You can read the thread about him at http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1994971

I will add some pictures of the Corals and the nems on my next post. Heading into the next part of the project... Finishing the protein skimmer and the LED light fixture!!

 

[Rowdeus]

Forgot to add that I have a old coralife 220 skimmer running on the tank right now. I know they are not very good skimmers but I did some of the mods out there and I am now getting bubbles like this:

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n536/Rowdeus/240g Inwall Build/IMAG0219-1.jpg

Yeah I need to clean the chamber as it had a lot of light on it and started growing coraline in it. I heard that adding a airstone and pump with give even better bubbles.