Steph's 120 inwall tank build

S

StephNewman

Active member
Oh wait I need a house first........
Here is the very beginning..
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Foundation...
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Then...
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After three weeks they are now working on second floor walls and have layout walls done in main floor
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This is the hole for fish tank on main level...
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They are going to be building the stand 36 inches high. The sump and everything is going to be in basement. I had them make a taller hole so I can add front access panels.
 
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So the house is coming along good. They are starting to shingle the roof. They ended up building the fish tank stand on Thursday but did not follow the design I gave them and it will not work for my fish tank due to where overflow is. I figured this would happen. I don't know why contractors can't just follow the details someone gives them. Here is what I wanted:
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Here is what they did
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The contractor said they weren't done with it which I would hope not because they hadn't added the 1/2 inch by 5 inch popular to the front and the top wood they currently had on it was not a smooth wood like I requested as well. But even with those not being done how they did the back 2 x 4 it is in the way of my overflow so they are going to have to tear half of the stand apart to fix it anyways. I requested to meet with him so it is done right when they fix it.
 
They should be able to fix that in no time flat, and I would think without any demo of the existing stand or even taking it apart. They just need to cut out that one 2x4 and then place one back on both sides of the where the overflow will be. That stand will be so much stronger than you need anyway.
 
Yeah, looks like they framed it like a typical stud wall and used OSB left over from the subfloor. That won't work. Unacceptable IMO
 
Talked to builder today. He said the OSB board was never going to stay, he is going to put the wood I had said on eventually as well as the popular in front. I think I told him to do pretty much what sbabs said. I told him to cut out the center section on back of both the lower and top 2x4s and place them the other direction. That way he don't have to tear the whole thing apart. I think it will possibly be stronger in the back by doing this than my original drawing would have been anyways. Hopefully it will be plenty strong. Should I have them add more 2x4 legs in front, back and sides?
 
Now that I reread sbabs explanation he might not be talking about what I thought. The first picture is of the back of the tank. They had the 2x4s off center so they are not in the way but the 2x4 that is on top and bottom is in the way of overflow in middle. So I am going to have to have him cut the center of both out and have him hammer new piece in other direction but leave the rest of the stand alone or will this cause the stand to not be as stable?
 
So after looking again, you have a horizontal 2x4 in the way correct? I was looking at the back, but I thought the overflow was blocked by a vertical 2x4. Either way, you are not going to have structural issues if you are going to be using plywood on the stand anyway. If you cross brace it or sheet that stand it's not going to be any kind of issue.
 
Yes, the horizontal is in the way. Hopefully they will fix it soon.
The roof is on the house. Alot of the plumbing and duct work is done. The builder said the drywall should be going up in the next two weeks and then we will set a closing date about a month after drywall is done. So hopefully the house will be done mid to late May.
 
While waiting to actually do my 120 inwall build I figure I would let everyone know of the projects I need to do during the build. The 120 gallon is currently setup at my mom's right now while we are in an apartment. I am going to be setting up a 75 gallon with 40 Breeder sump system in basement of new house to transfer everything over to while I get the 120 setup. It will take awhile because I want to do several things once 120 is torndown before I reset it up. I will be looking for guidance as I go along. Here are some of the things I plan on doing:
1) The tank has some scratches on front glass, Is there a way to buffer the scratches out and how?
2) Going to cover the back of tank with a rock wall using dry live rock and foam. Questions regarding this are: I will have to dryout some of my live rock to do this so what do I need to do to cure this rock? What do you use to secure the wall to the back of tank and overflow? Is eggcrate still the popular item to use to secure the rock and foam to before putting into tank or is there another product now? I was wanting to do the expoxing of sand to the foam to make it look more natural, has anoyone done this, and does it last or doea the sand eventually fall off?
3) Going to probably use some pipe to connect a few rocks for towers towards front/middle of tank.
4) Have to still make the baffles and sections in my sump.
5) Need to figure out how I'm going to hang lighting. I have two 250w metal halide/PC pendants and two retrofit 48" T5s and retrofit moonlights. I am thinking of making some kid of hanging system but have no idea how to go about it yet. Let me know if you have any ideas and/or pictures.
For now here is a pic of my current setup
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Another question is I don't know why my camera doesn't make the tank look as clear as it does in real life. The tank is made out a pretty thick glass so I think that might have something to do with it. Any camera advice would help too. It is a Nikon D40X SLR digit camera.
 
No answers to any of my questions yet? :(
As far as house. Siding is going up. Plumbing and electrical is all ran. Basement, garage, and porch is concreted. Doing phone and Cat5 wiring today. They still haven't fixed the stand yet. They will most likely be on drywall by Monday so they should have the stand fixed and completed sometime this week.
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They finally fixed the piece of 2x4 that was in the way of overflow on my stand but have not put on the poplar piece in front yet or smooth birch wood on top. They should start drywalling soon.
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On your lighting question this is what I did for mine.

<a href="http://s1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/dbuesking2/My%20290%20Build/My%20350%20Build/?action=view&current=DSC06238.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee367/dbuesking2/My%20290%20Build/My%20350%20Build/DSC06238.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


All it is, is 1" aluminum angle iron bolted together to make a rack to hold the reflectors in a cradle. Very simple to make. I did mine in 1 hour.:rollface:

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With your rock out of the tank that long to make your rock wall I'm gonna say there's going to be enough die-off to cause a pretty good cycle. After you get it up, fill it with water and get it going to keep what's left alive. Then it's a waiting game to see when the cycle is done. Only testing will tell for sure but I'm going to say roughly 2-4 weeks until you would be safe to start stocking.
 
I did a foam/rock wall on my 12g. I just used silicone to glue it to the false wall. The sand never fell off the wall, it was very sturdy. Just make sure you cover up every bit of foam that will be in contact with water. I think over time mine started leeching somethig into te tank as I started to have mysterious deaths in it. I didn't cover the back of the foam so I think that's where it happened. Not positive on that though.
 
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