SwirlyWirley's 170G rimless cube build w/ fish room

S

SwirlyWirley

New member
Hello all,

Id like to start off with a little about myself. I am an enthusiast that tends to get deeply involved in his hobbies. I have a passion for customizing and always tweaking something. As a kid i grew up with fish tanks and always loved learning and the involvement. About a year ago i built a new house, which has been a work in progress ever since. Allotting money into making it my own and tweaking everything to my liking. We are now over a year into it and everything is coming together lovely. I am in the process of finishing my office and fish room, which are butted up against each other. We are at the drywall stage of the office , so i figured it was about time to start my build! So far i have made quite a bit of progress, which i will show you here shortly.

Please by all means feel free to butt in with your suggestions, knowledge or questions you may have for me! This is going to be a fun adventure and i hope you will enjoy this thread as much as i will!!

Nothing better than some good jams while posting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey_h...QiGowxbPQwrU7k

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

The build is a 170g rimless cube w/ eurobracing. I maticulously choose all of the pieces of the puzzle. I tried to buy the best of the best or top notch components. We are putting the life of these living $$$organisms$$$ on a few pieces of equipment. I am so against cheaping out, you'll end up beating yourself in the end.

What i have collected so far are:

Stand for the tank was custom built by a cabinet maker (Dimensions are roughly 3' x just under 4'). Was matched up with a sump to fit almost perfectly underneath. I chose to go with a canopy, which i had my fabricator throw together a square tube light mount. The canopy is enclosed in panels tiled with 3x6 marble tile and chair rail at the top. Stand doors are tiles with 12x12 greecian marble tile. Heres a few pictures, enjoy!

FYI, there are some finishing touches needed on the tile work and paint on the stand. Tank is temporarily located in my unfinished second living room until drywall is completed and can be moved into position.



Had to start off with getting the tank freshly prepped for its new build in my new house!




Heres a quick mock-up using sketch up so you can see the overall design of the tank!




sorry for the terrible pics, but i just wanted to show how BA the marble doors are coming out! not done still need to clean the grout haze and some touch ups!
 
Next in line i had to figure out how i was mounting the 2 Radion XR30w safely. I contacted my fabricator, who was building me square tube banisters and hand rails, to build a frame.




began to tile one panel of the canopy in 3x6 marble tiles including marble chair rail at the top.

And the sumps in!

 
I havent got far with the office because i have been focusing time on the rest of the house. We have been doing things like cornices, painting the whole house and so on. Next on the agenda is a custom faux fireplace to mount out tv above, but thats off topic.

Heres whats happening, ignore terrible paint color or my mess, my whole second living room is being redone.







 
Before i called it a night i wanted to post up the most recent update. Made some progress on the fish room, which butts up to the office. The tank will be located inside the office, right where the stack of dry core subflooring is in the last pic. I will be sending all electrical components and plumbing through the wall to tie in the frag tanks. Also will have a direct line into the sump to supply fresh RODI to the ATO and also a line into the tank for fresh saltwater.

Heres what i got this far,





New Mr.Aqua rimless and marineland 20g rimless cube for QT tanks. Also have a 20x20x8 frag tank coming in the mail. Im thinking about taking a trip back to my LFS and grabbing another one of these small rimless cubes for a little mangrove tank.




As far as the tank itself, heres where we are at!




 
Well today i was able to get some more drywall done in the office, also get some more of the plumbing done for the tank. I need to clean up and run all the wiring for the tank. I will be mounting 1 or 2 receptacle boxes inside inside the stand that will run through the wall via conduit. I need to sort all that out and clean everything up. My other issue is how i am setting up my manifold for the reactors as well as where i am sending the water out of the sump and into the fish room. I also need to get the two water storage containers for my mixing station and get the plumbing for that all sorted. I have to figure out how to run fresh RODI into the ATO, also saltwater for waterchanges!




Kessil A360WE i got mounted for the refugium



Also got some misc. items in for the tank...
2x synergy acclimation boxes
synergy frag rack



new 20x20x8 Frag tank on its way custom made to my specs !!!!
 
I have 2 of these Synergy media reactors brand new im selling, if anyones interested DM me. Switching over to aquamaxx for all my reactors!

 
Here's where we're at with the build! I was forced to order more 1" red sch40, another gate valve and a couple odds and ends. This should complete the plumbing and my mixing station. I also ran into an issue with the manifold being heavy. I'm going to have to integrate some sort of hanger for support





Ignore all the wiring, that's next on the agenda, gotta tuck everything and clean it up. My OCD has kicked in
 
So tonight i got around to putting up my nickel closetmaid shelves. I still have two more to install but wanted to show a quick picture.




I have decided that i am going to send fresh RODI water into the ATO tank directly through a port in the wall. I will also have sch 40 from the mixing station going directly to the tank. This will be controlled by a series of Cepex ball valves and will be how i replace my water from water changes. Just not sure how i want to do it, at this point. I still think i want to manually refill the tank, just not with the use of the old Brutes.


I got around to deciding my frag tank setup, think i have a good idea of the layout. I will be utilizing a custom built 20 x 20 x 8 frag tank, rubbermaid stock tank and a 30g rimless cube for fragging and mangrove tank. These will all be plumbed in with the display and will drain right back into the sump of the display. I will do a quick rendering on sketchup to figure it all out.



quick ? before i call it a night...

I had a custom made square tube light mount built for the tan. I am almost contemplating dumping the marble tile/marble chair rail canopy and going with a sleak open top. I can do a pulley system for the light mount with tension cable. All the pulleys and crank will be hidden, i will run it up through the ceiling and have the crank over in the fish room! What do you guys think?:headwally:
 
Nice build! A bit off topic, but I'm curious about the tiles in the last pic of your second post. Are those for the floor or ceiling?
 
formsix said:
Nice build! A bit off topic, but I'm curious about the tiles in the last pic of your second post. Are those for the floor or ceiling?
Click to expand...

If you are referring to the white marble tile (canopy surround) those are tiles for back splash. Size of those are 3x6 marble purchased at home depot. If your talking about the stack of wood squares in my office, those are called dri core and are a subflooring for basement floors. They have a stilt system that allows any moisture to move instead of being trapped under the subfloor. then top layer of those are just OSB.

Thanks buddy!!
 
Good looking build. Anxious to see how the fish room turns out. I like your tile doors too! Never seen that beforehand.
 
fishresponse said:
Good looking build. Anxious to see how the fish room turns out. I like your tile doors too! Never seen that beforehand.
Click to expand...


thanks buddy, ya the fish rooms getting some upgrades. I just consulted about an industrial size sump because i have a couple custom frag tanks on their way and contemplating doing a mangrove tank. going to do a partition in the room tomorrow to close it off! ill post pics tomorrow. thanks for stopping in
 
So i came home from work to 4 lovely packages!!!!




Neptune WXM
Neptune ALD w/ solid surface sensor
red SCH 40 1"
SCH 80 couplers
Various other goodies




BRS RO/DI



Finished plumbing the manifold for the reactors also supported all the weight with a carabiner clip and tension wire.


Whats to come:

My custom made 3 in 1 acrylic dosing reservoir 1g each compartment
Custom made 20x20x8 frag tank
another rimless cube for mangrove
and a second MP40

I also just consulted about getting an industrial sump made from MRC for the fish room to run everything into. Also having a 6ft frag tank custom made
 
We are so close!

Heres todays updates...




Some more work is done in the fish room, got the wall w/ door partitioned and ready for door and drywall. One more wall to frame and the fish room is an actual room.



Gotta figure out where this bad boy and the water storage tanks are going


AND MORE PLUMBING



 
Sweet man. I have a 30x30 and I'm going to be making an overflow like yours, I'll hAve to stop back in for some more detailed pictures of how it makes it through the glass to the back collection box and down the drains. Mine are awfully noisy as is
 
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