TheAquatect's 150g in-wall build

TheAquatect

I Could Stop If I Wanted
It seems like forever from when I got the ok from the wife in November till now but I spent a lot of time researching. Having done FW for a few years, I started up a 10g SW reef in November with the intent of learning the ropes around water chemistry, corals and maintenance. Its going strong and I took the same approach as my FW tanks, maintain the water...the rest is easy. :)

So after lurking and planning and planning and planning.. did I mention the planning?? Now I am finally officially starting on my build. The plan is for a LPS/Softie dominant tank lit by a tek 8 bulb t-5 with ati bulbs. Circulation will be a gyre flow handles by 2 iwaki pumps that will alternate every hour during the day. a 3000g (dual 2in drains) glass-holes overflow will supply the flow for the gyre closed loops via a 2 in drain and the other 2in drain will supply my sump and ATS.

Details were in a previous post here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20063212&postcount=13

Here is my little 10... with a sampling of corals I liked and intend to be in my final DT. Monti, torch and some mushrooms. a clown, royal gramma and coral banded shrimp, snails and hermits with a HOB for circulation.
2012-03-31_17-10-28_811.jpg


pics of the proposed location, outlined in blue tape(decorated by my kids)
2012-03-31_17-09-54_10.jpg


Behind that wall is a walk-in closet so I did a bit of planning via google sketch-up..

Front
Aquarium%2520Room.jpg


inside the closet, framing/stand
Tank%2520Room%2520Framing.jpg


major components and tank in place (still working out the plumbing a bit)
Tank%2520Room%2520Full.jpg


from the other side, that small square between the door and the tank is a plumbing access with a drain pipe and water lines!! So I will be plumbing this tank with its own drain and water supply to the RO/DI. It was like some else wants me to put a tank here too!
Tank%2520Room%2520plumbing%2520access.jpg


Here is a real pic of it. I'll be extending the clean out with a wye and T off the water line.
2012-03-31_17-08-47_215.jpg


Finally, i bit of careful drywall removal to get things going because you never know whats in a wall or how its run through it!!
2012-03-31_17-08-34_732.jpg


I'm on vacation till Tuesday so there will be more to follow. I'm focused on getting the stand built out and drilling the tank for the overflow this week, them start on plumbing.
 
i'll definitely follow along as i have a thing for 150 in-walls! looks like a great spot for it!
 
Well, let the fun begin!! I need to make progress while I'm on vacation otherwise its weekends only. This one is tough with Easter and I think my visiting family thinks I'm nuts because I'm in the closet with a saw! :spin2:

OK, so here is the progress...

FIRST! My BRS order came in today...and its TWINS!! 2 MD20R's @ 5.5lbs each!!! lol
2012-04-06_21-25-32_757.jpg


Got the lumber and some electrical for the stand and outlets..
2012-04-06_19-55-31_791.jpg


Cleared out the remaining drywall and am removing the framing, also having the kids draw inside the wall, for posterity.
2012-04-06_19-31-08_229.jpg


installed a new plug box for 4 outlets. Im installing it higher on the wall, about 60" so less worry of water and it will be easy to access. below it will be a rack for the hospital, QT tanks and my RODI.
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and a shot of my poor tank, just sitting in the garage...oh the inhumanity! lol
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Enjoy!!!
 
Has anyone ever thought of purchasing limestone rock from a landscape business? I started my 10 gal with limestone (old coral) I got from lowes and its great...though a bit heavy.

Its pretty common in florida so I wonder what the concerns would be since most of the "eco" rocks sold online are the same mined rock, but its $2.50 a pound vs .18 cents!!
 
do yourself a favor...I did a in wall 400 gal last year. I put 24 plugs in my tank room. One would have thought that this amount would have been overkill...bottom line, put as many plugs as possible spread out evenly top to bottom!
 
do yourself a favor...I did a in wall 400 gal last year. I put 24 plugs in my tank room. One would have thought that this amount would have been overkill...bottom line, put as many plugs as possible spread out evenly top to bottom!

+1

Or if you're planning on running an Apex or similar controller just make sure you have an even distribution of wall outlets to plug your EnergyBars (controller power strips) into. I started with 2 and am up to 4 EnergyBars. Each has 8 outlets and I only have one open one for my 150. 31 outlets being used. And I have a few things NOT plugged into the Apex so I'm pushing 35-40 plugs. Man that's crazy when I think it out like this.
 
OK you guys are scaring me! lol Seriously, thats a ton of plugs and its making me think. So I am planning on using an apex with most everything running through that except for the hob filters for the 2 hospital/qt tanks i have planned. Now I am thinking what the hell am I missing cause my plug count is way off compared to you guys.
2 HOB + 1 Controller + 1 Computer power supply = 4 outlets

Then for the controller:
3 pumps + 2 heaters + 5 lights = 10 controller bar outlets.

I may add some dosing pumps for 2-part in the future bringing the total to 12 but i am still way short compared to you guys. What am I not accounting for? I have not closed up the walls yet so this is good timing!! :)
 
Here's the list from my Apex. You can go a bit crazy, but honestly all but one or two of these are programmed into, or used by, the Apex on a regular basis. It was worth it to me because I travel for work a lot so my tank has to be rather self-sufficient at times. I've figured out that it could run unsupervised for about a month right now with my set-up. That would make me REAL nervous though. I've never let it go more than 4-5 days I think because I don't like my fish living off just dry food out of the auto-feeder!

*Coral_fg_lgt*
*Coral_flow_L*
*Coral_flow_R*
*Coral_heat*
*Coral_lightA*
*Coral_lightB*
*Coral_lt_fan*
*Coral_moon*
*Coral_return*
*Coral_skim*
*Drain*
*Exhaust*
*Feed*
*Fish_air*
*Fish_flow*
*Fish_heat*
*Fish_HoB*
*Fish_light*
*FSW_Flow*
*FSW_Heat*
*FSW_Out*
*Fuge_Lite*
*FugeFlow*
*Heat200*
*Heat300*
*LED_B*
*LED_R*
*LED_W*
*Pump_ATO*
*React*
*Return*
*Skim*
*Vortech_L*
*Vortech_R*
 
oh and to clarify...this is running 3 tanks essentially...the main display and 2 QT tanks...one for coral and one for fish. Coral QT stays fallow always, and Fish QT treats with copper. Why is this hobby so complicated!?

Check out my build thread if you want. I tried to document everything I did and I have a similar set-up to what you're going for.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1976229
 
Good luck with the build, i recently put together a 90g in wall. I run a controller with 12 plugs and am soon going to run out of spots to plug in.
 
OK, good info. I am going to add another set of plugs on a gfi under the stand. Whats the apm rating on the breaker for the line you guys are using? typical is 15amp, did you find the need to up it to a 20amp breaker?

Also super excited, Got my rock today..all 200lbs of it...dry of course and for $38. I'll post some pics later.
 
Well over due for an update. I owe some pics of the rock, that will be posted tonight but i got some good work done this past 2 weekends.

I finally broke through the wall, so the wife can't stop me now.
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And I swear this tank makes my TV look small so adding a bigger TV to the list! lol
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And a majority of this weekend was spend doing the finish trim. The wife insisted i get this done so it looks "finished". I obliged. :) The top hinges up (ill get a pic of that) so I dont have to feed the fish from the closet. Dont mind the drawing on the tank, its crayola glass crayons. I was trying to figure out rock design.
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I also bought most of my pvc for plumbing the overflows to the pumps. Jeez that stuff adds up! How is it that everything costs "$1.50" but all together it rings up to $100+!?!?!? :spin3:

Since I have dual 2 inch overflows I am planning on 1 to feed the 2 iwaki pumps and one for the ATS & Sump. Turns out to be tougher than i expected. I planned it all out but for some reason when you sit under the tank all these better ideas pop up. uugghh! I hope to finalize the plumbing for the pumps this weekend and get it filled for testing.

BTW, I learned that "union ball vales" are cheaper then buying separate unions and ball valves. I save $30+ on that little item. Then spend $40 on more stuff!! :crazy1:
 
looks really good man! great progress!

just so you know about those union ball valves...they're good for open/close in like 10% increments (90% open, 40% open, etc.). If you're planning on using them for any level of precision you really have to spring for union GATE valves. Somebody told me that when I was building and saved me a ton of headache! This is important if you're running any sort of Herbie drain or whatever they call it.
 
looks really good man! great progress!

just so you know about those union ball valves...they're good for open/close in like 10% increments (90% open, 40% open, etc.). If you're planning on using them for any level of precision you really have to spring for union GATE valves. Somebody told me that when I was building and saved me a ton of headache! This is important if you're running any sort of Herbie drain or whatever they call it.

Thanks! I think I will use gate valves on the sump and ATS side. Im leaving the pump side wide open since its a closed loop but the sump and ATS will need the flow dialed back. Thanks for the advice.

Here are a few pics of the rocks I picked up. Around 200lbs so far.
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I also though I would post a few pics of the stand I built. These pictures dont show it, but the top is 2 layers of 1/2" plywood.
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Here is a shot of the 2x6 built into the wall. The tank is flush with the finished outside wall so the wall is part of the tank stand.
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The legs are 2 2x4s glued and screwed with rabbet joints for the 2x6.
2012-04-09_14-23-18_757.jpg

2012-04-09_14-23-06_410.jpg
 
I will be following this one. :) Did you ever find out the answer to your question about the 15 amp breaker or 20 amp breaker question?
 
Nice start I will be tagging along as well, Your stand looks like it will hold a truck great job, I like to over build as well. Nice framing as to. Just a thought the rock you have looks like very solid rock (not porous) it is the porous rock that has the best nullifying bacteria that live deep in the rock where there is no oxygen, they are the bacteria that help change the nitrates to nitrogen gas, keeping the nitrate low in your system. Just a thought. If you have the porous rock you can have twice the rock at about half the weight.
 
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