Watta's 600 gallon in-wall chronicle

[Watta]

Hi everyone!

I've learned so much from this site over the past several years that I'm gonna chronicle my latest tank on here so maybe others can learn from my mistakes as I make them.

Display tank: 96 x 48 x 30h made of 3/4" thick glass, assembled myself
Sump tank: 96 x 18 x 24h made of 1/2" thick glass, assembled myself
Tank stand: Cinder blocks, 2x10's, 3/4" plywood
Aquascape: 600 lbs of Key Largo rocks
Substrate: 300 lbs of tan play sand, 1-2 inches deep throughout
Overflow: Coast to coast overflow box with bean animal drain
Lighting: DIY LED on track
Other goodies:
Reef Octopus SRO-6000EXT skimmer
2 jumbo BRS media reactors (carbon/GFO)
Tunze osmolator ATO
Waveline DC12000 return pump
2000W of Eheim Jager heaters (it gets cold in Maine)
3 Neptune WAV powerheads
Neptune Apex controller with all sorts of extras
Several quarantine tanks up to 29 gallon
2 cheap-o clamp lights with 6500k bulbs for chaeto in the refugium

The tank is currently cycling with seeded bio-sponges from my 55 reef, and there is still plenty to do. I'm 90% sure this will be a FOWLR tank, but the stocking list is still up in the air. Its a tough choice between a peaceful mixed tank with mostly smaller fish, or a predominantly angelfish tank with larger fish and some aggression. The fish stock will determine what clean up crew I go with, but I am a big fan of crustaceans so I'll most likely avoid any fish that eat them.

I just gotta say, with the DC pumps and bean animal overflow, this tank is completely silent from anywhere besides inside the fish room. Even then it is still very quiet, mainly the skimmer. I still can't believe how quiet it is!

Pics to come, Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Watta]

Display front


The fish room


The overflow


Sorry if the pics are crummy, There isn't alot of room to manuver for pics

 

[welshintheusa]

The tank looks great, but why Play sand? It offers no benefits for a marine tank. Its not actually sand, its silica! To sharp for many of our critters, which we house in our tanks

 

[rygar]

hows that bean animal working out. Can you post a picture head on to your pipes?

 

[Watta]

The tank looks great, but why Play sand? It offers no benefits for a marine tank. Its not actually sand, its silica! To sharp for many of our critters, which we house in our tanks

Mainly I just wanted to use a dry sand that wasn't outrageously priced. I have used play sand in the past for several tanks with no issues. It is indeed sand, just containing some silica. Sand on the beach contains silica as well.

 

[Watta]

hows that bean animal working out. Can you post a picture head on to your pipes?

It's great! Totally silent once dialed in and it moves a ton of water.

Like this?

 

[d-man]

Nice. Congrats. You built the tank yourself? Were u nervous or have you done this before?

 

[d-man]

I built my 860 out of plywood and glass, but it has more room for error unlike all glass. Nice job

 

[rygar]

This is great. Looking good so far.
Is there a way to access from the front? Can't tell from the picture.

 

[rygar]

Yes. What is the flow going thru the that? What size piping did you use? What size gate valve?

It's great! Totally silent once dialed in and it moves a ton of water.

Like this?

 

[Watta]

Nice. Congrats. You built the tank yourself? Were u nervous or have you done this before?

I have built a 400 gallon plywood with glass front before, but these were my first 2 all glass tanks that I attempted to build. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous during the initial fill.

 

[Watta]

This is great. Looking good so far.
Is there a way to access from the front? Can't tell from the picture.

No access from the front. This is a load bearing wall so there's a good sized header preventing any top access from the front. There is ample room from the back and both sides though.

 

[Watta]

Yes. What is the flow going thru the that? What size piping did you use? What size gate valve?

The flow is about 2000 gph with room for more. The pipes and gate valve are 1.5 inch .

How do I quote multiple posts in one?

 

[rygar]

When you gonna put some fish in there?

 

[rygar]

The way you have your rocks set up, would be awesome as a mixed reef. You gotta do corals in that tank. Would be insane. I can tell you'll get bored with a fish only. Was your other tank a reef?

 

[Watta]

The tank is still cycling. I plan on getting my first wave of fish and placing them in my quarantine setup at some point next week.

My other aquarium was indeed a mixed reef. I found myself spending 5x as much time maintaining it compared to before corals. With a tank this large I don't forsee myself having enough time (or arm length) to properly maintain it as a reef. Plus alot of my fish choices are not reef safe. But you can never be sure what the future holds

 

[rygar]

Yeah. A reef definitely takes a lot more time. So if your short on that, a fish only is the way to go.

 

[johnkd24]

That looks awesome!!! Is that a PVC pipe that you are using to reinforce your live rock tower? Also, are you planning to put a grate over the spillway/waterfall to prevent your fish from swimming out?

 

[Watta]

That looks awesome!!! Is that a PVC pipe that you are using to reinforce your live rock tower? Also, are you planning to put a grate over the spillway/waterfall to prevent your fish from swimming out?

Thanks! Yep, I used 3 pvc pillars to serve as a backbone to my rockwork. The overflow is a very thin sheet of water so I'm not expecting any fish to be able to swim out without jumping. No plan to use a grate as of yet

 

[alexkharden]

I really love the display trim, very clean looking! I want to do something very similar when I trim up my tank. Maybe exactly that, lol. Awesome looking setup!