220 Inwall - Plan

[bheron]

Overview
Ok, I still consider myself a newbie and have had my most recent tank (75g FOWLR) for 1 year and a half, almost. Now I’m planning an upgrade to a 220 gallon tank. I’ve been roaming this site for almost 2 years since, working up the plans for my upgrade the last 6 months.

I’m going to start with my plans as they are today, and then continually and gradually post pictures as I go along. I hope to share my progress with others, as well as gain more advice along the way.

The plan:
It just so happens that I’m “ready� and "mature" enough for my upgrade at the same exact time that we’re buying a new house. What perfect timing – and “how convenient� as my wife puts it. And it just so happens that we’re going to finish out the basement in the new house as well. Perfect timing to build an inwall tank with my own fish room, eh!? Plus, life is about compromises, right? –my wife gets her own home gym and I get my dream setup. Fair trade?
Also, we’re paying a contractor to build out the basement so a lot of the toughtest work I wont have to do!

Current Tank
Here’s my current tank started in October of 2003 and started cycling in January 2004.



What I want:
-Something nice & big, but simple
-I havent had any corals to date, just fish and inverts – that’s what I’m really into.
- I don’t want the full blown reef or any SPS right now. But I want to plan for the opportunity to try out some softies.
- The tank will be mainly Fish with Inverts and things like Zoos, Xenia, etc.
- Want to keep the footprint very open and free. Wont have the Reef “wall� look.
- Want to try to incorporate as much new equipment while paying for the upgrades in some of the critical essential areas (ie – lighting).

Timetable:
We just closed on the house this week, we move in next week, and construction on the basement begins on June 13th. So I have a few weeks to finish planning, by the tank, and build the stand.


Specs:

Display Tank
- 220 Gal Glass Perfecto Tank from LFS, non-reef ready, no drilling.
- Inwall, corner design setting.
- Access panel in the front

Stand
- DIY stand from 2'x4's and 2'x6's.
- Would like to build stand first and build tank room around it.
- Have heard a lot of people using styrofoam underneath the tank?

Lighting
- Main: 8 x 80W T5 (640W) OR 6 x 80W T5 (480W)
- Will get retrofits since this will be behind the wall
- Will build some kind of pulley system to raise lights for maintenance
- Moonlights: have a DIY kit already built from The Lebos
- Supplemental: 110W PC lighting (if needed and if I can get it to fit)
- Supplemental: 65 W HO lighting (if needed and if I can get it to fit)
- Fuge/Sump: will go with the trusty LOA 75W floodlights.

Substrate
1-1.5 inch sandbed. Southdown seeded with existing DSB from current 75 Gal tank

Filtration
- Live Rock: Start with baserock to be seeded by 90 lbs LR from existing tank
- Skimmer: Continue to use my beloved Euroreef, even though I will need to upgrade it eventually.
- Carbon


Flow
- 2 HOB overflows (one currently in use, another from before)
- Return pump: Mag18. No fancy gadgets here (eductors/penductors (sp) or swirls, etc).
- Just the Mag 18 returning through some Loc Line
- Additional Flow: 2 Tunze 6080
=Total of @ 4700 GPH (21/gal)


Temperature Control
- Several heaters located in different places. Have 2 (150W and 200W) now.
- Will probably purchase a titanium heater as well.
- Fan blowing across surface of water
- Maybe a dehumidifier
- May look into installing an exhaust fan to vent from the room to the outside

Sump
- 75 gallon AGA tank (use my current tank)
- Will build glass baffles and several compartments for Skimmer, Return Pump, Carbon, etc.
- Hopefully will be big enough to eliminate microbubbles.

Fuge
- Holding tank: 10 gallon drilled tank. Will be inline somewhere between Overflow and Sump; Used to house critters
- Nutrient Export: 18 gallon rubbermaid tub with DSB and Chateo from current fuge.

Source Water
- All RODI from my Typhoon III

Electrical
- So far have a total of 17 amps already needed for the above
- Will have 3 dedicated circuits and will connect systems reduntantly
- May look into those cool DJ controllers
- No idea what brand of timer to use for my lights and 1 Tunze

Misc
- Use my current 20g sump as a QT tank

[bheron]

I'll be back with pictures of the basement this weekend hopefully.

[jarhed]

I'm doing a similar setup in that mine will be viewable on the corner also. Check out my thread here.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=572626

Stand is totally done, going to start the rest of the framing, putting in the door and hanging the wall piece above the tank this weekend.

Not exactly sure how to hang sections of wall from the rafters in the ceiling. Gotta figure out if construction screws can hold the weight of the partial wall, as you have yours designed, or if I need to install hangers of some sort on the rafters to hold up the top plate. Do you know how you are going to hang your wall section?

[bheron]

cool! I'll go check yours out in a second.

Yes, to your question, thats actually one of the first debates I had with my basement contract when I walked him through my plan.

He immedately pointed out that you cant just "hand" drywall very easily from the top of the ceiling. But, my tank is 30" high and when placed about 45 inches off the ground, it turned out there wouldnt be that much space left to the ceiling. Also, with my access panel above the tank thats even lesss space.

How much space are you talking? I forget the measurement, but I think mine is like 18" of space to drywall.

[bheron]

Ok, took my first pics of the unfinished basement in the new house this weekend.

For a better idea of what I have to work with, here's a crude sketch of our unfinsished basement and how we've decided to slice it up.

Note, the side of the room for me (Fish Room) and the side for my wife (GYM)!



We figured this would be the best layout, plus, the wall directly ahead of the fish tank, at the long end, has a walk out.

Here's another even cruder sketch of the front and side of the tank and fish room:

Front:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...Wall_Front.jpg

Side:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...kWall_Side.jpg


Now for some actual pics...

Looking at the spot where the tank and room will be - standing by the walkout doors...

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...5Tankroom3.jpg

Same shot, a little closer...

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...5Tankroom4.jpg

Here's looking at the fish tank room from the side, coming down the stairs...

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...5Tankroom6.jpg

(notice the breaker box there and also the home networking system that came with the house. "we'd have to build something around this ANYWAY" was my line to my wife).

And here's the view my fish will see, looking out of their new home some day soon!)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...5Tankroom5.jpg


Hope these pics came out. Any suggestions welcome.

BH

[bheron]

Im having the darndest time insterting these images.

Here's another try...

Looking at tank room:






Side view (breaker panels)





And looking out to walk out

[BlueTBird]

Not sure if this will help, but I built a custom setup as a room divider. Maybe give you some ideas.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...68#post4844568

[bheron]

THANKS! I'll check it out.

[jarhed]

This looks like a sound plan! Do you have the plans complete for the rest of the room? Seems to me that could be a very nice family room. I'm looking forward to seeing how your contractor completes the hanging wall. Mine is done, and pretty much all pulled right out of thin air. I even have a backup plan to "hang" the top plate from the joists by bending some metal strapping over the joists and bolting to the top plate.

Does the contractor have plans done up yet? Can we see the framing plan if there is one?

[bheron]

thanks.

no plans as of yet from him - he's pretty off the cuff and a little tough to work with at times, but we've used him before. his prices and the quality of his work can't be beat. pretty much when he comes in June we'll walk through each step together, then we recap at the end of each day to talk about the next step.

i'd like to see pics on how you hanged your drywall if possible?

[jarhed]

Sure, check out my thread:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=572626

Not sure if I even did it right. I'm not a carpenter. Basically the top plate is screwed in very tight to the rafters and the plate underneath it is screwed into the top plate. Both sections are cantilevered off of the last upright stud also, but the shorter section (on the side with the door) is going to be much more stable because it's just lighter. I'll probably bolt that short section onto the stud. The only way it will come down is if the screws going into the top plate (about 15 of them) fail, and then the stud has to break (not likely since it's also screwed into the door frame stud). The longer section of upper wall is screwed several times into the top plate, is connected to the last left hand stud, and is also screwed into the side wall.

[bheron]

missed that part =- i've been following the thread. actually, to me (and i'm not a carpenter either) it looks great. i dont see how it cuold fall.

on the other hand, thats what my contractor was afraid to do. its how i envisioned it pretty much and he went on and on about how it couldnt be done.

we'll see about that. nice job!

[bheron]

Here's my lighing schema. Decided to go with T5's. Just between the 6 or the 8 light fixture.

Again, will have very simple soft corals only...

[bheron]

Here's a better idea of what I'm planning. More to come....

[bheron]

I'll do another version with details of the tank room - thats where the circuit breakers are.

[Im Lon 2]

Like the aerial view. What was the program you did that in?

[bheron]

Thanks! Powerpoint.

[bheron]

Here's my first crack at the back room. By trying to draw things to scale I realize I dont have much room to work with. The tank is 6' long and the room is only going to be 8' long. It'll be 10' wide so I have about 7' to work with behind it.




Couple of notes:

- I used green as the backgroun b/c I know now to use the greenboard!

- Notice I dont know how I'm going to do the returns yet. Nothing too fancy since I'll have two Tunze Stream 6080's in the tank for flow.

- My large fuge will be an 18g rubbermaid. But I really want the small, 10g fuge to the side to have something to observe any critters.

- I also want to will use it as an "inbetween" between my QT and the main tank - to get new fish acclimated to the water and eating. thoughts?

- I'm trying to find a place to put the sink and the electrical panel.

[Im Lon 2]

Words of advise! I would have the tank drilled. Just makes things a lot smother and less chance of over flowing the tank if the Overflow box fails. On my old tank there 2 times I was glad I was home.

Here is the link to my DIY In wall plans for my tank. Maybe you can find something helpful or just ideas.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=555869

[bheron]

Thanks Lonnie. I thought about getting it drilled but I've been using a HOB overflow since 1994 and never had a problem. If you get a good product (LifeReef) and plan enough room for overflow, its just as reliable.

[bheron]

Hey Lonnie, great thread. Very similar to mine so I think I'll stick close together as we go through this. going to make some comments on yours now.

[bheron]

Ok, did some more design plans here.

Here's a look from above, with the layout as:




Now, with the "roof removed" for a better look:




And now a close up of AREA 1

[bheron]

This last one is looking at the side wall of the fish room, longways.

The grey boxes are the circuit boxes, alarm system, and home networking system. Not sure if the sink is too close to all of that??

[JC Pollman]

since I have a tank-behind-a-wall in my basement, and have made plenty of changes along the way, let me suggest the following:
1. Make certain you have an exhaust fan in the tank room. I use a cheapo bathroom fan run on a timer - works well for keeping the humdity and CO2 down.
2. Run some tubing from the outside of the house to feed your skimmer - CO2 issues again.
3. Plan for mulitple redundancies: what if the electricty goes out - will your pumps start again on their own when the electricity comes back on - self priming? What do you plan on doing when any of your pumps mysteriously dies on Friday night? Use at least 2 smaller heaters in case one dies - or stays on. etc.
4. How are you going to reach the bottom of the tank from behind? Maybe a chair, or maybe you want to build an elevated walk way. You can add it in now much easier than later.
5. If you have any metes (temp, ph, orp, etc) think about if you want them on displayed on the front side of the tank. I used to have mine behind, but I find I notice problems much sooner if they are on the front because that is where I am usually sitting. If you plan it now, it will look much nicer than trying to do it later.

Of course you can what-if this thing to death, but as time goes on, you will be looking at more and more money sitting/growing in your tank. There are plenty of disaster stories on line - you have the chance to really do it right the first time.

As time goes on, I am becoming convinced that redundancy is the real key to success: the products we buy are seldom as good as we think they should be - and too expensive to replace if we gotta have it right now!

[bheron]

JC - thanks. thats really what I'd like to do - get enough feedback from people who've done this and "what would the do differently the next time around". thanks for the feedback.

some comments:

1. Make certain you have an exhaust fan in the tank room. I use a cheapo bathroom fan run on a timer - works well for keeping the humdity and CO2 down.
- yea, this is something I see come up more and more. i've read about a few different ideas - am going to make it a point of discussion with my contractor. the good thing is that there are ducts/hoses running along my basement ceiling and to the outside - for exhaust of dryer I guess. So I'm hoping I can tap in there?


2. Run some tubing from the outside of the house to feed your skimmer - CO2 issues again.
- please explain? what do you mean here? sounds like one i know i havent heard of yet.


3. Plan for mulitple redundancies: what if the electricty goes out - will your pumps start again on their own when the electricity comes back on - self priming? What do you plan on doing when any of your pumps mysteriously dies on Friday night? Use at least 2 smaller heaters in case one dies - or stays on. etc.
- I have alot of this in the plan - using 3 different breakers and splitting up the equipment on them. i know my return pump (mag18) should start right back up again - always has. am planning enough overflow room in my sump for a power outtage (also I have holes in my return tubes now).


4. How are you going to reach the bottom of the tank from behind? Maybe a chair, or maybe you want to build an elevated walk way. You can add it in now much easier than later.
- great point. i planned on adding something later but maybe its better to think about that now and build it in. its been on my mind how i'm going to access the thing. maybe a walkway build together with the stand.

5. If you have any metes (temp, ph, orp, etc) think about if you want them on displayed on the front side of the tank. I used to have mine behind, but I find I notice problems much sooner if they are on the front because that is where I am usually sitting. If you plan it now, it will look much nicer than trying to do it later.
-I like this idea. I dont have much now except for a Little Temp Digital thing. May not get anything else at all but I think I'll add a place for this in the front maybe.

Thanks!