280G+ Starphire In-Wall Build by ReefArtist

[ReefArtist]

I’ve decided to take the plunge and purchase my dream tank. The tank will be 280G and will be located in my living room wall. All the equipment will be housed in my soon to be new fish room that will be located in my garage. This fish room will be completely enclosed with an in-wall AC unit. I’m in no hurry as this is my dream tank and I want to make sure everything is done to the best of my abilities – which might take some time to get it right. Virtually everything will be DIY – not only to save money but to learn and share ideas. I’d also would like everything possible will be automated. I’m guessing my build will take approximately one year to one and a half years to complete. This includes custom glass panels that will be added into the doors of the stand.

Tank Selection –
1. Length - My first requirement was to have a system that is 6 ft long. One that is 4 foot would fit better in my living room but my tang and Wrasse now would be happier with more space. So my room is a little small – for them a 6 foot tank it will be .
2. Height - No higher than what I have now (25”) – My arm can reach the bottom of the 25 inch tank. If something falls I want to be able to reach in and get it without having to get equipment out. I'll also be spending less money on lighting with a shorter tank, which is less money spent now and in the future.
3. Depth – This is the most important to me. I want to be able to produce an underwater scene with depth. Have the corals and aquascape flow and give depth and interest not just in fish and corals but placement of rocks.
4. Acrylic/Glass – I love the clarity of the acrylic but because of cost and ease of scratching (Which I would always be buffing out), I decided to go glass. The clarity issue will be solved using Starphire glass on the viewing surfaces – Front and both sides.
5. Support/bracing – I would like the tanks top bracing to be divided into three sections. Doing this will allow placement of Metal Halides within each section. I contacted GlassCages and they are building it to my specifications.
6. Overflows – I would like the overflow to be on the outside of the tank, but I really don’t want to worry about another area that has the potential of leaks (All around the overflow on the outside of the tank). So, I’ll have two overflows splitting the tank into thirds. The placement of these were also a concern so I contacted the tank manufacturer and they are placing these to my specs.
Return Pump – Dart (?)
Returns – (2) 1 inch PVC and Spa-Flex with 3/4 inch Flexible Ball Socket
Output – (2) 1-1/2 PVC and Spa-Flex with DIY Dorso standpipe
Flow inside display tank – Flow from returns, Tunze wave box is a possibility and two Tunze Turbelle Stream 6100 + 7095 MultiController (3175gph/each). Each pump will be covered with clay that will be of my own design.
Aquascaping - 200+ lbs live rock from old tanks. Pillars, caves etc will be made from specially formulated clay and also be of my own design.
Back glass and overflow boxes will be completely covered with specially designed clay with ledges for frags and areas for critters. These also will be of my own design.
Substrate – Lots of live sand from my current two tanks and will be purchasing the remaining 300+ lbs.
Type of system – Still doing research on this one, it will either be a plenum system or DSB. At this time I’m leaning toward the plenum system.
Skimmer – Still looking and working with LFS on this. I like the RC500 but it has lots of pumps, we’ll see what I can come up with that is just as good!
Sump/Refuge – Sump will be my old 90G fresh water tank. They will be moved into a smaller tank. The sump will be DIY configured using glass inserts. The refuge will be a 40G breeder tank that I already have and it also will be DIY configured using glass inserts.
Chiller – AC wall unit will chill room and water.
Calcium Reactor – DIY and already finished
Carbon Reactor – DIY or use old FW filter (350 magnum).
Phosban Reactor – DIY (Will start with the 2 reactors I have)
UV – Will purchase probably around an 80W system
Lighting – DIY reflectors . 2 – 250W and 1 - 400W with IceCap Ballast
Controller – AquaController III or AquaController III Pro
Stand – DIY wood frame – design TBD
RO/DI – Aqua Barracuda 100 GPD with 4 stage filtering (Carbon, chloramines). The water source will come from my water heater and the drain will be attached to my waste water system.
RO/DI Reservoirs - 60G top barrel will have RO which must have a connection to my freshwater tank and the bottom will be for saltwater mixing water changes (Thanks MFLamb for the design). Top barrel will have a float valve installed.
ATO – This will also be one of the barrels I have but it’s one of the 30 -40G. I will be cutting it down to fit under my tank.
The key to my fish room is that nothing but the ATO and storage will be located under the tank.

Here are some ideas that I have been playing with – please if you have any comments or suggestions I’m open to all!


This is my living room conceptual view


This is what I'm hoping my fishroom will look like when finished.

I'm hoping everyone will pitch in with ideas. I'm also going to be adding the QT, Frag tank and Seahorse tank. Thanks everyone in advanced!