Hop's 300 gallon in-wall build

[Hop]

Thanks Todd!

Kris: Not much set in stone. I have an idea, but if it comes to light or not is a maybe Right now I'm just working on getting everything up and running. Once the scape is done, I think I'll have the anser I'm looking for and will be able to begin heading in one of two directions.

[Volkman]

Hop, simply amazing!! I am starting plans for a wet room myself, and your plans have helped immensely. One question, is your tank on the same floor as the room? I am dropping my wet room into the basement into a 8x10 closet attached to a crawl space. Any thoughts/recommendations? Can't wait to see more!! Beautiful!!!!!

[Hop]

Hi Volkman: Thanks for the comments. My wetroom sits about 20 some feet away from the tank and this area of the house is about 2' lower than the floor the tank is on. With your situation, I think that you will be fine. In a way I wish I had a basement under mine to have built and used the space below, rather than horizontal from the tank.

Being in IL, I think you will have the same concerns I do, which is humidity and temp control. Figure out how to take care of these two issues and the rest is easy

[Volkman]

Thanks Hop, gotta love the temp changes we get!! Where are you in CO?? My little bro lives in a western suburb of Denver, and I used to live in Vail and tought skiing at Beaver Creek. Wow what I life I must admit, but no more!!! (oh-well, we all gotta grow-up sometime!!)
As far as temp control goes, I might luck-out. I have been measuring the temps in that rooms since we moved in a year ago, and they stay perfectly even throughout the year. I know that once I start throwing pumps and equipment into the room that will change, but I would be able to vent into and from the outside pretty easily since it's on an outside wall.
Any problems with drop or head loss?? I am going to have to drop about 4' and run about 18' to get to the room. A good pump/pumps should be able to handle that right??

[Hop]

Volkman: I'm WAY west of Vail... About 120 miles or so. Near Grand Junction.

Good to hear on being able to vent the basement area! You won't beleive the humidity when you walk in the room in the winter

A good pressure pump should make things easy! I don't think with that run, your going to need a huge one, something like a panworld 50px-x running 1100gph at 90 watts might fit the bill. Double check the GPH vs. headloss when you know for sure!

[Volkman]

Pretty area.... I just love the mountians and foothills. Can't wait to get out and do some skiing!! Can't believe I just said that....sorry....
Thanks for the advice on the pump, didn't think about the humidity in the winter, was more concerened about a hot day in the summer! Where did you learn to do all this construction? Just a hobby you've picked up over the years? Or are you a builder of sorts? It all looks so amazing. I was showing my girlfriend and she was asking if I can make ours look like that. So thanks a ton buddy!!!!
Also, how did you draw up your plans? Computer program? Or are you just really good Adobe Illustrator too?

[Hop]

Volkman: Yup, great area, no more skiing, snowboarding for me Lucky to still be walking.

Yeah the humidity in the winter is much worse when it's cascading sheets of water off your windows and fogging your glasses when you walk inside.

The construction was just something I picked up from my dad who built/made, just about everything he could. No special training, just a desire to do stuff. And the plans were drawn up on google sketchup. Nothing to special, just playing with lines and colors

Thanks... Well I work today and then tomorrow is D-Day! Not sure I'll have time to post as I go, but I should have a ton of photos by Thursday or Friday.

[Volkman]

Rock-on Hop!! Looks beautiful!! Can't wait to see more!

[Hop]

Well day one of the tear down and rebuilt came and went. The old tank is out, critters in a holding tank and the new stand is built. I'm hoping on having the new tank in it's spot in 1-2 days, the system running in 3 days and everything trimmed and painted in 5 days

[chris wright]

Sounds like your going to be a bit busy this week

Looking forward to the pics mate.

Cheers

Chris

[Hop]

Let me see... Busy couple of days. I'm behind about five hours, so the livestock is not transfered yet, but here we go anyway.

After some coffee and trying to decide if I really wanted to tackle this project, I elected to go for it anyways.

Here is the tank "as was" yesterday around 10am:


First thing was to remove the doors and canopy for easier access. I remembered that I put this tank in the wall for almost no out of pocket expense and began finding all the little issues I had forgot about:


Trim removed:


All the sump equipment was removed and I pumped the water out of the sump and into a 100 gallon rubbermaid tub:



Then we started getting water from the tank removed along with rock and stuff as the the water level dropped. I actually used gloves this time and am happy to report that I had zero cuts!

[Hop]

After all the water was drained and the livestock moved it was lunch time!


The sump was removed and the overflow taken off.


The wife and I got the 125 out of the house and moved to the back porch which exposed the very old stand. I'm not proud of it, but it served it's purpose.





Finally got all that old stuff out!

[Hop]

So here we begin with the new construction. First I used 4 2X4s in each of the corners and then ran a level and made adjustments were needed:


This is where the bulk of the new stand came from... The old 370 stand. My office is in shambles right now waiting for this project to get completed:


The new stand beginning to take shape:


Before I forget... Here is the temporary homes for my critters. Everyone seems a little upset other than the naso, who's been cruising around all day in the open.

[Hop]

The upper portion is finished here:


Starting to fill in the remaining supports. The back supports line up with the studs in the wall, not the tank, so don't think your eyes are playing tricks on you. The front supports are centered and will have similar access doors to the underside. Each front support is doubled up, so it's like a 4X4:





Replaced the trim near the floor here:

[Hop]

Working on the first coat of paint under the stand. The remaining coats will come after the tank is running. To clarify, from the tank up will be completely sealed from the lower portion of the stand. Just so it doesn't look like I'm a horrible painter... Most of this was painted from the other stand. I will only be painting the parts that will be visible under the tank when the doors are open. There is NO equipment under this tank and the lower portion is completely sealed from the top.






And that's pretty much how it sat last night. I wanted to get more done, but it was later than I thought and power tools in the living room apparently don't make the wife happy after 9pm

[Hop]

First thing this morning I got the top of the stand cut and installed. I wanted to do it in one piece, but it didn't fit, so I had to do it in two pieces:


Next up was to install aqua tile:


The entire headspace, basically from the top up is aquatiled and sealed from the rest of the house... Or will be:


Getting done... It was a ton of work getting these cut and installed. It took about two hours longer than I wanted.

[Hop]

Just a different view:




And then the holes. More wonderful holes in my house


So finally I got everything cut, installed and cleaned up:


Next every joint and gap was caulked:

[Hop]

Then I built a jig that I didn't take pictures of cause I was busy... And then I had some close friends over and we moved the tank in the wall. It worked really well! But I don't have any pics


Other than this dirty tank on the stand





So tomorrow I'll finish up the closed loop and finish sealing the headspace above the tank. Then after a quick wetrun, I'll get the live stock moved over. Hopefully Friday I can finish the plumbing to the wetroom and get the sump built. Then Sunday night, I'll be able to fire up the filtration leg... That's all for now

[melev]

Looks great! Quickly done, and tidy too. You must have one happy wife right now.

[Hop]

Hey melev! Thanks for stopping by And for the kind words.

I think she is happy it's in the wall! The house and garage are still in shambles

Actually we almost had our third fight in nearly a decade of marriage... When you send your wife to the hardware store 30 miles away and she come home with the wrong parts... Don't tell her she got the wrong parts... Oh she was mad!

[melev]

That's nothing a good divorce can't fix.

[Hop]

[chris wright]

Looking real good mate. I( bet your glad that this stage is out of the way. Its easy to see how much work you put into it.

Well done.

Cheers

Chris

[tgfrench]

Glad to see the rebuild going so well.

The intake on your CL might need rethinking. I used the same strainer on my CL with a MD 70 and It became a snail trap. Once one of the suckers got on it the intake sucked them out of the shell. One suggestion would be to cut a length of pvc pipe with numerous holes in it to reduce the suction in that area.
Secondly I can see that area becoming a real PITA to clean.

[Volkman]

The nearest hardware store is 30 miles away?? That's gotta suck!!! Looks amazing Hop!! Thanks for all the pics!! One of the reasons I love this site, gives me more ideas on how to spend money I don't have!!! HA!