New Fish room with inwall setup.

[H20cooled]

Well I know that I have been MIA for a while now; been very busy. We sold our house and moved into a new house (new to us at least) and I've been busy with projects around here. Before I moved I had a pretty major tank crash in my 130G tank and lost about 60% of my corals, so I tore the tank down and I've had a friend watching what survived. He had been able to get everything else going and they seem to be making a great recovery.

So, after the move I had to figure out what to do with my tank, I've never been happy with the lack of room and difficulty with maintanence in this big of a tank in just the normal stand/canopy setup. So with the new house I have a great place to put the tank into the wall with a fish room.

I don't have a great picture of the area before I tore it apart but it was a small family room with a 4th bedroom butting up to the unfinished laundry room. We decided to remove the 4th bedroom and build the inwall/fish room next to the laundry room and open the family area up. This seemed like an easy thing to do only to find out that its a load baring wall; so a lot of time and $$$$ later we finally have the wall gone and a nice beam in its place. Everything else has worked out great so far.

Details on the fish room. I have the fish room all sheet rocked with 1/2" green board over 1 layer of 1/2" sound board, a 50 amp sub panel with a 220 plug for my MH lighting and a dedicated circuit for everything. My chiller will be outside under my deck in a little protected area, I have a dedicated circuit for it outside and 1 1/2" pipe ran outside for the chiller loop (you can see the pipes next to the hot water heater). The hot water heater will soon be replaced with a tankless unit and protected in a cabinet. The room will be all tiled with 2" white tiles and an ocean blue grout used. I have a drain in the floor and a utility sink will be install once the sheetrock in finished. The sheetrock guy will be here soon to finish the outside of the room and the inside, I hung all of the sheetrock in the room to save $$$, it was a pain but I'm glad I did it. I also have an 150 cfm fantech fan that will be installed into the room and it will exhaust outside, fresh air will be draw from inside the house. I know that I will probably need to add a room fan to move the air around some once everything is done.

The tank details are; 130G Starphire glass (4'x2'x26" tall), custom metal stand coated with Line-X, 40G and 80G sumps, 1/2hp Tradewind chiller, custom skimmer, CA reactor, & Nitrate reactor (built by me). Other details still have to be worked out.

Here are the pics so far.

Room Before
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress001.jpg

Construction and wiring
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress006.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress005.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress003.jpg

Room outside

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress031.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress019.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress018.jpg

Room inside

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress016.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress015.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress014.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress029.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress026.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress013.jpg

I will post more pics as things get done.

Later,

Rich

[H20cooled]

By the way here is a picture of this tank in its prime.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/New%20Tank/NewTank048.jpg

[Michael7979]

Looks great Rich!!!

Can't wait to see more progress.............

and by the way working barefoot isn't very safe!! (whistle)(laugh)(naughty):p

[H20cooled]

Thanks Mike.

Yeah thats what happens when I'm tired I guess...

[R-3]

Nice to hear from ya Rich! Looks like the project that you always talked about :) Cant wait to see it done. Later Ryan

[180Brandy]

Wow that is a very cool project your working on!!! Keep up the awesome work!!!! (rock2)

[reefhut]

Looks like your project has came a long way since I seen it last....Looks really good. How's the little one doing? Still changeing the little skimmer cup alot? LOL

[H20cooled]

LOL, yeah the room has come a ways now, the sheetrock should be done next week and ready to really get things going.

Little one is good.

[garrettm85]

WOW! I like. Very nice. Good luck with the finishing up part. Looks like you have done tons of work! Its going to be killer.

Garrett

[Nyles]

very nice, I have plans for something similar when we sell this place, if I'm lucky enough to get the sq ft I need.

[impur]

Nice Rich. I've always wanted a fish room. Thats gonna be great.

[Nyles]

Alright, since this is close to what I am planning I have a few questions.

1) what are you using to cool the fish room or are you going with a chiller
2) What are you doing for humidity control? An inline fan on the roof on a rheostat?
3) did you add a floor drain to the tank are?

I'm just curious and would love to hear comments on details, hoping to get more ideas on my build, I don't use a chiller since I run t-5 and a AC / heat pump unit does all the chilling/heating, I was thinking I would put a new 2 ton in the fish room and that would keep that room fully temperature controlled, due to there low cost I love using them (mini split systems)

Anyhow fill me in, I'm dying ... LOL

[H20cooled]

Alright, since this is close to what I am planning I have a few questions.

1) what are you using to cool the fish room or are you going with a chiller
2) What are you doing for humidity control? An inline fan on the roof on a rheostat?
3) did you add a floor drain to the tank are?

I'm just curious and would love to hear comments on details, hoping to get more ideas on my build, I don't use a chiller since I run t-5 and a AC / heat pump unit does all the chilling/heating, I was thinking I would put a new 2 ton in the fish room and that would keep that room fully temperature controlled, due to there low cost I love using them (mini split systems)

Anyhow fill me in, I'm dying ... LOL


1) not going to cool the room, I have a heat pump setup for the rest of the house. I thought about connecting it to the fish room but after some research decided that there was to good of a chance in doing a lot of damage to the system. So I'm using a 1/2 hp inline chiller, it will be installed outside so that the heat from it is outside, also the water lines to the chiller are buried underground so that should help with passive cooling.

2) The tank/fish room is in my basement so there is no way to use a remote fan setup, so I'm using a fantech 200 cfm inline fan mounted in the room to exhaust the air outside, it will draw fresh air from inside the house. I have a humidistat and also the fan is connected to a speed controller, but I'm not sure I'm going to use the humidistat yet. I will most likely just leave the fan on all the time at a lower setting.

3) the room already had a floor drain, so that worked great.

With the setup I have in this room to exhuast the humid air I could also connect a remote A/C unit to it, I'm hoping since the house will stay cool and its in the basement I will not have to much issues with heat. Only time will tell though.

Rich

[reefgeek84]

Glad to see that you did not leave the hobby...Was wondering what happened to you...thought maybe you went away along with a few other people who got fed up with some of the stuff on the board....Your system is looking amazing, I can not wait to see the finished product and of course some more progress pics!

[Nyles]

If you decide you need one let me know, I got a great lead on a split AC that works great, I see a few guys on RC using them as chillers on large systems to, just remove the coil and add the ti bars for direct chilling.

As for the fan I would have it on a timer so its on primarily when the lights are on since thats when you get 95% of your evap.

When you get her all done I would love to take a road trip up and check it out, let me know.

[impur]

When you get her all done I would love to take a road trip up and check it out, let me know.

I'm coming with you!!

[R-3]

You can pick me up on the way :) Later Ryan

[H20cooled]

If you decide you need one let me know, I got a great lead on a split AC that works great, I see a few guys on RC using them as chillers on large systems to, just remove the coil and add the ti bars for direct chilling.

As for the fan I would have it on a timer so its on primarily when the lights are on since thats when you get 95% of your evap.

When you get her all done I would love to take a road trip up and check it out, let me know.

LOL, will do. I'm hoping to be able to host a meeting sometime when its done.

One question on the AC unit, how far away can you put the main unit? My tank is on the front of my house so I would want something like that on the back or side of the house.

Rich

[Nyles]

The line that is PRE charged is 25', but you could go 50' without any issue (but it will need to be charged be a AC tech), farther than that I would talk to a tech and ask from the MFG of the unit. In my line of work we run the refrigerant lines over 100' with no issues, its just a matter of adding more refrigerant and making sure the compressor is big enough.

[Michael7979]

You can pick me up on the way :) Later Ryan

Then grab me!!!

[Nyles]

LOL, maybe we should do a frag swap too... LMAO

[H20cooled]

Yeah not sure i have anything to frag at this point as my tank is still in pieces in different tanks until I get this setup again. Most likely I will just be starting with frags in the new setup anyway.

[danno14]

Hey! I recognise that purple rimmed monti!

Drop me a line if you want some of it back. It's....uh, a bit bigger now :)

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s221/dan_n_shan/Sept302007temp083.jpg

[Nyles]

love the color, I have the same piece but its not that blue on the rim, very nice.

[H20cooled]

Hey! I recognise that purple rimmed monti!

Drop me a line if you want some of it back. It's....uh, a bit bigger now :)



Thanks for the offer, I'll have to see how the tank layout ends up once its back together, cause that thing grows really fast.

Rich

[H20cooled]

Update...

Well I've been working hard try to get this done, I've been slowed down for a while with a fractured foot, but its coming along.

The room is all most done, I need to finish up the back wall with some more tile and then install the new sink. The tank just got installed to (thank you izzypop & Joe), it was a very tight fit and I ended up having to go to 3/4" foam under the tank instead of 1" but it should be fine. Well enough talk here are the pics...

Rich


http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress047.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress060.jpg

Cool Accent tile (rock2)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress058.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress057.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress055.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress054.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress052.jpg

Fan for heat/humidity control (exhausts outside)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress051.jpg

New Tankless water heater...
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress050.jpg

[reefgeek84]

Looks like it is coming along very nicely...

[Michael7979]

Please keep the pictures and updates coming Rich. I'm watching for tips/ideas when I begin my build.

[H20cooled]

Well after a long time and work I finally have a couple of fish in there and some of the old corals back in. I've had the tank up and running now for a month with only base and live rock and its doing good. So on Saturday I added in my clown fish and rose anemone from my old setup and also bought a purple tang, and a bunch of frags and pieces that were in the old setup and that a friend was watching for me. I lost a lot of corals in the tanks crash (probably 60% or more), but I'm just happy to have anything at this point. So, far everything is doing great, one of the SPS did not handle the move so well and beached out but the rest look good.

Here are a couple shot of the current setup. The skimmer is just temporary, I have to mod my old one to give it more power and then it will go back in.

Rich

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress066.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress065.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress068.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress069.jpg

[Michael7979]

MORE PICTURES!!!

[R2R2]

Looks great Rich. See ya 'round the hospital. Ryan

[H20cooled]

MORE PICTURES!!!

Of what parts?

[lquidglass]

Looks great! You gotta love having an equipment room instead of trying to fit everything under the tank.

[Michael7979]

Of what parts?


Anything and everything!!!

Looks great Rich!

[reefboy]

Looking sweet keep the pic's coming.

[H20cooled]

I'll have to get some more pics later this week...

[dippin61]

I'll have to get some more pics later this week...

is it later yet? (whistle) (whistle):D

[H20cooled]

Sorry, it will have to wait until this weekend when I have some time...

Rich

[H20cooled]

Well I've been busy with my house and have not had time to take more pics. But I ended up buying a new skimmer cause the one that I made was not working right as an insump model and I was not setup for inline. So, I bought an ATB cone skimmer, its the medium size one that is good for up to 400gallons. Its powered with an ehiem 1260 needlewheel impeller and pulls real good air, the best part is it only uses around 40watts of power so its very energy efficient. Because its a cone setup and there is no resistance on the bubbles it does not require the amount of air that you normally need for this size of skimmer. I just connected it tonight so it's still got a while of break in. Another good part its dead silent too.

Here are some pics.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer001.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer003.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer005.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer007.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer009.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer011.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer012.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer022.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer023.jpg

[Nyles]

interesting... Keep us posted, got any links ?

[H20cooled]

The best info is on RC HERE (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1252315)is a link to the thread on them. The website for the skimmer is LINK. (http://www.atbskimmers.com/)

[impur]

Thats a cool looking skimmer, looks like it works great. Gotta love the eheims. That is just a needlewheel, or is there mesh on it?

[H20cooled]

Thats a cool looking skimmer, looks like it works great. Gotta love the eheims. That is just a needlewheel, or is there mesh on it?

I'm hoping it does, from the feedback on RC it should. The customer service so far with them has been amazing, so I'm not to worried about it. The funning thing is this is the first real skimmer I have ever purchased beside 2 small ones in the past. I usually just build one myself, but with my new house I just have no time to build one.

No its a needlewheel not mesh, from what I have read the mesh on these tends to create a lot of micro bubbles so the use the needlewheel instead. But i think both are available. Also they say that the skimmer really doesn't need the added power of the mesh.

Rich

[andy]

That is a very cool skimmer, I've been following the thread on RC for a while now. I'm looking forward to hearing how it works out for you.

[H20cooled]

Thank you. I woke up this morning and it had a nice thick head of foam in the neck already so I'm excited to get it adjusted right now and skimming.

[H20cooled]

I took a couple of pics this morning of the skimmer, its all broke in now and working great. I'm still messing around with the water level in it to get the right consistency.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer024.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer026.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer028.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer029.jpg

[spectra]

Well looks like it is working good. Now let see some pics of the tank(whistle) How are the tangs doing? I am sure they enjoy a bigger tank(laugh)

[H20cooled]

Tangs are doing great. I put some friends in there with them and everybody seems happy.

Rich

[R-3]

Skimmer updates! Did you think about getting the smaller version? ATB says they have it rockin on some 180's!

[H20cooled]

The skimmer rocks big time, it continues to improve as time goes on and the junk its getting out is darker and darker. I'm really blown away with how much it gets out of the tank and how dark it is.

As for the small cone; I wanted a skimmer that would allow me to get a bigger tank and the medium is rated for up to 400g so this will allow me growth. Plus I like a lot of fish and to feed a lot so I figured bigger could not hurt.

[H20cooled]

This is the junk that I poured out of my collection cup today, there was to much to all fit in this measuring cup but you can see how nasty and dark it is. Plus it stunk the whole house up for a while and the wife was not thrilled with that :D

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/NewSKimmer032.jpg

[H20cooled]

And here are a BUNCH more pictures of the tank, room, etc...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress077.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress076.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress075.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress073.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress100.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress099.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress098.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress096.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress095.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress094.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress092.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress091.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress090.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress089.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress088.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress087.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress086.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress085.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress084.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress082.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress081.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress080.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress079.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e241/h20cooled/Fish%20Room/FishRoomprogress078.jpg

[Michael7979]

Looking really good Rich!!!

Not many people like those convict tangs. Was thinking about one myself.

[H20cooled]

Thank you. I love the Convict tangs, always out eating algae and even the red turf stuff too.

[spectra]

Nice tangs(laugh) When I had him he would only eat algea and that was it the Sailfin would eat whatever got thrown in the tank for food. Glad to see them doing good(rock2)

Oh and the tank looks great to(laugh)

[Cobalt]

nice looking setup and equally nice hardware! do you mind me asking why you have a single stage temp controller and an aqua controller? Is the chiller on a separate circuit?

PS: TWO DC8s??!! :eek: if you ever want to sell one of those DC8s let me know!! (naughty)

[chewie]

DANG! how did I miss these pics. The fishroom turned out great!

I like the convict too. Is the other one a Kole, or a Tomini?

[H20cooled]

nice looking setup and equally nice hardware! do you mind me asking why you have a single stage temp controller and an aqua controller? Is the chiller on a separate circuit?

PS: TWO DC8s??!! :eek: if you ever want to sell one of those DC8s let me know!! (naughty)

Thanks...
Reason for the separate controller is I do NOT trust the cheap temp probes that most of the Aqua controllers come with and I have had 2 many of them fail on me, so I have 1 heater on the controller and one on the aqua controller that way it gives me extra protection. I also have a separate circuit and controller for my chiller.

The DC8's are great, I've had them for 3 tanks now and they still work perfect, won't be selling one anytime soon...

[H20cooled]

DANG! how did I miss these pics. The fishroom turned out great!

I like the convict too. Is the other one a Kole, or a Tomini?

The pinkish one is a Yellow eye tang, not sure that its going to make it though, its been hiding a lot, the strange thing is I don't ever see anyone actually picking on it or chasing it so I'm not sure whats up with it.

Rich

[Zoolander]

Awesome build, I would love to do that in my house.

[H20cooled]

Well I guess my new Yellow eye tang was not doing well cause I think my anemone ate him...

[Cobalt]

I agree with your logic on the redudant heater thing and I myself go very conservative with engineering, but doesn't the heater have a built in thermostat as well? Isn't the odds of both the AC and the heater thermostats failing at once remote? Not to mention your chiller should be able to offset one of the heaters. I'm assuming you have two smaller heaters (200W each or so?).

RE: the yellow eye: on the bright side maybe that rose will split sooner rather than later!

EDIT: I just noticed your lumenarcs are on glides. sweet!

[H20cooled]

I don't use the thermostats on the heaters, I have never found them to be consistent and I prefer to have more control over them. The Chiller is not actually installed yet, it will be outside on a concrete pad and a weather cover for it. I have the loop already done for it I just need to get the concrete pad done and then install it. The tank doesn't get hot now and it shouldn't get to bad in the summer as I have Central air anyway.

Rich

[Miniwhinny]

WOW, you have inspired me...wonder if hubby would notice if I cut holes in the living room wall (whistle);)
Seriously..that's an awesome set up. I really like your 'scaping.