Nate213's in wall build

[Nate213]

I've been planning an upgrade for quite a while now. I had a location picked out but it had some issues. Originally I was going to do an in wall in our basement. The problems with this were that I didn't have easy access to drain lines and i was worried about ventilation. I had figured out how to make it work, but I wasn't really excited about it. Also the location wouldn't be in a prime spot for viewing.

 

A few months ago my wife suggested that I do a corner build in our upstairs dining room area. After thinking about it a while I decided that was the perfect location. It has great viewing from our living room, dining room and kitchen. But the best part is the wall backs up to the garage, so I can build a fish room and have real easy access to water and drain lines. Also I can easily exhaust the fish room air outside and not have all the humidity in our house. (the wife was most pleased about that)

 

Enough of the rambling. I started this thread to document the build and get help with the planning stages. Warning: progress may be slow as I like to over analyze and engineer things. I am going to try and avoid as many mistakes as possible and want a nice clean build.

[Nate213]

Ok here are some photos of the corner where I want to put the new tank:

 

 

 

[Nate213]

I had originally mocked up a 60" x 60" x 24" build in sketchup for a visual. My wife said something like "sorry but I don't want a tank that big in our house. Ever...".

 

I thought it looked great though. Here are some images of the mockup:

 

 

 

I'm going to modify the size down to something like 36" x 72" x 28" and see if I can get the green light.

[CuttleFishandCoral]

Sweet. Good luck with the planning.

[wanareef]

You'll have to remember, access to the front of the tank for cleaning, aquascaping, feeding or do it all from the bakc like Steve Weast did on his 500 and 900gals. I think something symmetrical 48"x48"x24" or ??? would look nicer, jmo, clear 2 front sides and black on the back two with the bean animal overflow off each black side, Vortechs all around for flow, LEDS to light the tank. You'll need at least 3/4" on the top so you can lay on top to get into the tank, but then if you over 6' tall no problems then.

 

Good luck on convincing the boss (wife)

[Nate213]

You'll have to remember, access to the front of the tank for cleaning, aquascaping, feeding or do it all from the bakc like Steve Weast did on his 500 and 900gals. I think something symmetrical 48"x48"x24" or ??? would look nicer, jmo, clear 2 front sides and black on the back two with the bean animal overflow off each black side, Vortechs all around for flow, LEDS to light the tank. You'll need at least 3/4" on the top so you can lay on top to get into the tank, but then if you over 6' tall no problems then.

 

Good luck on convincing the boss (wife)

 

You and I are on the same page. Lighting will definitely be LEDs. Bought 4 Sols this weekend. I know that won't be enough, so I will add more units or some Vegas when I'm that far.

 

Flow will be mostly MP40s and maybe an MP60 or two if I go with the longer tank.

 

I had planned for a coast to coast overflow on the back (long side) with Bean Animal. Why would you do two?

 

Symmetrical would be better, but the boss lady thinks they look too big that way. It has been easier to convince her for something closer to 300 DD footprint.

 

As for access, I will probably have it like Steve's setup. I really like how he had his tanks, even though it may be inconvenient at times. I will build up a working platform that is just below the bottom of the tank so I can lean over and have better reach. It is also very important to me to keep the humidity and noise out of the house. I think this will be easier if I seal off the front.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[reefnjunkie]

I was also going to seal off the front initally but did end up leaving about an 8" opening in the top which I did after seeing Danik's tank I too got ideas from Smann as well.

With the opening in the front here is absolutely zero noise from the tank and believe me its one of the best things I did-Cleaning the front, placing things up front etc etc etc has been much easier.

 

I actually built to removable panels (from 3/4" plywood that I sealed) that are held in place (the tops) by magnets, the bottom of each panel has a 90 degree cut out that rests on the top of the tank. I added some trim to match the outer trim of the moulding and it looks really nice (IMO-(whistle))

 

That 300DD is a sweet tank, its the way I was going to go before I spoke to Wanareef and went with the 4 foot deep-Its worth considering if going acrylic. I dont think the cost was that much more (plus the extra pieces made a great frag tank and sump-(naughty)). I think you would love the extra viwing room and with your layout it"ll be very nice having that extra 1 foot depth.

 

GL on the build!