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550 Gallon 120x36x30 In-Wall w/ Side Views + Fish Room


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(edited)

Hi gang, this is my journey toward a new tank build which is part of a new house build. I expect to have keys to the house by May 1, 2019, and I hope to have water in the tank a month later.  

 

Display dimensions: 120x36x27 - glass tank, builder still TBD
120" long is because I want to have Tangs that prefer long distance open water, like Hippos and Powder Blues
36" wide will still fit through a 36" door (frames are 2" wider)
30" deep allows me reach the bottom without a snorkel. I am 6'4 and have long arms, but my 25" tall 90 gallon is already a challenge to get things in the back/bottom.

Display Style:
The tank will be similar to an in-wall tank, but instead of being flush up against a contiguous wall, the "wall" will be wrapped around the tank. It's a little more work, but if you're starting from scratch... So, in-wall, but with a 36" protrusion into the room. Normally, you would only get the long view from being behind the wall, but I want everyone to be able to look through 10 feet of reef action!

Fish Room:
The Fish Room will be 16'x16' -- this is a true privilege, and I am excited to be able to build a dedicated room with floor drains, plumbing, and all of the necessary support equipment to make this a great display tank. Both the display tank and the fish room will NOT be "in" my house for "Oh $@%#!!" leak risk reasons -- instead it will be connected but on its own separate slab, next to my garage slab. I haven't seen my design before on these forums, but I'm sure it's been done before.

I view this build as a collaborative effort with everyone here on the site, so don't be shy about posting best practices and lessons learned from your own builds!

Edited by Blue Tang Clan
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I'm going glass!  Yes, it's going to be heavy. Really really heavy. But, I also don't plan to move it once it's in place. The durability (scratch-resistance) of glass makes it an easy choice, as I'm just not going to buff out scratches in acrylic. 

 

I'm still up in the air on the tank manufacturer, but I am considering AGE, Custom Aquariums, Coast to Coast, and I've heard a little bit about TankMeUSA.

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Here is the plan for the tank room, and why it's different than most setups. The room will be positioned OUTSIDE of the foundation of the house, on a separate slab, similar to the garage. But, you'll be able to walk from one to the other as if they were connected and part of the same house. If there are any tank leaks, they will be caught be a trench/channel drain that divides the Fish Room from the Morning Room. So, no damage will come to the house, even if the glass cracks. [ignore some of my markups, I'm still waiting on final architect drawings.]

  • The display can stay on the main level for maximum viewing, while still having a basement for the house
  • Keeping it separate from the house mitigates damage risk from any potential leaks
  • Concrete slab eliminates weight concerns for display, holding tanks, etc. -- lots of water!

 

 

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Ha, I'm definitely not rolling that well off -- those houses on River Rd can be $3M!  My new place is within a mile or so, but will more modest. I rejected 99% of the house layout plans that I saw because there wasn't a good way to incorporate a big tank on the main level, while also keeping it "out" of the house on its own foundation.  

 

Once everything is all set up and running, hopefully I can invite a few WAMAS folks over to see the fish room and the display tank. Everyone brings great ideas and experiences to the table so I'm happy to host a meet up if people are up for it. 

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Here is a work-in-progress view of how I imagine the fish room will look. Yes, I realize that I am mixing overhead views with side views, but I don't have time to draw all this stuff out in sketchup etc. The display tank will face the main family area.

 

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welcome and thanks for sharing. I was following on r2r and now see you are local on here - awesome!

 

 

thanks! It's going to be a journey, but I'm excited to have input from the local WAMAS folks along the way!

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In your shelf diagram, you have your hospital/qt tank above the frag tank. This seems like an easy way to accidentally get meds into the frags.

Also the fuge should be able to drain directly into the main tank with some sort of drain or lateral run to achieve the most benefit of macro life entering the display, rather than getting shredded by the return pumps or filtered out by stuff in the sump.

Also, try to keep the UV closer to the sump to take advantage of the water coming out of it. That water will be under some amount of pressure and you can certainly use it to power another device.

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Thanks!  I had the same thought about keeping the meds away so those two tanks are going to go elsewhere in the room.  

 

The refugium will not be able to drain directly into the display tank; I'm not going to have anything up higher than the display. It will drain into an area of the sump that is post-skimmer so I'm not too worried about pods getting chopped up by too many things.  It's par for the course when dealing with return pumps. 

 

While the UV will definitely have some flow coming out that could power other devices or reactors, I should have enough power to run everything separately. For maintenance purposes, I want to keep everything as independent as possible. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

2nd the benefits of direct Refugium drain into DT. It need not be too much higher than the DT and need not have high flow.

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I don't think it's going to be possible given the very tall height of my display tank.  The stand is going to be around 42", plus plywood etc. and almost 30" of tank height, and that is 72"+ off the ground. Having a 75-90 gallon refugium sit higher than that (I know just the drain has to be above it) isn't going to be a good balance of weight on my steel shelves. 

 

Many pods are small, and may have a chance of making it through the return pumps.

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  • 2 months later...

A few weeks ago I picked up some water storage from WAMAS members -- two 100 Gallon containers and one 175 gallon container. I'm still looking for another 150+ gallon container if anyone knows of any sitting around gathering dust!

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

A question on overflows: 

I want to have a long long skimming area. Modular Marine can actually do a 96" custom version, which would be insane. Here is a pic of the 60" version. 

The question is, since the overflow is so long, does it make any sense to have an extra pipe put in so I could potentially do 2 siphon overflows? Not 6 pipes, but 4 total. I really don't think I want to do two separate overflows, as tuning two can be tricky and I don't want 6 pipes. Is 4 doable? 2 siphons, one ball valve trickle, and an emergency?

DSC_4586_large.JPG?v=1484940117

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I’ll find it when I’m at a desktop, I had a custom aqua box overflow prepared for a eurobraced glass cages build. The top butter against the glass, only way for anything to get in was through the weirs. It was shy of 6’ coast to coast, I think 4’-4.5’. I did a bean animal 3 valve, and it was enough on a 180 gallon.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I may have already made my first big mistake!!

 
I ordered my stand and it arrived last weekend. It's gorgeous and exactly 120" x 36". The problem is, the tank I am building will be 120"x36" will have a 5/8-3/4" frame on the top and bottom, which will extend past the direct support of the stand. 
 
3/4" plywood will be underneath the tank (along with a foam pad) and I can extend the plywood an extra 3/4" all around, but will this present a major issue for supporting the tank?
 
Technically the glass will be supported, it's just the outer wrap that will stick out below the vertical beams below. Thoughts?
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I'm not a structural engineer, but I'm betting dollars to donuts the trim on the tank wont matter, it's going to be the glass that you're worried about. 

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The plastic trim sits below and slightly to the outside of the glass, so it actually bears the load out to the edges if many tanks. The load from the tank will spread down and out/in from the 3/4" overlay. So having a 3/4" cantilever from a 3/4" sheet of plywood set on top will still support the load without additional bracing. I do the same thing on the front lip of my in-wall installation.so the tank frame sits flush with the drywall behind some decorative trim.

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The plastic trim sits below and slightly to the outside of the glass, so it actually bears the load out to the edges if many tanks. The load from the tank will spread down and out/in from the 3/4" overlay. So having a 3/4" cantilever from a 3/4" sheet of plywood set on top will still support the load without additional bracing. I do the same thing on the front lip of my in-wall installation.so the tank frame sits flush with the drywall behind some decorative trim.

 

 

 

That's exactly what I was looking for -- thanks!!

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  • 1 month later...
I am finalizing my overflow with Modular Marine right now (72” long!) and I was wondering if anyone had ever plumbed more than three drain holes in an overflow. 
 
Could I use a fourth as a manifold feed or for some other purpose, or is it adding too much complexity?
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