90g in wall with total volume 200+ build

[mmuessen]

Ive been working on this a few months but figured id start tracking the build here for those who may be interested.  First off thanks to fellow member Aaron (wildcrazyjoker81) who I have blown his phone up along the way bouncing ideas off of.  Hes the man if you ever run into him!

 

Current Live feed when its active ( its cycling so its ugly :/ ):

https://video.nest.com/live/wbCjcMwsRo

 

I had old tanks at my previous house that were upwards of 120 displays with well over 200g as well but i wanted to really focus on something that fit the space i had nicely.  I found a great deal on a 90g cube in Nov from SC Aquariums (which btw I couldnt be happier with its quality) and I was off to the races.

 

When all is complete the system will have a 90g display, 40g fuge, 25ish g sump, another 55g (drum or tank undecided) for volume, and my old biocube 32 with steve led (going to be the frag tank) all plumbed together for just over 200g.

 

Here is the wall where the tank was going:

 and the backside:

 

 

First I had to try to measure out the space and height i wanted.  

**IN WALL TIPS...

1) Make sure you cut the hole smaller than your tank or you will have your water line visible

2) rimless will be your friend because the entire tank will sit flush with the drywall.  It may cost more but the black frame on a normal tank will cause more gaps.

3)I used two trim pieces.  Wood for the frame and a reverse quarter round PVC pieces so that if I was cleaning the class I wouldnt have to worry about it chipping.

4)I didnt actually anchor my stand to the wall but i built it into it so it also was completely flush with the drywall. 

5)I used a similar design for the frame of my stand to the ones King of DIY builds on youtube uses. Look him up for more ideas on that.

 

here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mmuessen]

I decided to coat the top and bottom with this:

 

Build continued:

 

checked for size and ended up making slightly wider after this picture

 

Here you can see the trim i installed:

 

 

And here is a picture of the trim during the leak test:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mmuessen]

Ok this part is kinda funny... as many of us i was constantly overflowing my old basement and i was fortunate enough to have a full bathroom on the opposite side of the home theater that the tank room is and nobody use that shower... so I decided to do this:

 

 

 

[mmuessen]

Drilled 40b for Fuge:

 

Built Riser to gravity feed the sump:

 

[mmuessen]

Plumbing the first three pieces to start cycling the tank (when done ill break down the cube to drill and add later after corals transfer to this.  Will add extra 55g volume at that time on the same pump)

 

 

[mmuessen]

Sand and Rock:

 

a few fish for cycle:

 

A macro cage idea I had that so far is working... we will see:

 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

Thanks for the shoutout. Always fun talking reef and seeing new and creative ideas. Can't wait to get this tank packed with some nice corals.