New 150 in wall build - 75 gallon catastrophe

[djultra]

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This was my 75 gallon reef tank a week ago.

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This is the same tank now. As you can see the crack runs the length of the tank. I cracked it while I was installing a closed loop system. Not to smart on my part. But, thanks to my LFS owner who came to my house at 11:00 pm and loaded all my coral into bins to take to his store. Luckily, we managed to only lose two small frags and one fish.

I was contemplating buying a 90 gallon or a 110 tall because they are the same foot print as my 75 gallon and I could use the same stand and canopy that I invested time into building. But you know how it is in this hobby, bigger is better. So I decided on a 150 that my LFS had and it was already drilled for two stand pipes and I could use one for my closed loop. Plus I couldn’t beat the price.

Deciding where to put it was the next big problem because I wanted to put it in the wall. The wall between the house and the garage would have been ideal, but the door leading to the garage would have hit the tank when opening. So after a few talks with the wife we decided to put the tank in our dining room wall. The back porch connects to this wall so there is already a concrete slab to build on. I built a 4’ x 8’ x 7’ insulated room with AC to house the tank and equipment.

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Timing is everything and I was lucky that my Hardie plank siding I order previously arrived shortly after the room was completed and the extra that I order made it go up without any problems.

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I was able to use the old stand by retroing it to the wall. This worked out well because it still allowed for me to get my 55 gallon sump underneath.

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Finally it’s time to cut the hole in the wall and trim it out. I decide to follow the same trim as I used on my other door and window treatments that I finished a few weeks ago.

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Here is the completed wall trim with the actinics on. I installed some temporary lighting until my new stuff arrives. I’m still waiting for my closed loop pump and my rock that is curing to finish the tank install and hopefully after a few touch ups I’ll be ready soon to bring the coral back home.

[tcmfish]

Are you by chance located near Melbourne because I was down there visiting FIT and went to a LFS and the owner was talking about a guy who cracked his 75 and his corals were in a blue raceway type tank he had at the store?

[djultra]

Yep, that's me

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Looks sharp. Good work!

[audioaddiction]

looks nice, you work quick!

[djultra]

Thanks for the positive replies. I should be getting my closed loop pump tomorrow.

[8BALL_99]

Sucks about your 75 it looked great.. Glad you were able to save your livestock!

You are for sure going to need to paint the walls in behind your tank.. That room will have tons of moisture. I've got exhaust/Intake fans in mine for the winter and a window AC for the summer. Even with that there is still lots of humidity in my Equipment room. I built the room with that in mind. All that raw wood will for sure need covering.

[djultra]

I'm going to try to paint the room on my next day off. The tank is running a steady 78-79 with one fan running and the AC set for the house at 72. I'm interested to see the change once the new lighting goes up.

[Daemonfly]

Was that crack on the bottom? Kinda looks like it from the pic. If so, you're lucky it wasn't tempered!



Odd placement of an in-wall tank(external wall), but it looks pretty good.

[JCTewks]

make sure you use plenty of ventilation when painting...and lower your skimmer as low as it will go before yuo start. every time my wife decides to paint i'm not around and the skimmer goes nuts and overflows. LOL

[djultra]

Daemonfly,

No it was not tempered, but I did have plywood on the top of stand which stopped it from breaking completely through.

JCTewks,

Thanks for the advice.

[djultra]

My new Dart pump is in and man is it quiet. I'll most likely install it tomorrow.

[djultra]

I didn't get the pump installed but I did managed to add another 50 lbs of rock. My new Coral Vue 10k 250w with luminarc reflectors should be here the first of next week.

[friendorfoe]

Geez! making me jealous:D trying to talk the wife into letting me do an In The Wall set up also. nicely done.

[djultra]

Thanks, it''s a lot of work but as you can see the pay off is great.

[djultra]

I finally installed the pump for the closed loop. Added another 100 lbs of rock. Lights are up and running. My AquaController and Calcium Reactor should be here Thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to paint next weekend.

Here are a few recent pics.

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[CPT. MURPHY]

Looking good!

CPT.

[jman77]

what at the dims on that tank ?

[djultra]

Current Setup

150 gallon (48x30x24) drilled with two bulkheads (one is for overflow, other is for closed loop)
Sequence ReeFlo Dart Pump for closed loop (6 outlets)
Mag 9.5 for return
Coralife Protein Skimmer
2 - CoralVue 250watt 10k with LuminArc Reflector
2 - 110watt Super Actinics
Phosban Reactor
Carbon Reactor
15watt UV Sterilizer
250 lbs of live rock with reef sand bottom

Items that should be here by the end of the week

CoralVue Calcium Reactor
AquaController Jr

[djultra]

I forgot to mention in my last post that I finally put all the coral and fish into the new tank. Everything is doing great and thanks to Lee at The Logical Reef for all his help in keeping everything alive. So far I only lost 2 fish and 4 small pieces of coral, not bad considering the ordeal everything went though.

I'll try to get new photos soon.

[JohnstonAtoll]

Very Nice! I love the in wall look.

[MightyWarMonger]

Awsome I'm glade you were able to save most of you're live stock and were able to get you're new tank set up and going again looks great!

[Von_Rahvin]

man that was some nice work! Which shop came to the rescue?? Having grown up there are good friends with a few of the different local LFS.

[surfjeepzx]

Great job on the room and tank set-up.. You need to take the LFS owner out for a nice dinner in addition to buying the new tank. Anyone that would come over at that time and bail you out is a quality person to do business with.

I had a similar experience with my old glass tank where it started leaking at a seam. My LFS owner happens to be my friend too but he dropped everything and basically did the same thing and helped me rescue the contents. Then he held onto all my stuff while a custom acrylic tank was being made.

People that help you out in hard times like that should always be remembered with a little something extra.

[djultra]

As promised here are the new photos


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[djultra]

Von_Rahvin

The Logical Reef

[Von_Rahvin]

Where is that located??

our "Home" LFS is Trident Pets, those guys watched me grow up as a reef keeper.

[djultra]

Old Dixie Road in Vero Beach

[djultra]

Still need to paint the back wall. I've been contemplating on doing a mural on the back wall to show depth when you look through the tank. Nothing cheesy like fish or coral, but reef rock and maybe the sunlight shining through the surface of the water.

Here are some pic of the tank I took today.

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[PAUL327]

whats your temp now with the MH lights? did you have to lower your a/c down below 72 degrees?

[djultra]

Right now the house is running at 72. With two fans, one over the sump and one over the tank. The tank runs 76 in the morning and tops out at 80. I installed two 3 inch ac ducts and one 3 inch return in the room.

[djultra]

Well I receive the AquaController Jr. and installed everything. I'm really happy with my purchase, it definitely makes things easier. I'm a little disappointed with the Aqua Notes program though. I like the ReefCon Pro program that I was using with my X10's a lot better.

[djultra]

I added a few more fish recently and everything is doing great. Some how I managed to get some small patches of Bryopsis and Hydroids on some of my rock. I'm working on some ways to get rid of it now.

[Milleme]

Very nice I like the rock work! Have you gotten a background yet? It will definately make it look nicer. Pics of the fish to please.

[djultra]

Not yet, I'm trying to find someone good enough to paint it. I'll try to get some new pics ASAP

[thecableguy0620]

looks great keep the pics coming....

[sylfish]

Most important question. How did you convince your wife to allow you to cut a hole in the wall??? And what has her reaction to the project been???

[djultra]

She was actually the one who suggested it. She had seen others on RC and wanted one like them. But due to the amount of space we had to go to an outside wall.