who built their own in-wall tank...

[TheCheat]

... and wouldn't mind if i picked their brains for ideas? i'd like to see a bunch, and then assimilate all their best features together.

my project will be around 100gal, so if you've got something similar, or care to share any thoughts/advice on what worked or didn't, i'm all ears.

thanks!
~B

[tetra9999]

Mine is set to a nice viewing height if you were sitting one of those tall type bar stools. Build it high enough to be able to stand in front of it, walk back and forth and admire it without bending over and low enough to sit on a "bar stool" type of chair and it not be too high. I personally like to sit on the bar stool and see more of the bottom sand and rock work as opposed sitting at a level where you would see the top half of the tank.

It would be nice if I were to have access to the full lenght of the top of the tank through a hidden door or something on the front wall. But oh well.

Also if planning a future refugium to be under the tank plan the slot for it accordingly. Make the space between the front and rear support walls (studs) atleast 13" to fit a standard tank. PM me if you have any ?'s

[ug]

do you plan on building your own tank or buying one

[ATS]

Why build it when you could buy my house with a 200 gal tank allready built into the wall?

[TheCheat]

thanks for the tips, tetra9999. i will add "viewing height" to my checklist for how to ideally place the tank.

ug - i am no acrylic or glass craftsman, so i plan to buy prefabbed, and most likely something very standard. hopefully i'll come across a lightly used tank, and i'll go about piecing things together as they pop up 'for sale.'

ATS - i like the sound of your house, but i just bought a new one. no moving for this guy! haha. did you get to build your setup?

thanks! and keep the ideas coming. or pictures... pics are good.

~B

[rs2208]

TheCheat-

I know you have seen my tank in the past but you are welcome to come by and see how I did it.

Randy

[gath2]

If you are going to be cutting into any walls, find out if it is supporting your roof or ceiling in any way.

Run dedicated circuits to where your equipment will be plugged in. .

If you are going to have a fish room behind it, that is great. Otherwise consider putting a sump in the basement if possible.
If you think you have enough room for all the equipment you want, find more.

Make sure you can get to all viewable glass for cleaning.

You can find tons of inwall pics on RC if you do a search. Here are a couple of mine.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/69912kitchenviewstand-med.jpg


http://img43.echo.cx/img43/9093/frontoftank8hc.jpg

[Goalie66]

You are welcome by my house anytime. I have some pics in my gallary of the 220 as well. There might even be some old pics of the 125 that was there previously.

Tom

The main change I made was access from the front. i also had got a new couch which was taller so I raised the tank about 4" higher.
It is also viewable from 3 sides.

[TheCheat]

Thanks guys!

The beauty of my project is that I will only have BUILD walls, not cut into any.
You can see in the pics below that there's a column in the middle of the room that will serve as the corner between the two new walls. where the weight bench and sugar glider cage is located, will all be dedicated to the fish room.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/Super_Suby/inwall2.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/Super_Suby/inwall1.jpg
That should give you a good idea of how much room I have to work with. Best part is... the wife is totally on board!
Sad part is, the gliders have to go. :(
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/Super_Suby/scoutindish.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/Super_Suby/latteinpouch.jpg
~B

Tom, I will probably take you up on that offer within the next month. The project gets underway April 1, 2006. :)

[Letmegrow]

If you can not find someone to buy the sugar gliders,

The Rep Room
Kurt L.
314-221-8600

He would be able to give you some help.

[spooda420]

your welcome to see my work in progess.... (sheesh it been 2 years now I need to finish the drywal...

[chadfarmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6755699#post6755699 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Letmegrow
If you can not find someone to buy the sugar gliders,

The Rep Room
Kurt L.
314-221-8600

He would be able to give you some help.

thats my buddy hes got my 6 pairs of gliders

[TheCheat]

I've met Kurt before, and have his card right in front of me. Think he'd buy them from me, or just take them off my hands?

Anyway, back on topic. I measured last night and found that the length of wallspace where the tank will go is 93in. it seems that my two options are for a 48in or a 72" tank. why do they only come in 4 or 6ft sizes. where's the 5 footer that would be ideal?
oh well.

~B

[Hobbes8017]

Have a Custom Acrylic tank made.... Can be cut to an exact size.

[TheCheat]

believe me, i would love nothing more than to customize the hell out of it. but for $$'s sake, I need to stick to more standard options.
~B

[gath2]

You can get glass tanks built for pretty good prices, at least compared to buying a new tank. If your looking to buy a used tank then it doesn't really compare.

[aroundtuit]

Oceanic makes (or did a few years ago) a 110 G, 60.5" L x 18.5" W x 24" H. I bought one at Beldt's about 5 years ago. Currently I am building it into the wall. Have you tried looking for a 110?

One down side is that its harder to find 60" lighting. But you can use two 30" fixtures. Or DIY to your own specs.

[TheCheat]

i've seen the prices that places like glasscages advertise. good deals. unfortunately, i had a poor experience with them 1 time, and i'm hesitant to try again. in fact, i'm not sure they'd even make a tank for me if i wanted them to. but that's not important.

the length of the tank is really a big consideration because of lighting. i don't think a 72" tank can be covered by single 48" fixture that housed 2x250W plus actinics, whereas a 60" could be just right. that would be comparable to my 30" long tank being lit by a single 250W halide. i'll keep my eye out for the 110g option. thanks TUIT.

[aroundtuit]

You're welcome Cheat!

Just looked on Oceanic's web site. They also show the following sizes;

130 G - 60.5 x 18.5 x 29
156 G - 60.5 x 24.5 x 25
178 G - 60.5 x 24.5 x 29

[Goalie66]

My cousin has two 5' 110's he might want to sell one if that is an option. Neither are drilled though

Tom

[StupidsReef]

Hey TheCheat, you might want to get into contact with IMLON2. He has a 240 in-wall tank. He's built a stand or two for local reefers, we just fininshed one last night and are still working on another. His work is really good, but he is slower than a salted slug :) due to life itself. He lives to do stuff like in-wall tanks, or aleast come up with the ideas on doing it.

[Im Lon 2]

Here is my work in progress..

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/3850/10122240_Progress_001a.JPG
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/10122Basement_Fish_wall_Jan_06_001a.JPG

Here is the design for behind the tank. It is for the most part complete but hard to get a good picture.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/3850/10122Fish_room_Design2.jpg

I also built my stand (I believe 42") tall for the same reason tetra9999 said.

At first I wished I would have built doors above my tank, now that it is setup and I'm not always having to get inside the tank moving rock work around, I'm glad I didn't put the access doors on front. The only down side it makes it a little harder to clean (Caroline Algae), but not impossible

You are more than welcome to stop by any time and see how I built mine too, to help give you ideas, some times seeing makes more since.

Another things to be thinking about is a way to vent the fish room, having a sink or drain in my fish room would have been good to.

[TheCheat]

That's awesome! love the drawing. I'm a big fan of sketches and schematics, being a former engineer.
I will attempt to set aside some time pretty soon to do a mini tank-tour of my own to get some visual ideas.
I appreciate all your offers guys. Thanks!
~B

[gholtmeyer]

Im Lon 2

great drawing, I am going to file that away when I do my in-wall tank. Could you add arrows to show direction of water flow? Please?

[aroundtuit]

I building my first Inwall. Here's a the plan I drew up

Top, Back, and end view of stand
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/584/47029inwall_Stand_Top-Back-Side__view.jpg


View from front, including the finished wall
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/584/47029inwall_Stand_-_Front_view.jpg

Note: There are some mistakes. For example, in the drawing I figured the tank as 60" long. Its actually 60-1/2. I forgot to account for the trim! Also, the double 2x4's all have a piece of 1/2" plywood sandwiched between them.

[Im Lon 2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6770655#post6770655 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gholtmeyer
Im Lon 2

great drawing, I am going to file that away when I do my in-wall tank. Could you add arrows to show direction of water flow? Please?

Thanks!! The 3" pipe is the drain the rest are returns. That is the only thing I changed in that picture, was the way my return go back to the tank.

[TheCheat]

I think I've finally sourced a 125g tank and lighting.

Still looking for a nice skimmer, though.
Anybody have suggestions that won't break the bank?
anything for sale locally perhaps?

Thanks,
B

[rgpennell]

When I was looking through the threads I origonally read this one to read "who built their own walk-in tank" and thought WOW that is interesting! :eek1:

I guess it helps to drink your coffee before trying to read these things. :confused:

By the way, if anyone is building a walk in tank - that is something I'd like to see! :lol:

Rob

[DrBDC]

I think zilla might be considered that. Some of these 450's going up might be called sit in's.

[TheCheat]

well, it'll be *sort of* walk-in. there will be a door to the fish room, does that count? :)

Just 20 more days until the project gets going! Woohoo!