Lance A. Lot's 180 in wall build
 

My interest with fish started when I was young and my parents decided to dig a pond in our back yard. My mom took me all around St. Louis as part of the STL Pond Tour to get ideas. Another pond owner sent me home with some Speckled Mollies for the pond and told me to keep them in a tank in the winter. Well just like many of you the 10 gallon lead to a 20, then a 55 in college, after graduation a switch to saltwater and a 75 gallon in a rental home, and now to the 180 in my first home. My wife informs me this will be the largest and the last. If that is the case I may as well go all out with this one...

Had to tear out the bar in the basement because it was where I wanted the tank to go. I also couldn't have a man cave without a bar so I have made plans to rebuild it on the other side of the basement but, smaller.

Following. 🐠🐟🐠🐟

I have made a little progress on the new bar area. I am going for a corner dry bar with a granite counter top to match the framing around the viewing area around the tank. I got to do some fun lighting work above the bar area. The lights are remote controlled and strobe or flash while changing colors.

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This is the area I wanted to move the bar because I wanted to have easier access to the sump pump located in the box at the bottom. Just in case the sump pump ever went out I wanted to be able to get to it and work on it.

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I did a little carpentry and dry wall work as well as the demo.

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I had a lot of help getting the tank into the basement. It sat in the garage for a few months until the SLASH club came to the rescue.

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I even had help with getting the stand to the basement too.... I've really had it easy and my friends and family are the ones doing all the hard work.

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I have some of the frame work up for the drywall/wood cabinetry that will go around the tank.

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Then I noticed how uneven and lumpy some of the slab below where the stand was going to be was and I had to jack hammer the bumps out just to get it close. I will shim with steal shims the rest of the way but it was so bad I had to get in there with the heavy equipment.

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The tank came with an internal overflow and it just seemed to take up to much real estate inside the display. I decided to cut that out and try to build my own "ghost" overflow or something like that. So now I have to cover the old holes and make some new ones. This is always stressful when drilling 1/2 inch glass.

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Me cutting out the old overflow

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Marking for holes

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Always makes me nervous

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One down one to go!

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Almost through

Printed Reef Solutions "ghost" overflow!
Thanks Matt
Can't wait to see how it will all work. It sure looks cool though.

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Updated shot with more frame work up.

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Looks awesome

New glass is here for the construction of the external overflow box.

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Looking forward to seeing the progress on this..hoping to do an in-wall 180 myself in the near future..well done so far!

Looking good. Looks like you are going after it the right way. Can't wait to see it up and running.

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Drilling tonight again.

Very cool. Are you planning a bean animal drain for the external box?

Yes hopefully getting the plumbing tonight... (except for the gate valve... brs for that)

Nice. I think the ghost overflow looks a lot cleaner than the internal overflow box.

Yes I think it does. I do realize that I am probably sacrificing surface skimming by having the overflow designed like this but, I don't like giving up room in my tank. I also don't like the shadows that would be cast by a larger internal overflow box.

This may be a dumb question but does it matter what fittings I choose for these bulkheads? They are thread x thread 1.5 inch bulkheads. Is there a more correct way to do this. See picture:
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So outside thread or inside thread and why?

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Ignoring the glass plate I have there to make them stand up does anyone see a problem with this setup yet? I know I haven't drilled for the John Guest fitting to put the airline in yet. Besides that are there any concerns?

Lance, its looking great man!

Looks like you will need a little of a spacer between the bulkhead and each T to raise the inlets a little. It looks right now as if they will hit the glass on the bottom of the overflow when the bulkheads are in the holes of the overflow.

One of those is your main with the valve on the pipe to control flow. This one can be just a straight pipe about half way up in the overflow box. No need to have he 90 pointed down. The 2nd should be a durso style as backup and a slow trickle 3-5" above the main so your are not creating a vortex and sucking in air . The 3rd is supposed to be a wide open emergency pipe. No need to have the 90 on the emergency pipe. Just straight up well above the water line. This will give you more space also for the holes also so they are not that close together.

I would also add some kind of grate or mesh just in case you get a snail or crab in there that crawls through your overflow teeth and decides to hang out in your overflow box.