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Unread 07/20/2018, 10:55 PM   #1
neilp2006
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Neils in-wall 180 with basement fishroom

Background- I kept a small 40b tank way back in the 2000's while in grad school back home (UK) , and never really had the means or the time to restart after I moved to the US for postgrad work. March 2017, my wife surprises me with a 38 bowfront (and the receipt- because she just knew it was going to grow if she let it sit in my head for a bit- i tend to upsize my projects), which soon became a 125 with 40b sump. Synergy reef shadow overflow running BA drains. Took me two months to work up to drilling it on a long edge (since it was going against the wall). I finished drilling it, installed the overflow box, then my wife got a call from work asking us to relocate. So, it sat for a bit while we found a new house in suburbs Atlanta (from Nashville), and long story short, we decided to put a tank in the wall between the living room and what would become the wifes home office. Viewable from both sides. I think you know where this is going... Except, i drilled the 125 on a long edge, so that wasnt going to work.

I talked it through with my wife, and detailed the expanded plan- use the drilled 125 as a sump, buy a 180 (might as well go a bit bigger) to put in the wall, and build out a room in the basement for the sump and support equipment. And she agreed! So, that brings us to...


The Tank- A Marineland 180 (6x2x2) in-wall, between the living room and office. Inset into the wall, so it is flush with the living room, and built in cabinets and bookcases on the office side. Pretty good deal from the local store, since it was not drilled and they were trying to move glass. Build quality is typical Marineland, black silicone, a little smudgy on the corners and the top frame was a little scuffed up, but the glass is clean.

The Stand- 2x8 top frame, doubled up 2x4 legs and in-wall supports. Topped with 2 layers of 3/4 inch plywood. Runs perpendicular to 7 joists, so no worries there. One long edge rests on the main LVL beam holding up the house over the basement.

Lights- DIY LED fixture based around 10W and 3W LEDs, controlled by a Coralux Storm controller, on a 5' MakerSled slim heatsink. More info in a later post. I have the parts in a couple boxes and just need time to put it all together. Very comfortable with electronics builds, so looking forward to the fun.

Flow- 2x Maxspect xf250 gyres. One mounted on the overflow box, the other on the opposite end.

Livestock- 2 Ocellaris clowns, a yellow tang, purple tang and a powder blue, a school of dispar anthias (7-10), pistol shrimp and goby pair. Wife wants an engineer goby or yellow dwarf eel, and a local shop has a mated pair in stock but they are waaaayyy too expensive. Have space for a few more inches of fish, but undecided. PBT is going in last, yellow and purple are being bought small and introduced together, after the clowns.

Corals are going to be mixed, but i am a sucker for rock flower anemones, ricordias, torches and hammers, so it might be more on the softy side. not a huge fan of zoas, but i might get some if i find interesting colors for not too crazy coin. Also a sucker for clams, an ultra blue maxima would be awesome, but that is a little while away yet. Will not be rushing that.

Disease control- Fully isolated TTM station in basement comprising of 2 sets of 10g tanks, air stones, square colanders etc. Prazi on transfers 2 and 4, then 4 weeks observation in a 40b with an aqueon hob filter and a bunch of pvc. Nothing goes into the DT without first going through TTM and Obs, no exceptions.


Filtration

This is taking up the bulk of the project time for now. I had some guys frame in a 12 x 8 room in a corner of my basement. Fully insulated, greenboard ceiling and plywood walls, epoxy floor, limited in wall electrical as ill be running most equipment from apex EB8's 'extended' with conduit to where needed. Dedicated 6" in-line ventilation fan on a humidistat.

Plumbing- 15 foot vertical and 20 foot horizontal distance from DT to the sump. I expect ill be using a bunch of spa flex for this one.I did a flow test of a jebao DCP-18000 in my backyard and was getting around 1100 gph out of a 25 foot vertical PVC run (thats how high my bathroom window is from the grass next to the deck...). Thats about half its rating, but im ok with that considering the cost and lower power consumption than some of the bigger 'pressure rated' pumps. Theres a test thread around here somewhere, but i cant find it right now.

DT Overflow- goes into a 29g tank i have plumbed straight to drain, and have a 1/2 inch pvc line coming from my salt water mixing tank. 14 minute, 25 gallon (10%) water change and all i have to do is turn 2 valves and push 2 switches. This overflows via 2 x 1.5" bulkheads into the skimmer section of the 125.

Main Sump- 125g divide up into a 12g skimmer section, a central 20g return section and a 40g refugium section on the right side. Fuge is fed from a T in the return at about 200 GPH. An addition port on the T feeds the cryptic zone with minimal flow.

Cryptic zone- a blacked out 29G fed with about 40 gph from the return pump, via 1/2 inch pvc with a bunch of holes extended to the bottom of the tank. Overflows into the fuge section. Contains a bunch of eggcrate platforms that i will seed with live rock rubble covered in the cryptic started pack from a website ive forgotten the name of.

BRS dual reactors for Carbon and GAC. I bought extra fittings and converted them to two singles, and saved $12 over buying two singles. Will be fed by a manifold off a 400 gph pump in the skimmer section, and will dump into the return section. A third port on the manifold will go to drain, so i can get an extra 12 gallons water change occasionally if i need to (15% change in that case). I can also move this to the return section for an additional 20g (for a final 22% change).

Im also adding a 20g long on a floating shelf above the fuge fed from the return line which will have some live rock, a bunch of Mangroves and some sexy shrimp. overflows into the fuge section. More aesthetic than filtration to be honest. i just love the idea of having some plants in the room.

Frag tank- Zoomed lowboy 50 g frag tank, fed from an overflow on the 29g overflow tank, and returning to the return section of the sump. Additional flow with powerheads, undecided at the moment. Plumbing it into the main system since it will primarily be a grow out system.


Fishroom tank stands- Going for concrete blocks, 2x4 top frames and 3/4 inch plywood base for the tank stands, and a regular 2x4 and plywood testing/ fragging bench.

Cheers!

photo dump




6 inch LED slimline can lights in 5000K


Electrical in...2 x 20 amo circuits, each powering a single apex eb8 provides main power to equipment, a third 20 amp does lights, 6" in line duct fan on a humidistat and some duplex and quad GFCI protected outlets at strategic points for things like webcams, fridge/freezer for foodstuff and redundancy if an EB8 happens to go out. I have another 20 am going upstairs for 2 x xf250 gyres and my DIY LED lights




Self-level concrete on floor as a new surface for epoxy. Cool blue with the gray, blue and black chips. Started the pour a little thin, and ended up with some left that i put on som plywood for one of the future tank stands. would have preferred it on the floor but mis-estimated the coverage



Cutting the first of the plywood walls to length. DEcided on plywood for the flexibility of mounting options, and the fact it turns out to be slightly less expensive overall compared to all that mud, tape and labor with drywall.




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Unread 07/20/2018, 10:55 PM   #2
neilp2006
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Walls up. I fully insulated the cavity with R-13, and scored the face paper since the concrete wall was previously painted with DryLok paint. Two vapor barriers are a no-no




Killz premium x 2, Glidden premium bathroom paint x2. Trim pieces are 1x2 and 1x3 to cover plywood edge gaps. All seams caulked with silicone after primer and before topcoat.




That stud bay in last picture is my 'make-up air' chase for the 6" in-line fan. thats a 12x12 cover, and the backside up near the top is going to be a 20 x 14 with a HEPA filter in it to keep out woodshop dust etc. Held up with a big ruler just for the pic



Stands-





and with the same primer and paint combo as before-





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Unread 07/20/2018, 10:56 PM   #3
neilp2006
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The blacked out tank is a dedicated 29G Cryptic zone that gets fed from a Tee in the return with about 30 GPH and flows into the refugium chamber in a 125 that sits on the blue stand



and finally, the air vent for the inline 6". not connected yet, but will be sending humid air straight outside.

Next week- adjustments to stands (turns out my freezer is 31.5, not 30.5... so my hanger board for teh right side of the frag bench needs remade, and that frag tank stand needs a couple of 2x4 shims to raise the top up a bit) and start on the plumbing. First will be water change drain and return (i have a utility sink, drain pump and RODI station just outside of the room) then ill be drilling through my 3 month old hardwoods and my newly painted fishroom ceiling to plumb in the BA 1.5" x 3 and 1.5" return line.

And finally, a shot of why im doing all this work-




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Unread 07/20/2018, 11:05 PM   #4
neilp2006
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GAAAHH!!! no pics. sorry guys. Ill fix it over the weekend.


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Unread 07/21/2018, 12:21 AM   #5
Ryan Darilek
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Can't wait to see the pics!

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Unread 07/21/2018, 05:40 AM   #6
neilp2006
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Yeah- didn’t realise google photos wasn’t a suitable hosting site. And now I can’t go back in to edit from Tapatalk to upload directly. Uuuggghhh.


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Unread 07/21/2018, 05:57 AM   #7
neilp2006
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Neils in-wall 180 with basement fishroom

Let’s see if this works

The space- sectioned out s 12x8 in the basement. Utility sink, ejector pump, RODI and water change area to the right side



Dedicated TTM station for new livestock additions



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Unread 07/21/2018, 06:01 AM   #8
neilp2006
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Frame out


Lights


Electrical


Epoxy on the floor



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Unread 07/21/2018, 06:02 AM   #9
neilp2006
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Neils in-wall 180 with basement fishroom

Walls going up

After trim and paint



Air vent -


Stands



After painting




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Last edited by neilp2006; 07/21/2018 at 06:14 AM.
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Unread 07/21/2018, 06:11 AM   #10
neilp2006
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ATO reservoir (22gallon brute) under bench fir main 125g sump


Little nook for doser or CaRX


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Unread 07/21/2018, 06:12 AM   #11
neilp2006
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Ceiling vent will be connected to 6” in-line duct fan


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Unread 07/21/2018, 06:19 AM   #12
neilp2006
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Neils in-wall 180 with basement fishroom



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Last edited by neilp2006; 07/21/2018 at 06:24 AM.
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Unread 07/21/2018, 05:58 PM   #13
Ryan Darilek
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Awesome!!!!!

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Unread 07/30/2018, 09:32 PM   #14
EDAT6
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Looking Good!!
I love in-walls!


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Current Tank Info: 300 gal In-Wall, 40 gal frag w/1 AI Hydra, 75 gallon sump/fuge, SRO 5000SSS Skimmer w/Swabie, Apex, (4) AI Vegas, (4) Jebao 0W-50s, BPR500 Biopellet Reactor, Avast MR5 & MR10 Reactors, GEO 618 Kalk Reactor, GEO CR824 Calcium Reactor W/Carbon Doser
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Unread 07/31/2018, 04:12 AM   #15
cincyjim
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Very nice work indeed!!!


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Current Tank Info: SCA 150G, 5 inch sand bed, 2 Tunze 6095s, ReefBreeders v2+ 50" with 2 all Blue Reefbrites, and Continuous Water Change System
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Unread 07/31/2018, 09:01 PM   #16
neilp2006
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Thanks for the comments guys- some reason, I wasn’t getting alerts.

Did some of this yesterday-

Electrical for my water station pump and light



Start of the Plumbing




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Unread 08/05/2018, 08:07 PM   #17
neilp2006
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Neils in-wall 180 with basement fishroom



https://youtu.be/yPUUS5EJ3oM

https://youtu.be/YNgZjbhCrOg


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Unread 08/14/2018, 01:12 PM   #18
neilp2006
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Quick update- been waiting a couple weeks for plumbing parts, only to find out they are backordered and won’t be here for another week. I had them ship what they had, and Saturday, my pipe brackets arrived. Fortunately, I picked up a piece of 1.5 spaflex from HD a couple weeks ago , so yesterday- this happened




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Unread 08/14/2018, 01:14 PM   #19
neilp2006
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Up 6 feet from return pump, 90 turn, 14 foot horizontal, 2 feet spaflex, through the office floor, up 5 feet, 90 turn, 8”, 90 turn into DT.

33 gallon brute half filled with water, run upstairs, place 5 gal bucket under outlet, hit RF switch- it’s gurgling... here it comes!!- bucket full in 14.8 seconds.

That’s at 100% pump power. Equates to 1g/3 seconds, 20g/min, 1200g/hour.

This is actually about half the rated specs of the jebao DCP-18000, but it represents a total flow of ~6.6x DT volume (not calculating reduced water volume due to displacement because of rocks). For 100watts of power and $130, is pretty happy with that.

I can afford to Tee off the return and put ~350gph through my 40g refugium (or 8.75x volume) and 50 gph through the super-slow 29g cryptic fuge (1.7x volume). This’ll still be 800gph or ~4.4x DT volume going through the sump per hour.

I don’t like running reactors off a bean animal return, so they are being run via a manifold attached to a 400gph pump fed from the skimmer chamber. This has a third port on it that lets me send skimmer chamber volume down the drain as an addition 5% water change. And a fourth port that goes to vinyl hose running to my QT so I can fill it with old DT water.


And that’s it in terms of progress for the next few weeks- baby girl #2 comes in 15 hours.

Will update once I get the overflows done!


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Unread 08/24/2018, 03:43 PM   #20
neilp2006
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Got a chance to get this guy in position




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