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180 Gallon In Wall Tank

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    Posted: March 23 2017 at 11:06pm

Right now, I live in a small house near the Utah Idaho border. It is only 384sf or about 12ftx32ft but I have a 150 gallon in wall tank. We moved in to the home to save money and pay off debt but it is time to move. We just don’t have any room left with two girls my wife and I and our 2 100lb dogs. In February we bought a house closer to town it is 8 times larger than our current home and we found a place that can support a fish room! I like the size of my 150 gallon but I wanted to go with a glass tank. I didn’t want to go down to a 4ft tank so I decided to go to a 180 gallon aquarium. I have it ordered and we are getting the house ready for the new tank.

I love the way that an in wall tank looks, I think that it is nice to have all of the equipment and mess behind the wall. I also think that this is why my wife is ok with such a large tank too. The fish room will be right off of the main living area. The room is 8.5ftx12ft and it also serves as my wife’s laundry room ( I guess we will see how that goes).

We are in the middle of construction right now but I have added a few pics to show how it is going.
Before we started


removing a wall



fish tank hole


before the drywall goes up



Drywall up and the first layer on.



Edited by knowen87 - March 23 2017 at 11:08pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 24 2017 at 9:13am
I drew up a plan for the fish room. I would like to have the sump like two feet off of the ground and to the side of the tank. this will give me the most access to work on and clean the sump. I dont like bending over under the tank and trying to work with the skimmer. I also want to have a qt/ species tank. Let me know what you think/ if you have any suggestions. What would you do if you had an 8.5ftx12ft fish room?

Fish Room_zpsqek0lh9i by Nate Owen, on Flickr

Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:19pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scottyb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 24 2017 at 2:44pm
Dang, that's going to be nice! Wish I could have that big of a fish room, lol.looks like a good layout to me
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote shaggydoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 24 2017 at 4:44pm
I'm excited to see the finished product. Looks like a well thought out design.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 24 2017 at 10:55pm
I took some pictures of the stand. I currently have it only partially built. I needed to get part of it done so that the contractor could come in and start the drywall. The front part of the stand is supported with 2x4s sistered next to the wall joists. I should have taken a close up picture but I didnt. I think that I will do a support in the middle. Maybe I will offset it to the side a little bit to allow more room under the stand.  I also ran a dedicated line from the breaker panel for the tank. I put the outlets up on the wall and made sure that they were GFCI outlets too. 




Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:20pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 26 2017 at 8:33pm
I made and equipment list for the tank. I think that I got everything.
Equipment List:
-180 gallon Standard Tank
- (4) Kesil A160WE 
- (1) 48" 2 bulb T5
- SWC 180 Skimmer
- Jecod CP-40
- Jebao RW60
- Apex Jr
- Apex DOS for Auto water changes
- BRS Dosers  
- Tunze Osmilator ATO
- Mag 1200 return
- 40g Breeder sump
-BRS 5 stage RO, 2 media reactors

I have 10 fish right now. I am looking to get more for the new tank.  I think that I will add another firefish. It is funny that they are some of the cheapest fish but I get a ton of comments about them. I think that i might want a wrasse or some anthias.
Livestock
- Hippo Tang
- Sailfin Tang
- Lamark Angel
- Yellow tang
- Flame Angelfish
- (2) Black Ice Snowflake Clowns
- 1 firefish
- chromis
- banggai cardinal
- lots red bubble tips (looking to thin them out a bit) 

What other fish do you guys like?


Edited by knowen87 - March 26 2017 at 8:44pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scottyb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 27 2017 at 7:42pm
I loved my diamond goby, lots of character. I had a similar tang trio as you and loved them. I definitely want to add some anthias this time around. And if you still have an abundance of rbtas in a month or so, I would be interested in buying one from you :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 28 2017 at 8:21am
I like the goby idea. I like the idea of something that will turn over the sand. I have also contemplated a Goby pistol shrimp pair but I feel like they might get lost in such a big tank.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kevin.st Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 28 2017 at 8:37am
I have a pistol shrimp/goby pair that I haven't seen in almost a year.  I hear the pistol shrimp several times a day, though.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 31 2017 at 10:55am
I got some time to work on the fish room last night. I made most of the stand for the qt and species tanks. They are 33 long and I think that they will be really cool. I will also be running a sink over to the work table. My wife says that if I have a fish room I need to have a fish sink too. It is a small bar sink but it should be perfect for cleaning out the skimmer cup. This weekend will be a big one for the tank. I got the tank, now I just need to drill it. Then it can go into the stand. I am hoping to move the tank over in two weeks. 

20170330_221858_zpshlsovkso by Nate Owen, on Flickr

Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:21pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VdubReefer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2017 at 11:02am
Nice !! This sounds like an awesome build !!! Keep up the pictures !!!
"He who is one with the sea"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2017 at 11:09am
I got the tank in last weekend. I had to drill 3 holes in the back of it which made me very nervous ( to the point that I did not sleep well the night before). I also got the species/qt stand painted and the sink in and hooked up to the plumbing. I also got the plumbing started for the overflow. The drains are all 1 1/4" they will go down to the stand level and connect into a 1 1/2" manifold. It is a process but it is coming along nicely


20170401_145929_zpsl1qsyyrv by Nate Owen, on Flickr

20170403_211241_zpsicee10x9 by Nate Owen, on Flickr

I think that I got the bean animal overflow set up right. Durso top, Herbie in the midddle, and emergency at the bottom of the picture
20170403_211257_zpsv1ustnzq by Nate Owen, on Flickr


Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:24pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2017 at 11:18am
Thanks VdubReefer. It can be hard to remember to take pictures sometimes but it makes for a good build thread that is for sure.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 11 2017 at 1:33pm
I added the braces last weekend under the tank. It was pretty minor stuff. It is perfect because the tank sits right above a room full of storage racks so it was easy to do. I did add a beam to support one joists because it will be holding one leg of the stand, the sump and the 70g water storage tank. I checked it in the software at work and it said it would be at 85% capacity without the beam so I just added a (2)2x6 beam for good measure.

20170406_194103_zpsd8ssjpmh by Nate Owen, on Flickr



Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:26pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 11 2017 at 1:44pm
With the braces done, I also finished the stand for the 40g breeder sump and the plumbing for the tank. It was time to add water to the tank. This is always the most stressful time for me. I never get a good nights sleep right after I fill up a tank. especially a large tank. the whole time it was filling up I would keep checking everything. "Is it still level", "how is the stand", "how is the silicone holding up". Everything went perfect. The stand was perfect. The tank was perfect. There were no leaks. 
 




Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:27pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 18 2017 at 9:22am
I got a light rack put together. I made it out of some aluminum c channel. I made it so that it can be moved up out of the way if I need it to. The kessils are not very big though, so I dont think that I will need to have them  move very often. In order to make sure that there was never too hard of an impact while moving the lights, i also added some 2lb springs to the wall attachment. It works great. 





I also got all of the lights hooked together. Hopefully a physical connection will be better than the AI Director that I have been using for my old lights. I like how simple the kessils are





Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:30pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 19 2017 at 1:24pm
I filled up the tank with ro water and salt. It is very close to being ready for the fish. I hope the move will go ok. On a side note. Our previous house had a well with very hard water. The TDS of the water was like 16 after the RO membrane. We also had (after some disscusion with BRS) what appeared to be CO2 in the water. I would go through 1 can of DI resin in 60 gal or less of treated water. I am happy to report that my water at this new house has a TDS of 1-2 after the RO membrane and I have filled up almost 300 gallons of tanks and I have barely used any DI resin. I guess that means more money for everything else.




Edited by knowen87 - August 10 2017 at 3:33pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scottyb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 19 2017 at 5:59pm
So you have 1 to 2 tds going into your fish tank? How old are the filters? I've always had 0 coming out and when it starts reading1 or 2 then I look into getting new filters...maybe just me being paranoid, lol
Looking good though, can't wait to see it with fish!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote knowen87 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 19 2017 at 6:16pm
The tds between the ro and the di resin is 2. It is 0 coming out of the di resin. I was just saying that im glad that i no longer go through 15 bucks worth of resin to do 60 gallons of water.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scottyb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 19 2017 at 6:20pm
Lol, ok I thought I was reading it wrong. That's great
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