Opinions Wanted.... Planning New Aquarium Project.

[DanSReef]

Hello All.

I am about to embark on a new Aquarium Project and I would like to tap into the wealth of knowledge and expertise on RS! Please review my plans and provide your thoughts and direction.

My intent is to create an SPS Dominant Reef Tank that I can enjoy from my home office where I spend way too much time and the rest of the house. I want this to join my 72 gal bow front as a show piece in my house.

Right now I am leaning towards a 48” wide 120 gal or 150 gal tank with a 50 gal breeder sump in a 36” high stand… I am going to integrate LED lighting, skimmer, various reactors and a sizeable refugium in the stand. The canopy will be hinged on either side offset the width of the 6” wall so as to provide easy access. The tank and stand would be bump out into each room 9” for a 120 or 12” for a 150.


So here is a couple of pictures as for placement. The last picture is with tape measurements and alignment from the kitchen / breakfast area.

The tank displaces this cabinet:

Here is the view from my office:

Here is the layout on the wall... I cannot wait until the wife sees this when she gets home!!!

I am interested in any and all ideas, pitfalls, concerns… problems and everything I cannot think of at this point! Thank you in advance for your help. I plan on pulling the trigger this weekend and beginning the project in the coming weeks.

Dan

 

[jpsika08]

I would personally recommend an in wall setup, meaning that only the tank itself can be viewed from the outer side of your office, (Where the cabinet resides in the pic above) and the cabinet remains only within your office, is there a reason why you want to put the whole system on both sides?

 

[DanSReef]

The plan was to equalize the bump into either room. I do not want too much space lost in either.

 

[steved13]

Just to clarify: You're going to cut a hole in the wall, so that half the tank is in 1 room and the other half in the other room, so the wall will go through the center of the tank?

 

[mojoreef]

Looks like it will be a real nice setup. SO a couple things to look for: Make sure the floor is going to be ok weight wise. Your going to have to plumb the tank somehow and with only a walls width on either end your probibly going to have to go through the bottom for drain and return, so make sure the tank has overflows either on each end or at least one, I would go either side as you will get better draw of the surface with more overflow interface.

mojo

 

[dmatt88]

Ya my concern would b plumbing as well. Where are u gunna hide cords etc?

Matts DROIDX via Tapatalk

 

[DanSReef]

So a little clarification. The base will be a fully built out stand that when the wall is opened up would slide into the hole in the wall with the tank. The thought right now is to get a tank undrilled....drill two sets of holes on each side, left and right that would then become an overflow on each side...left and right. The plumbing would essentially run down both sides of the tank....left and right side. The pipes would come into the sump chamber with a skimmer and reactors. The return pump would be a high volume exterior return pump that would feed four outlet returns through a manifold....if you will.

So, if you looked through the front and rear of the tank you would have a near unobstructed view of the tank which is what I am trying to achieve. The plumbing would be hidden by trim work on the sides of the tank.

The guy who is going to do the tank build is masterful at this. I have seen a couple of tanks he has done and was very impressed. The base and canopy would be something that would be 12 inches bumped into both rooms. The base would be fully level and plumbed to the existing floor. Imagine just creating a hole in the wall that runs flush to the floor and sliding the whole unit into the wall where there would be equal distance on each side of the wall.

One concern I have is the canopy. My idea is to attach it to the header of the opening and then having a flip up piano hinge like top on both front and back sides of the tank. Likewise. The sump could be accessed on both back and front sides as well.

 

[DanSReef]

As for cords...I am going to run a gfi....independent circuit...to the tank. From there run a reef keeper elite controller to run everything....such as pumps, reactors, skimmers, lights....etc.. There should be no cords, plumbing or anything extraneous showing either in front or back...and all accessible from the sump area or the canopy...or from the side trim.

Perhaps I am biting off more than I can chew. I have some more work to do to further engineer this...

Keep the ideas and suggestions coming.

 

[mojoreef]

No the overflows on both sides sounds like it should be fine, from their the plumbing will be easy. As per power you have an out let right their so your good. On the floor and the weight, do you have anything under this wall?? is their a wall like it directly under it??


Mojo

 

[tnwillia]

I'd think about making the base cabinet as large as possible, your going to see just how fast it gets full trying to get everything in there. Maybe your builder can enclose the tank on the larger stand yet make it able to open for full access to the sides of the tank/plumbing.

My main question is the hood, sooner than later for some reason (cleaning, lights, add/remove tank contents) your going to need a lot of access, I like the piano flip up idea but will that give you the access you need to get at your overflows, add rock or clean the walls, with the view you have you'll want all that glass clean all the time. Since your adding a GFI ckt, I'd put in at least 2 at 20A each back to your breaker box not on the same ckt, one on each side to make the cord work easier.

Sounds like a great build, looking forward to watching it come to life, have fun!

 

[steved13]

Sounds very cool. I've seen them built into the wall, so that it looks like an inwall from both sides, but this one will look like a non-inwall from both sides, very different, I like it.

The wifes going to make you keep your desk clean from now on though, she can't just close the door to your office.

 

[DanSReef]

The wifes going to make you keep your desk clean from now on though, she can't just close the door to your office.

You have no idea how true that statement is. Every time we have people over....she complains about my office....then when I clean it....she still closes the door!!!!

 

[jpsika08]

LOL, it's the law of nature (Or law of wives maybe? )

 

[DanSReef]

Well....pretty much have decided to go ahead and place my order for my tank. Going to meet with the guy who will be building it tomorrow..... Will be deciding 120 or 150 four foot wide tank. Last we spoke he told me 2-3 weeks for the tank, base and canopy to be built.. So I have a couple of weeks to open the wall and get the space ready.... Its only money....

 

[catran]

Hey Dan, what did you get at the CMAS Frag Swap? Any pics?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[DanSReef]

Hey Cat... I did not take any pictures of the event. But I did buy a sunset Monti and a forest fire Digi. They are still getting acclimated to the tank. I will take a pic and post it.

 

[DanSReef]

Here is a pic from my iPhone. Perhaps a better picture tomorrow.

 

[mcentire1123]

Nice addition!

 

[PIMPALA]

I highly suggest NOT doing the 150.


from experience, let me tell you... anything over 24" tall is a complete pain in the butt to work on, add corals to, catch fish, move rocks, etc. But if I could only access HALF of my tank, or less?? OMG. Total nightmare.


If you go with a tank that tall, and you can barely reach in, you will kick yourself for not going with the 120. Heck... even the 120 is going to be difficult to work on.



Thank me later.

 

[DanSReef]

The 150 I am looking at is 48" long x 24" tall x 30" wide....the 120 is the same except the width...front to back is 6" less...