Christy's 180 build
 

FINALLY!

So I've had this tank for almost a year now, drove out to Red Deer to get it last December, then put it in storage for awhile, then moved it to the new house where its been sitting on the floor. I've also collected a few other tanks for sump and such, along the way all hanging out in the basement. Its pretty busy down there. Finally today my husband decided it was time to get started (plus I mentioned that I was thinking about asking my Dad to come over and help me do it, nothing spurs a guy on like telling them you'll get your Dad to do it :razz:).

So heres where the tank will be going, its going to be in wall with the display part here:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7496.jpg

And the backside of that wall, yup its loadbearing and I'm seeing this is likely going to slow us down as my husband, Matt, is rather leery of approaching this part:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7497.jpg

A strategically placed shelf hid the fact that two of the posts were almost cut cleanly through, lucky they had the idea to just slap on a piece of wood to help out :rolleyes:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7498a.jpg

It was just wood paneling so it came off pretty easy except for one chunk and the heating ducts were removed. Its amazing how poorly some work is done in houses. Some parts were screwed together, some not. And no duct tape was used (Mike Holmes would be appalled! :wink:).

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7502.jpg

After that it was fun times with electrical so being massively electrically uninclined, I tackled the tank. It had a painted on background that I've decided I don't want. I'd rather see through the tank and then I can affix a removable background so I can see in the tank when I'm working on it from the back as well as the front.

Tank before:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7500.jpg

Tank after:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7504.jpg

Thats a lot of paint!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7503.jpg

Then everything came to a grinding halt as the F word was muttered repeatedly and progressively louder. Turns out it was the result of this:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_7516.jpg

As you can see, it clearly doesn't fit the box. Well duh, anyone could see that before you hooked all the wires to it. I think we'll blame that on Matt coming down with a cold.

Anyhoo, I'm pleased that we got this far. Progress!!:mrgreen:

I can't believe that you have waited this long to get started.

Oh well I guess there is more to life than our Aquariums.

Good luck

I will be following along so keep us up to date.

Tom R

one step at a time. The plan is looking good. How big of a header will you be installing?

Mmm, demolition. :) Best part of a reno project!!!

Me neither!! Although when it came to light that it was a load bearing wall, it wasn't like I could just go at it with the sledgehammer like I had hoped to do. Otherwise this would have been done long ago :razz:

I have no idea. I know what you're talking about but yeah, thats about it. Um a big one? :razz:

YAHHHH Finally. Looks like a great start

J

WHOOOOO!!!!... I can't wait to have my own place where I can tear out walls for a tanks...

Look forward to following this build.. Do you have an estimated time of "completion"... aka saltwater/cycle?

Yes I do, it was September 2009 :razz:

Frankly I think I'll be lucky if I have it up on a stand by December but you never know. We're redoing our kitchen (ordered from Ikea) and as soon as that gets here I think it likely takes priority.

As soon as I can get that hole in the wall I'm good to go, I can build the stand myself and have some people over for a tank lifting party. Its basically just been that damn hole in the wall that has been holding everything up so far.

lets go young lady you have some nerve just posting that now. but you may beat some one else who has a bigger one :lol::lol::lol:

Well considering those vertical supports were basically cut through anyways, and the house hasn't fallen yet, you should be good to go! :mrgreen:

I was hoping this was coming giving your FB status today!

Your puppy looks like she/he? is feeling neglected, checking out the action in hopes of getting some lovin'.

Very cool!

For me the best part of a in-wall is the fish room behind, very jealous.

I like your idea for the removable background.

Looking forward to following this one

Nice start Christy. Looks to be a real nice set up................................... (Wish I had a fish room :sad:)

Will this be viewable front and side? or just front? Can't wait to see more. I love tearing stuff up but at first it can be daunting.

He's a boy (Barney) and yes he was right in there wondering what was going on and why he wasn't the center of attention, as usual. Then he got a tennis ball and was happy for the five minutes it took him to rip it to shreds (usually its 30 seconds but he was inside the house and knows not to make a mess, but since nobody was looking.... :wink:)

Well in an ideal world I would have reset the door back two feet so that the tank was still in that wall but the side was viewable to the room as well. However, I don't live in an ideal world and Matt isn't interested in the extra work (plus it would look kind of silly in the fish room having a door set back two feet into it). Anyway, the side will be viewable inside the fish room and that was the best I could do. The far side with the overflow will be pretty much up against the wall so no viewing there.

I think the reason its taken so long was simply that, it was daunting and Matt was worried about how to put new headers in as he doesn't want to leave 6 feet of that floor upstairs unsupported while he does it. I still don't know whether he is going to use teleposts or what, he mutters about it every once in awhile, but who knows.

I was just informed 2x10s. Then something about there being two and some 3/4 inch plywood because the other posts are 2x6's and they have to be equivalent in width when all is said and done or some junk :razz:

Great start, are you comming for the tour tomorrow? you should bring your husband, we can chat about the renos, I'm no expert but I have done 2 inwall installs now and almost have all the little things figured out that will make life easy. Looking forward to the progress.

Yep I'll be there tomorrow :biggrin: My husband isn't coming, I think he plans on spending some quality time with the couch :razz: but I'd love to hear any tips/tricks you have to give on in-wall builds.

evening
I will draw up a picture tommorow to show you what a header is, how to support everything and everything you need to know if you would like.
you don't need any 3/4" plywood. if the opening is to be about 6' I would use a 3 ply 2x10 header. 2 ply is probably enough but I don't know what is above.
I have been a builder for 16 years. I actually just built the new retirement home in Naniamo right above the firehouse bar. (good sushi):mrgreen:

Hey, thanks. I had my husband explain some of it tonight. He said that he was going to go with 3 2x6s which had a certain width and because the 3 2x10s had a different width when put together that for some reason both sets of 3 had to be the same width?

I think he knows what he's doing, its just me that doesn't :razz:

I am not an engineer, but I think 2- 2x10s will hold more weight than 3- 2x6s
Its the depth of beams that hold more weight. I am sure someone here will enlighten.

um ok, so it was explained to me like this. Currently there are 2x6's running vertically (ie. holding up the floor). To beef up support on either side of "the hole" my hubby is going to put 3-2x6's. Then for the actual header part (or what I think of as the header, which is the horizontal part) he is going to use 3-2x10s).

Does that make more sense? You guys are probably better off waiting for the photos to see what I mean, I'm sure my crappy explanations are just creating more questions rather than answers :razz:

Makes perfect sense to me(Im a carpenter).....gonna be sweet when its done looking forward to this build....is this the tank the euro-reef is for, or are you already using it?

It makes perfect sense. The wall has 2x6 studs and the new header will be 3x2x10's.

I'm lost. The tank's a wood build now? 2x6 panels with starphire 2x4 viewing panes?

of course, sheesh that was what I was trying to say all along! wasn't I clear enough :razz:

yeah for the new tank, I'd be using it already but it wouldn't fit in my sump cabinet. No sump cabinet on the new tank so we're golden!:biggrin:

What euro-reef do you have?

Currently I'm running an CS6-2, on the new tank I'll be running a RS-250:biggrin:

Cool, good to see your staying in the Euro-Reef club. :thumb:

Yeah, I must say, I'm a pretty big Euro-Reef fan :love:

Yeah me too, you should see the size of me. :lol:

Sorry, when I read this I thought the 2x6s were going horizontal. They are actually going vertical, so now I understand perfectly as well:biggrin:

Yes sadly my lack of knowledge of construction terms can be ineffective at times. Yhe word I was looking for at the time was "stud" but it escaped me (besides, at that time I still don't think I knew what was going on let alone what I was talking about :razz:)

BC Ferries ruined my reef meeting today, but the day wasn't all lost. Got some more progress on the fishroom!

Ok so we got the teleposts up to support the ceiling while we ripped out the guts of the load bearing wall. (my husband loves making faces for the camera)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7517a.jpg

Backside of the wall (the actual fish room)
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7518a.jpg


Matt had a good ole time with the sledgehammer :razz:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7519a.jpg


Open sesame!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7521a.jpg

Shoring up the studs (the 2x6 part :wink:)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7525a.jpg

Getting the header in (the 2x10 part :wink:)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7530a.jpg

Tada!!! And the ceiling didn't even fall in! :razz:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Img_7531a.jpg

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

HEADER's i like it I like It

Cool...you must be get'n excited.

yeah I am, we've got most of the plans for the stand firmed up. I may actually get it on the stand next weekend!!!