Russell's 5'x3'x2' 225gal in-wall

[whatcaneyedo]

This build actually started in March of this year and is located in another thread elsewhere on this site which I suppose I might abandon now because of the redundancy. Since 2006 I've had a 120gal and stayed at that size because of space and financial constraints. In 2013 we moved out of our former rental and into our first home so I guess I should say that this build started in January 2014 when I framed the equipment room. The 120gal was 4'x2'x2' but I framed the wall for a 5'x3'x2' tank and then blocked in the excess space.







This spring the time felt right so I submitted my ideas to Concept and this is what they proposed for me. Eurobraced, 2' external overflow box drilled for a Herbie but with upgrade potential in case I want a Beananimal at a later date. The front and sides would be Starphire glass.

[whatcaneyedo]

The aquarium was shipped to me and arrived after a small delay due to some confusion that the freight company had over my address and phone number. The package had been handed off to a second freight company and their staff had entered my information wrong... But Concept helped us sort it all out and everything arrived all in one piece.





With the tank now in my shop I was able to start on the stand and plumbing. Then with the help of some family and friends we lifted it up so that I could water test everything before moving it all into the house.









I set aside a weekend to do the transfer on. Saturday morning I gutted and cut the old 120gal out of the room and placed all of its inhabitants in stock troughs on the floor. That evening some more family helped me to move the new tank from the shop, into the house and into place. It was a 30 hour fish tank blitz and I wasn't in the mood for pictures until it was nearly complete. By late Sunday evening I had the fish, coral and rock back into the system and most of the equipment running.

[Myka]

30 hours? That could not have been fun!! Looks great now...need more pics!!!

[whatcaneyedo]

For the past month I've been making little adjustments and slowly finishing off the install. This past weekend I spent a day completing most of the decorative finish on the stand. I opted to do some nice solid wood finish because I wanted the aquarium to match well with the bookshelf and bar that are also in the room. As a Carpenter I thought this would also be a good opportunity to show off my finishing skills... or just to practice and get better at them.



So how about some equipment details? Perhaps I should have started off with these...
120gal sump (its the old tank)
Reeflo Hammerhead Gold with Barracuda impeller and Oceans Motions 4 Way for the closed loop
Reeflo Dart return pump.
Precision Marine Bullet 3 Skimmer with Iwaki 70
Precision Marine 622 Calcium Reactor with Effluent Chamber
BRS GFO and Carbon dual media reactor
Neptune Apex Full with IO Breakout Box, Lunar Simulator and an old DC 8
Three Sunlight Supply LumenMax 3 pendants, two on a dual Blueline(?) ballast and the other on a Hamilton HQI.
300cfm Nutone ceiling exhaust fan on Humidistat
AirWaterIce Typhoon RO/DI
DIY Kalkwasser Reactor
Princess Auto Powerfist 300cfm industrial blower fan.
Two Tunze 6105 for the sump/frag tank

The equipment room is insulated with Roxul for sound, has a vapour barrier, and two GFCI protected circuits. There is also a 4" hole in the exterior wall to allow fresh cool air to be drawn as a replacement for the hot humid air being exhausted out.

Later I'll take a full tank shot as everything is now and type up a stock list.

[mark]

Wow, looks great.

Like the new but have to say even just the before with the trim I would have been happy.

[whatcaneyedo]

If the tank was a flush in-wall with only the front viewable I probably would have stuck with just trim around the tank to make it look like a living picture hanging on the wall. But since it projects out into the room on three sides the wood-stand look suited it better in my opinion.

I am now 99% complete, there is still some touch up and drywall repair to do but the big jobs are all done for now. Here is a full tank shot of how everything looks today. I had decided to start several colonies over again because I wanted things to look proportional. Also, selling coral frags has lately become more hassle than I want to deal with. So I took advantage of an opportunity to sell off some large pieces and and just be done with it. Now I can sit back and wait for things to fill in again.

Fish list:
Purple Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Fu man-chu Lionfish
Snowflake Moray
Flame Angel
Mandarin Dragonet
Melanurus Wrasse

Long Nose Hawkfish (in the frag tank)

Invertebrates:
Diadema Urchin (in frag tank)
Rock Boring Urchin (in frag tank)
Abalone x2
Tiger Tail Cucumber x4

[Myka]

Sorry if I missed it somewhere, but what did you use for a background on the old tank (very first picture in your thread)? That rippled water background looks sweeeet - makes the tank look really deep front to back.

Nice cabinetry on the new tank! I like how it matches the trim in your livingroom. I like how you made the small fish room behind it too. Good use of space for sure.

[whatcaneyedo]

The old backdrop was purchased at our local Total Pet. Petland carries it too.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

The old backdrop was purchased at our local Total Pet. Petland carries it too.

Haha, I know the one you mean! Dang, it looks pretty good!

[Reefer Rob]

I can't believe I haven't seen this, I've been away too long. Does that ever look good, and now your tank is bigger than mine! Looks like I'm going to have to hide my coral cutters

Lets see some updates.