Weekend Project

[360Reef]

Well last weekend was phase one of my 150 in the wall project. The tank sits in the wall between my living room and garage. To control the temperature I will be building an enclosed 6'X7' room around the tank in the garage tied into the house AC/heat.
The tank is a reef ready 150g 48" X 30" X 24" tall. It has five 1.5" holes drilled in it, 4 on the long sides and one in the bottom for a closed loop. It also has an overflow on one of the long sides with two 1" holes. The closed loop wiil consist of two SQWD's running on mag 9's with either a mag 12 or 18 for the return.
The lighting will consist of two 250W DE's on IceCap ballasts with 65w PC's for supplemental. The fuge was going to be a 150g rubbermaid tub, not enough room for it, but for now I am going to use a 70g tank.
Here are some pictures of my progress. I will continue to post pictures as the project progresses.

-Greg

[360Reef]

Here are two more, one is my current 75g. Enjoy!

[dan]

that nice when you have the extra room in the garage. wkopplin did the same thing. thats great because you can put all the pumps out there. nice and quite in the house

[prof]

What is your stand built out of? Angle iron? Square tube? And what wall thickness?

Are you concerned with not having the back edge of the tank sitting on the stand?

[360Reef]

Dave,
The stand is built of of square tubed steel. I got both the tank and stand from a reefer in Dallas and it had been setup for a year and a half previously. As far as the front of the tank, I have built a psuedo stand in the wall that will support the front couple of inches of the tank. Do you have concerns?

-Greg

[kaiser]

You need to put something to support the back of the tank. If it was me I would just build the whole stand out of wood. Having it sit on two different materials has to create stress on the side walls. Metal will contract and expand at a different rate than wood will. Glass tanks sit on the side walls the bottom is just sort of suspended betwenn ths sides.

[360Reef]

Good point guys! I was so excited to get the thing in the wall I did not think about the weight on the back of the tank. The problem with the stand is that I have a 3.5" mud wall that comes up against the wall that the tank is on so I had to build that lip out of wood. Looks like I will be making the whole stand out of wood or welding in another support. Thanks.

-Greg

[TAXMAN]

Greg. I have lots of Square tubing and a Mig welder. I can come by and put in a piece of steel to support the rear of the tank and make an angled ledge to support the front of the tank. Then you can Sheetrock around the tubing if you want. Or you can leave the wood for the front and hope for the best. I can help you out on most weekends.

Johnny

[360Reef]

Johnny,
The stand is made from 1.5" square tubing not 1" FYI. See you Sunday.

-Greg

[TAXMAN]

Got it.

[Instar]

Its the right wood, but can't tell from the picture or not, is that a single or double 2x6 header? It should be double as the wall between the garage and home is supposed to be heavier than the rest. Its likely load bearing as well as a lightweight fire block if its build to code. That calls for a double header to prevent future sagging and cracking.

Because of expansion/contraction differences, the steel you use to support the edge of the tank that is in the wall needs to go all the way to the concrete just like the rest of the angle iron stand and be the same weight as the rest of the stand. Either that or the whole support for the tank should be wood. Then bear in mind its up against the heated or air conditioned wall. It also needs to be relatively the same temperature as the rest of the support or you risk a cracked tank. You will have to notch the bottom 2x4 plate to do that if you use angle iron for the stand to get it to the concrete.

Real pretty tank inside. Like the birdsnest. I am jealous of people with pink birds nests since all mine get eaten.

[prof]

Adding supports to the stand will do the trick. In a rectangular tank most of the weight is transfered to the back and front at the bottom. You should support the front and back.

Don't forget to treat or paint the new metal to prevent rust and corrosion.