240g in wall Project

[captexas]

The long weekend allowed me to start on building my new 240g in wall tank. I have a wall that separates the two living areas of my house so it works out perfect for doing an in wall setup. Spent a couple hours tearing out carpet and sheet rock, always the fun part! Then spent a lot of time redoing some of the existing electrical and adding a new circuit. Framing is mostly done, but still some support to be added to stand after new sheet rock and base is in place.

[don-n-sa]

I need to add a ciruit for my 240g project...how do you do this?

[RobertG]

Chris looks like fun. It will all be worth it in the end. Let the fun continue!

Don, what kinda circuit do you need? This is done very carefully. Pretty simple if you have any electrical experience, I farmed it out to a friend & learned from him. The next circuit I did myself. 230V direct to breaker box.

[don-n-sa]

I just need to ad another regular circuit so everything isn't on one. I am plumbing most of my equipment into a nearby closet and I need to get some electricity in there.

[captexas]

Don - it's not hard to do if you have some experience/knowledge with electrical work. Also depends on if you have open spots on your breaker box. If you do, it's just a matter of running wire from the breaker box to wear you want the outlets out, wiring up the outlets and then making the connections at the breaker box with a new breaker. If you want to stop by some time I can kind of show you how it's done or maybe I can come look at what you have.

Robert - I certainly hope so, been a lot of work so far and this is just the basic stuff. I haven't gotten around to figuring out the plumbing and sump/fuge part yet. Plus once I get the tank in place, I need to build small walls coming from the side walls over to the tank and I can't decide what kind of tile and/or what pattern to use. I want it to look nice, just not expensive! lol

[NaCl_H2O]

Looking good! The two empty Gatoraid bottles prove it was hard work (nice touch ;) ).

Keep the pictures coming, and good luck!!

[RobertG]

Inexpensive, LOL! What kinda tank are you going to use?

[captexas]

Yeah, the gatorade was from making several trips into the attice working on the electrical.

Robert - LOL, I meant inexpensive as far as the tile work goes, not the tank! I already have the 240g Oceanic sitting in the crate in my garage. The nice tile is expensive, especially the trim/border pieces. Can't make up my mind on how I want to do it. I need to figure out something soon though as I need to move my current 75g tank into that room as it sits on the other side of the wall where the 240g is going.

[RobertG]

Sweet, dont start taking the shorts now! The tile will hurt, I have been there. Is everything going under the tank?

[captexas]

I'm going to have to put as much as I can under the tank. I have some room at each end if I need to have an external skimmer that is tall. I've been keeping my eye out on a good used one for sale so my options are open on that right now. This will be basically a FOWLR tank with some soft corals. I'm going to try to make the tank visible from both sides and with my 75g reef moved into the front room, that will be my fish room.

[::pete::]

Looks good Chris.

[eleyan]

Looking good. How did you figure out what type/size wood to use and how many beams? The bottom of the stand doesn't look like its connecting the front and back frames, is the back one bolted to the floor?

[captexas]

The back frame is anchored to the concrete slab. In the pics I haven't put anything between the front and back on the bottom as I wanted to get sheetrock in first and then I will connect the bottom portion. I am simply using 2x4s for verticle support which should be enough. Many of the stands that are sold in stores are simply plywood walled. As the weight of the tank is placed around the outer edges (bottom glass does not sit all the way down) the perimeter of the stand needs the most structure. As you can see in the pic, I have a lot of support in the front at the wall and not much yet in the back. I need more room in the back to get the sump and equipment under the stand for now. I may reinforce the back side more once that is done. I built the stand for my 75g reef using 2x4s and 3/4in. birch plywood. It is solid as a rock, 10 times stronger than any stand sold by a tank manufacturer. Some people like to go crazy and use 4x4 posts, but I don't think they are necessary for most stands unless you have the supports spaced far apart or it is a massive tank.

[captexas]

Well I've done alittle more work. I now have a 8ft x 2ft whole in my living room wall! It wasn't easy as my current 75g tank sits against the same wall. Hopefully the tank doesn't mind alittle sheetrock dust! Now I just need to seal the wood work with a water sealer and then I should be ready to set the new tank in place. The pics show what will be the back side of the tank and hopefully if I can afford it, I will get Pete to help me build some cabinatry/panels that will hide everything. I'm still debating on making the back side of the tank (minus overflows) visable as well.

PS - if you look at the original pics and then the new one, you will notice I took out a wall I had built to separate the dining area from the front living room. This became a remodeling project on top of setting up a new tank!

[captexas]

Dang it, I can't seem to get it to post my pics. More of the maximum filesize for all Attachements is reached message!

[::pete::]

Chris, click on your name and there will be a user attachment deal there. It sounds like you need to erase some older post (attachments)

[captexas]

It only shows me having 2 current attachments, both are from this thread.

[::pete::]

How about the size of the file you are trying to upload?

[captexas]

Files are 160/164kb, 816x616 pixels

[::pete::]

816 pixels is almost 12 inches wide. I usually make mine between 6-8 inches for the largest measurement and they show up in the post fine. It also keeps everything on the screen without the need to scroll.

In your upload quota waht is the %age used? Even though there are only a couple there, it might be using more space and as you are trying to upload another file or more than one it might be pushing the limit and canceling it before you upload.

[captexas]

Hmmm, not sure if I can change it, but I'll try again.

[::pete::]

If you need help resizing let me know. What program do you use?

Or upload to your gallery and use the image tags ;)

[captexas]

Pics

[::pete::]

Its funny how different it looks as it gets a more finished look to it ... looking good!!

[GaryP]

I think you are limited to a 256 K pic for posting.

Gary

[captexas]

Yeah, I can't wait to set the tank in place. Then the real fun starts with the plumbing and building the sump and fuge. My EuroReef 12-2RC skimmer will hopefully be here soon. I have my metal halide reflectors and ballasts so I can build a lighting cloud. As I will only be able to work on the tank from the back side, I will need the lighting to move out of the way fairly easily.

[::pete::]

Is the tank at your house already. Check with MikeyBoy he just rigged up a pulley system for the lights.

[CD]

It's looking great, Cap! ;) Keep us posted on the progress?

Wendy

[captexas]

Thanks Wendy :-)

Pete - yeppers, hard to believe I've had a brand new 240g Oceanic tank sitting on the crate in my garage all these months! I have lacked motivation to get through the construction/remodel part, now I need a second job to help pay for setting up the rest of the tank! lol :-)

[JeffCo]

Yea, the anticipation of what the tank will be is what keeps you working.

Looks like it's all coming together nicely!!!

[brewercm]

Chris,
Nice looking setup. Can't wait to get moved and get my 180 set up. What are you going to do as far as lighting goes on that one?

[captexas]

Cliff - I'm going with 250watt electronic ballasted halides. I purchased 5 retro kits as I thought 4 might be alittle weak, especially after being used to my 400watt halides on my 75g. I know there has been a lot of praise for the 14k Hamiltons, but I will probably stay with the 10k XM bulbs for now. I was thinking of supplementing with T5 actinics, but I've heard mixed reviews on those bulbs so I may just reuse my VHO ballast.

[brewercm]

Yeah, at the moment I have the 2 400 watt MH elect ballasts that I bought and am waiting to get it up to see if I need a third or not. The problem with that is it will be sitting right over my center brace since it's a 6' tank. I'll wait and see how it looks then decide, maybe some light getting through is better than none. I'm running to 72 inch URI VHO off a sunseeker elect ballast that seems to run them great. The MH bulbs are the AB 10Ks (actually 13K). Very nice color, bright white with a little blue, actually much more white/blue with elect ballast than with magnetic.

Can't wait to get the thing up. Looks like we may be moving right around June after the weed gets out of school instead of moving before.

I'll need to check out the system once you get it up.