A Newcomer's 75g In-Wall Build (1 Viewer)

[evolution159th]

My tank has a tempered bottom so I will have to drill the back of the tank or the side. I am thinking I am going to go with the small black box overflows at the top of the tank close to the sides. Hopefully they dont look too awkward.

I plan to use acryllic rods to make a few arches with about 75 lbs of my dry rock and haven't decided whether I am going with a false rock wall with some ledges and foam or a sheet of material velcroed to the back of the tank where I can remove it and look at the back side of everything. Since the tank is only 18 wide I am limited on space so I guess that will determine the outcome. If anyone has any suggestions or comments feel free.

Today I hung the water resistant sheetrock on the tank wall and picked up a mag 9.5 (thx brandon) for the return. Initial plans were to use a SCWD b/c I had one available for free, but decided against it so looking at internal flow options. the 2 mj1200s sureflows in the original plan still look like a winner for the budget but I'm open to other sources. Maybe koralias etc.

I am putting the tank back on the stand tonight and filling it up to take a little test run on weight etc. I will hopefully decide on plumbing placement as well and take my tank to get drilled tomorrow.

Man... all this work... Just to make my corals and my wife happy at the same time. lol It WILL be worth every minute.

 

[evolution159th]

I think I pretty much have all of my measurements. It will be close to get the plumbing straight and look symmetrical with the amount of room that I have to work with between the braces underneath the stand... I will have to be pretty precise. Tired now. I will fill the tank the rest of the way tomorrow but so far everything looks great. Keep your fingers crossed.


Heres pics of the latest progress.

 

[Llama]

Looking great! Very well done. You'll have plenty of room to upgrade!

Can't wait to see it all filled with fish related crap.

 

[evolution159th]

Thanks man... It has come a long way. I am definately happy with how things are turning out... Im trying my hardest not to get carried away and get ahead of myself... lol I wanna put stuff in there!!!

 

[Llama]

What are you lighting the tank with?

 

[evolution159th]

I haven't fully decided on the light set-up... I originally planned 2 150w mh's with 14000ks and 2 t-5s running actinics or some 50/50s. I found a light that I may be able to provide a little TLC to which is a 36" odyssea with a 250w mh and 2 pcs... I was going to get a t-5 ballast and try to retro t-5s in there and the price is right for my budget vs 500+ for the other set up most likely... I dont really want to sacrifice the light though. May just have to see what I like and figure it out over time.

 

[evolution159th]

I think I have figured out the lighting situation and the overflows finally. For the lights I will be eventually running 2 250w mh retros with 14000ks in a custom hood that is height adjustable. I may go for 1 or 2 actinic t-5s or some leds and moonlights after a while. I will be running cliner's 250w electronic icecap w/ lumenarc until I can afford to grab the halides I want.

Overflows will be straight black corner baffles. Tank will be drilled high for return w/ loc line and low for overflow, plumbing up for durso

Tank will be drilled this week and plumbing will start this week or weekend.

 

[cliner]

Dude, I never said you could use my IceCap! LOL But you can still borow the PFO 250w magnetic start rig

 

[HongT713]

looking good your setup is almost like mines also i built a small room to close everything in. +1 on getting a chiller. With your tank being in the garage and a 75g it will heat up really fast

 

[evolution159th]

Aaahaha! I was wondering if you were going to catch that... Its all good.


Scratch that... Magnetic PFO with Lumenarc.. haha

looking good your setup is almost like mines also i built a small room to close everything in. +1 on getting a chiller. With your tank being in the garage and a 75g it will heat up really fast

Thanks hong. I will have to check out your set up. I will be doing a fowlr set up to see what my temps look like before adding any corals or spending much money on livestock. I live fairly close to the water so I am waiting out this hurricane season as I do not have a generator to backup my tank if power is down. After Ike we were out of power for 3 weeks. If i absolutely have to get a chiller I may consider it then... ATM i am trying not to have to dish out an additional $500.00 straight out of the gate.

 

[HongT713]

yepp before i built the room to close in the fish tank, last summer my temp reached up to 110 was boiling

 

[flexrac]

Hey fishstick. I looked at your build. Your setup is sweet. Props.

Thanks.

You might get away with that air vent if you use good insulation and there is no air coming in from the garage. I would get a chiller just in case. Looking good!

I second this, i have to ac vents in my garage and a ceiling fan. I opted out of sheetrocking the the garage, wanted to leave the access available.
I do need to insulate the doors though. you should too.

 

[evolution159th]

Yeah there will have to be some consideration put into it. Hopefully the size of the room will be to my advantage. Might just hold more heat. I wont know until I start to monitor it.


I found a drill bit I can use so I guess I am going to try and drill the tank myself. Shouldn't be too hard I'd imagine. The overflows are still undecided... I really dont like the look of any square overflows, I dont want a HOB b/c of losing siphon issues etc plus I dont want them hanging off my tank, but I think the diagonal corner overflows might be a pain to get right. I will post an illustration of what I'm talking about as soon as I draw it up.

 

[Llama]

What about the megaflow? style overflows that are rounded off? I really like mine because it pulls water at three different levels in the tank. I think that's what they're called.

 

[flexrac]

Yeah there will have to be some consideration put into it. Hopefully the size of the room will be to my advantage. Might just hold more heat. I wont know until I start to monitor it.


I found a drill bit I can use so I guess I am going to try and drill the tank myself. Shouldn't be too hard I'd imagine. The overflows are still undecided... I really dont like the look of any square overflows, I dont want a HOB b/c of losing siphon issues etc plus I dont want them hanging off my tank, but I think the diagonal corner overflows might be a pain to get right. I will post an illustration of what I'm talking about as soon as I draw it up.

if it's not a diamond bit hole saw, i would not use it.
ebay has them real cheap.

 

[evolution159th]

What about the megaflow? style overflows that are rounded off? I really like mine because it pulls water at three different levels in the tank. I think that's what they're called.

I haven't seen those.. Where'd you get it? You have a link to it?

if it's not a diamond bit hole saw, i would not use it.
ebay has them real cheap.

Yeah I have one that my father in law used to drill some 1" bulkheads. Diamond tipped and I think it was off of ebay..


I can't BELIEVE the price of 1" plumbing!!! Especially true unions and bulkheads. Blah...

Anyone got any good sites where I can find cheap double sided union ball valves for a reasonable price instead of 15 to 30 dollars each?

Where is everyone getting their bulkheads from as well?

 

[Llama]

This is a link that describes the multi level intake however this is a corner design. Mine is designed to sit flat against the back wall, but I couldn't find a link for it.

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.c...ubref=AA&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=0018699000000

Gotta have a pic of mine somewhere...

Here!

 

[Llama]

I get my bulkheads from the closest LFS. Never paid more than $5 i think.

 

[cliner]

Union ball valves are at Home Depot, (as previously stated)

Hole bit is a good one, not from Ebay. Talk to Jamie about a bit, he might have a new one you could buy from him.

 

[cliner]

I think you are listening, but you don't really hear me. Kinda of like James Marshall Hendrix, you can listen, but you can't hear him.