[Howler33]

After talking about it for the past two years I am finally putting together my in wall setup. Originally I had planned to setup an 8'-300 gallon tank, but ran into compatability issues as I was going through my fish list. Finally, I decided to use two 6'x2'x20"-150 gallon tanks side by side to give the appearance of a 12 foot tank and separate the fish into better groups. The tanks each have a center overflow that will drain to a single sump. The sump is a 110 gallon acrylic tank that I have been using to grow out some of the fish for the new setup. Since the openings on the 110 are too small to get one of the three drawer Rubbermaid systems used in the DIY sump I decided to use eggcrate. I am going to cut the eggcrate into sections to create a box and assemble them inside the 110 with zip strips and secure them to a pvc frame.

The fish list is currently:

Tank1
8 Geophagus Tapajos
6 Geophagus Altifrons
2 Cryptoherso Cutteri
1 Green Severum
1 Satanoperca Leucosticta
1 Bristlenose pleco

Tank 2
12 Hypsophorys Nicuraguensis (I will wait for them to pair up and give teh extras away. Likely I will only keep 4)
8 Guinacara Rio Caroni
5 Cryptoheros Sajica (Once I have a pair the extras will also be given away)
2 Thoricthys Pasionis
3 Pictus cats

Here is where the tanks are going to go. This was my workshop in the basement.

I am going to cutout the studs approximately 36" from the ground and reframe the area to to be viewed from the other side.

Here is a picture from the viewable side, the tank on the left is the 110 that will be the sump.

Here is a picture of the stands in place. (the stands were made by my friend Larry).

The tanks are ready and I am picking them up tomorrow. I will post more as I make progress.

 

[prov356]

Fantastic :thumb: Keep posting progress.

 

[imusuallyuseless]

I can feel the jealousy creeping up inside me...

Good luck w/your project :thumb:

 

[tel0004]

Yea. I love these threads. Keep the pictures flowing.

 

[kornphlake]

Please tell me you built a two bay shop behind the house and that's why you're cannibalizing your basement workshop!

I'm interested to see the outcome as I'm gathering materials and funds for an in wall setup myself. Will you have the edge of the tank flush with the wall or are you going to have a 4 inch ledge in front of the tank?

 

[Howler33]

The room actually is very large and most of my shop is on the other side now. The rest has been moved to the garage which has a nice bump out for a work area.

The tanks are flush with the back side of the wall so from the viewing side there will be a 4" ledge which will be trimmed out over the 2"x4". We are still working out the color scheme, but we are leaning towards a walnut trim.

I just got the tanks in place today. Sheesh, what a pain getting them around a tight turn at the bottom of the stairs.

The next few days are going to be spent removing all the old paneling from the rest of the basement. Hopefully, I can start cutting and framing the opening early next week.

 

[shovelnose]

Thats going to be very cool!. Kinda like mine but horizontally lol! Are you going to try to make them look as one or have a divider in the middle?

 

[Howler33]

I am going to put a piece of trim down the middle to hide the where the tanks meet.

I really like your in wall setup, well done.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

It should be pretty sweet.

What are you planning to do for the humidity?

 

[Howler33]

I have a dehumidifer in the room that runs to the floor drain. I have had several tanks in the basement for the past two years and has been fine. The walls are painted with waterproof paint and I plan to use greenboard for the drywall.

 

[malawisc]

with that much time and thought going into a tank, i would add a real sump.. maybe a 55 gallon wet and dry.. if not during the orig build at least include space to add one later.. i will never have another large tank that is not drilled.. i really like the 12 ft setup, single sump, low maint.. two things i added to my stand that i would not give up.. a water source and a drain... if i had to do a major water change i would not need to siphon a drop or carry a drop

 

[fote03]

Nice Idea. Keep us up on progress with pictures.

 

[Howler33]

Demolition of the current paneling and drywall is taking longer than I thought. I will post some pics of the tanks tonight. I also have some pics of several different sand types I am trying to decide on to match the rocks I have set aside.

I hAve also been thinking about changing up the stocking lists a bit. I am going to move the Guianacara to tank 1 and was considering adding a Vieja Regani and a Brasiliensis to tank 2. Both the Vieja and Brasiliensis are about 3" so I would have a little time to make adjustments in case aggression got out of hand. Any comments about the list changes would be appreciated as I do not have any first hand knowledge of Vieja.

 

[mmd]

what ever happened to the pics ?

 

[Howler33]

Ok, here are some more pics:

Tanks on stands. I am going to get some foam for underneath the tanks.

From the viewing side. Still need to frame out the viewing window.

Some of the rocks:

The 110 for the sump and some of the fish:

 

[mmd]

nice

 

[GonePostal]

Looking good!

 

[tyty22]

From the pictures it looks like the 2x4s from the stand are dirrectly underneath the overflow boxes, won't that be a problem?

can't wait to see the finished product!! :thumb:

 

[Howler33]

The inside 2"x4" for the middle supports are in the way of the overflow. When I asked my friend to make the stand I didn't realize he was going to douple up the supports. The inside piece does not really support any vertical weight so I am going to use a hole saw to make a hole for the pvc. The stand is way overbuilt so their should not be any problem.

I am still contemplating whether to use two return pumps or one big pump with a wye.

 

[malawisc]

sweet, and getting better