Christian's 180 in wall aquarium

Monster reefer · Mar 26, 2016

How's it going guys so I got the ok to put a aquarium in my wall after a year of being in our new house, the in wall aquarium is a go!

We found the perfect aquarium it's 48"L X 36" D X 24"T
With stand and sump, we will be posting pictures along the way!

Monster reefer · Mar 27, 2016

Well here are some pictures from last night
Got it up the stairs!

Removed the Sheetrock from the outside

Removed Sheetrock and studs

Time to reroute the electric and put the stand in

New outlet for the power in the closet top left side of where the aquarium will be

James605 · Mar 27, 2016

Looks good. I'm doing my first In wall build right now. Keep us updated.

Monster reefer · Mar 27, 2016

Nice the tank will be put in today, and start getting the plumbing in along with sand and water.

I'm going to be doing new sand and moving everything from my other 180 to this tank.
Good idea or bad moving everything from old tank to the new one?

BlackFish · Mar 27, 2016

cool project. Are you going to resupport the studs that you cut?

reef_junkie · Mar 27, 2016

Doesn't look necessary. Most interior walls in homes built after the 60's aren't load bearing.
Great progress, looks like a beast of a tank.

Monster reefer · Mar 27, 2016

Yes we're adding a header support beam and a bottom support beam and more side support to brace the wall

Monster reefer · Mar 29, 2016

Everything is working out good! Had a contractor look at the work. He gave his

Oh the mess that I have made

We will be repairing the dry wall and painting tomorrow

All done for tonight. I will be adding a 1/8 layer of plywood to fill the space between the stand and the wall.

Once all the wall patches are dry we will also be adding a border around the aquarium.

hybridazn · Mar 29, 2016

Moving right along! What are your plans for the tank?

Monster reefer · Mar 29, 2016

I am going to be transferring everything from my current 180 to this one. But I'm thinking about having it set up as a LPS reef with softies and maybe a few montipora caps and rare sps that are color full

Salty1962 · Mar 29, 2016

3Looks like it going to be awesome. I had a friend who had a 326 in his wall. Took up half of the garage,lol! I was awesome though. Good Luck!

pondman · Mar 29, 2016

Very nice build thanks for sharing. And good luck in your build.

Monster reefer · Mar 29, 2016

Thank you it's coming along very well and fast

Monster reefer · Mar 29, 2016

hybridazn said:
Moving right along! What are your plans for the tank?

Here is the aquarium

Diesel · Mar 29, 2016

reef_junkie said:
Doesn't look necessary. Most interior walls in homes built after the 60's aren't load bearing.
Great progress, looks like a beast of a tank.

Not so sure about that.
Depends all on the design.
Most custom homes are designed around a load bearing wall.
Even the speck homes with open wide spaces has them.

Diesel · Mar 29, 2016

Instead of plywood think durable and get some backer board.

It will hold up better in wet places especially in salty areas.

Also try to move out the outlet under the tank in the wall, but I'm sure you already planned that.

Monster reefer · Mar 29, 2016

On the backer board does it come in 1/8"?
Also the outlet that is below the front of the aquarium can't be moved due to it runs directly down stairs to a bathroom.
I did have one on the inside the closet that was below the aquarium that I could move and did moved to the top right side of the aquarium. That's where I'm going to be placing all my apex equipment I think. Depends on the setup I desire for under the stand. I have a 40 gallon breeder under the tank right now that is unable to be removed

Diesel · Mar 29, 2016

Monster reefer said:
On the backer board does it come in 1/8"?
Also the outlet that is below the front of the aquarium can't be moved due to it runs directly down stairs to a bathroom.
I did have one on the inside the closet that was below the aquarium that I could move and did moved to the top right side of the aquarium. That's where I'm going to be placing all my apex equipment I think. Depends on the setup I desire for under the stand. I have a 40 gallon breeder under the tank right now that is unable to be removed

Backer board comes in the thinnest size of 1/4", thinking it would be a problem to fit your tank in the hole right?
A option is to use the Schluter Kerdi boards, it's designed for wet areas only, we don't use anything else in our homes we build.
http://www.schluter.com/schluter-us...RD-Panels/Schluter®-KERDI-BOARD/p/KERDI_BOARD

On the outlet, try to eliminate it in the wall in a water proof box.
You might want to pull two separate 20amps outlet anyway for your tank, plenty juice in the future to load up don't forget to use a GCFI and don't reverse wire it as it can destroy all your DC equipment.

Gwitness · Mar 29, 2016

Diesel said:
Backer board comes in the thinnest size of 1/4", thinking it would be a problem to fit your tank in the hole right?
A option is to use the Schluter Kerdi boards, it's designed for wet areas only, we don't use anything else in our homes we build.
http://www.schluter.com/schluter-us...RD-Panels/Schluter®-KERDI-BOARD/p/KERDI_BOARD

On the outlet, try to eliminate it in the wall in a water proof box.
You might want to pull two separate 20amps outlet anyway for your tank, plenty juice in the future to load up don't forget to use a GCFI and don't reverse wire it as it can destroy all your DC equipment.

Do you have to install back boarder on an inwall tank?? If so what's the reason? Just curious because our new house is being built and I'm planning on having my 220 in the wall

Monster reefer · Mar 29, 2016

Yeah my house is useing 15 amp beakers right now I need to switch out to 20 amp. I would like to add more outlets but I can't run new wiring.
I'm not sure if is on a GCFI with my garage outlet or my down stairs bathroom