Reefnjunkies 400 gallon inwall

[Reefnjunkie]

Nice looking build!!

Thanks, the room, or at least the area where the tank will go has been textured and painted, I did not like the color or finish, I thought flat would be good for a garage-WRONG, (and the wife let me know that-:cry anyway I'll get it repainted today and hopefull the stand moved over and set in place

How much do you sell ice for? Looks good.

I get that question from everyone who sees that sign. It was on a cooler Ibought from the sporting goods store and it ended up on the freezer

Welcome home reefnjunkie! Lookin' good!

Thanks for the "re-welcome"

 

[Crooks]

What are the dimensions of that tank? Have you built alot of tanks before building this one? Which weld-on did you use and how thick is the acrylic? I cant wait to see it finished sand stocked.

 

[skinz78]

Wow what an awesome project! That tank is huge!

 

[Reefnjunkie]

What are the dimensions of that tank? Have you built alot of tanks before building this one? Which weld-on did you use and how thick is the acrylic? I cant wait to see it finished sand stocked.

The finished outside dims are 73.5"x 48.25"x27.25". I used 3/4" acrylic for the sides with the top and bottom bwing 1/2"- I was not concerned about uniformity and with it being an inwalll you wont see the bottom and the top will only be viewable when I lif the fron door for feeding etc. I have never built a tank and I was merely an extra set of hands, I had a fellow reefer who works with acrylic do the actual glueing I just helped.
Weldon 4 with a mix of acetic acid was used. The acetic helps in the bonding process (this is a secret so its just between you and I). The days were hot and at times humid which created a fast curing time, the seams are not 100% bubble free but minor. This really did not bother me since you wont see them at all since they will be all hidden (except the garage side) with trim molding

Wow what an awesome project! That tank is huge!

It dose not seem that big since I have been staring at it everyday as it "sits and waits" but after moving the stand in place last night the size sort of sunk in.

I ended up going with 5-15 amp breakers in a sub-panel 3 of which are dedicated to a single GFCI outlet. 1 just for the window a/c unit, just incase it gets a little warm in the room, I'm running LED's so I hope it stays cool, I do have a brand new 1hp chiller that I hope not to have to hook up. the other 2 dedicated plugs are for the 2-EB-8's for the APEX. The others I ran 3 plugs each (some still be wired into the wall that is not in place yet. I mounted 2 in the ceiling, nit sure why but I sort of just started adding plugs "just in case"

The paint is THICK-after 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of "wrong paint" (flat latex was not a good choice) and 2 final coats of a semi gloss I think I am good to go.

The idea was/is to get the stand, tank in place then put the L/R (that has been sitting in a 100 gallon rubbermaid for the last 4+ months) into the tank with the new sand. That will free up more space to work on framing the rest of the room in. The only area that was textured/primed/painted was the corner where the tank goes that way I get all that going which like I said frees up some room.

My garage is TORN UP-my living room is full of boxes-I have to give a shout out to the wife who is "living through this"

Anyway thats the update so far-Next is expose the wall, and the trim and build a "door" that will open from family room for front access-I will have about 8" above the tank and the wall for front access. I have 250 pounds of sand coming on Thursday so I am hoping in the next 2 weeks to have this puppy wet. I'll still need to plumb everything but figure I can graduallly add water from the 150 I have set up and all the water from the L/R tub so I hope I will only have about 40-50% "new water" when its all said and done.
It'll be November at least before I start moving in corals-I've come to far to rush that part.

Here are some pics of the temp tank, and the stand in place(not counting the frag tank with 30+chalices/favias and all those "designer zoas", you know the $$$ ones-:tongue:, I have quite a few"designer" chalices, oh and 30+ acans coming-:squigglemouth:-

Thanks for following along!

A little better shot of the tank as it sits and waits

 

[_Alex_]

your curent temp. tank is beautiful!!! i cant wait to see the 400 filled up! great work!

 

[Kris]

Let me know when you need help putting that thing in place. I got my led wired just need to finish mounting everything then I will need your help setting it up with the Apex. Do I need anything to hook it up to the Apex?

 

[florida reef]

I looked through the thread but I couldn't find info on the type of acrylic and size. Do you have any pics of the actual building of the tank? Thanks!

 

[florida reef]

Nvm. haha. Awsome looking build!

 

[Stretch]

Wow!! I can't wait to see this thing finished!! Nice progress so far!!

sent from Stretch's DROID X using Tapatalk

 

[Reefnjunkie]

your curent temp. tank is beautiful!!! i cant wait to see the 400 filled up! great work!

You and me both (and the wife, the house is a mess-LOL)

Let me know when you need help putting that thing in place. I got my led wired just need to finish mounting everything then I will need your help setting it up with the Apex. Do I need anything to hook it up to the Apex?

Will do Kris, gimme a call-text sent

Nvm. haha. Awsome looking build!

No worries, not sure if I mentioned but its cast acrylic not extruded

Wow!! I can't wait to see this thing finished!! Nice progress so far!!
Thanks

sent from Stretch's DROID X using Tapatalk

So over the weekend getting the stand in place and fitting the plywood intot he wall I got to find out how unlevel my garage of 50+ years is-oh:

Its so bad I am having to tear the stand apart (almost done) and rebuild it:cry:

1 corner was perfect, the board was level with where the tank would rest and as you went to the other side it dropped nearly 1/2" as it spanned the 6 feet. The ledge where the tank sits in the wall is perfectly level so the only thing I could think of, or the right thing to do, was tear it apart the stand and rebuild it, shimming it up was not an option in my head-to much pressure with the weight. I do have a laser level so this time it will be right-I HOPE

So much for pre building it.

Hopefully this weekend I get the tank on the stand and get the rock and sand in it

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Well it took awhile but I got the satnd rebuilt and this last weekend got the tank inplace;

I have changed the sump(s) design AGAIN and am going to go with a new 2nd sump that will basiclly hold the filter socks and the skimmer and then it'll feed into the one pictured above. The far pictured custom sump I will be selling and the new needs to be built, it will hold roughly 110 gallons and its dims are 48x30x218

I'll start framing in the "room" Weds and in the meantime I figure it'll take about 4 days for the RO/DI unit to get the water made up, Once that is done I'll mix up the salt, add the rock that has been in the tub for 6 months and add the sand-

Also at that time I will add some tunze or vortechs for circulation and make up a custom skimmer holder to put the skimmer on while the tank cycles and I am waiting on the 2nd sump

 

[lps1212]

Glad to hear you got the stand taken care of looks good finally all together and waiting to be full of life

 

[hellsangel]

Wow!

 

[bige]

Way to go on stand. Glad it matched up with window to room!

 

[Reef UP]

Looking great can't wait to
See the acans go in that beast I'm growing them as quick as possible

 

[swannyson7]

Great build so far, can't wait to see this thing full of water! Tagging along...

 

[skinz78]

Looking good!

Although the electrician in me wonders how far the electrical sub panel is from the tank?

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Glad to hear you got the stand taken care of looks good finally all together and waiting to be full of life

It was a set back but nothing is surprising me anymore-like the sub-panel question below, I think I messed up AGAIN

Wow!

Oh ya

Way to go on stand. Glad it matched up with window to room!

It is level all the way around except one corner is a 1/16-1/8 inch low

Looking great can't wait to
See the acans go in that beast I'm growing them as quick as possible

Oh take your time, It'll be late November before I feel safe to put most of my stuff in the "beast"

Great build so far, can't wait to see this thing full of water! Tagging along...

I hope to have "life" in it in some form this month-even if it is live rock-hehehe

Looking good!

Although the electrician in me wonders how far the electrical sub panel is from the tank?

That question in itself tells me I have goofed up-DANG:cry:

Lets see I will guess as to actually measuring-how about 16"-Aw snap. Other than the possibility of the seam breaking and flooding the subpanel and burning my house down are there any other things I did not take into consideration :ah:
OMG- I dont want to have to expose that wall and move that thing-and sadly I think I can not put it where it would not be in a spot that is less than 3-4 feet from a tankt

dam dam dam dam-I hate hindsite

 

[skinz78]

Ha ha, I was more concerned about clearance to get in there and work on it in the future.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Ha ha, I was more concerned about clearance to get in there and work on it in the future.

WOO HOO all day long I have been saying "how the heck and I am going to do that", "do I want to do "that"". At the end of that conversation in my head I determined-"take my chances", maybe drape a plastic cover if I felt real paranoid.
There is no working in the panel its all "rocked in" but I did add extra breakers with wires running to junction boxes that I will turn into wall plugs later when I start framing Weds.

Oh-there is enough room I can open the panel door and flip a breaker though-LOL