200 Gallon Custom In Wall Reef

[drcrook]

Hey Folks,

Latest State of Build Posted Here:

4/29/2019 - Its just a drawing today...

Original Post:

So I moved out to the beach again. During the process I had to break down this tank: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/davids-mostly-diy-build-150-gallon-full-reef.391676/

So I'm building a new tank. After much review with the wife, a spot has been agreed upon. The main consideration was to "reduce the bulkiness", so its going into a load bearing wall between two rooms so it is visible in both rooms and only has ~12" protruding on either side. The current display tank size proposed is 48" x 30" x 30".

Additionally since the last build thread, I've been practicing my woodworking as well as built a diy cnc machine, so I'll be doing something with those (I'm open to ideas).

The first question in my mind for the R2R community is: How much clearance room should I provide around the tank for something like this? Cutting a hole through the brick wall will be something I want to do only once and will probably hire a professional to do.

Here are some pictures of the spot from all sides:

Front View

Side View (~12" thick wall):

View From other Room:

This is the current proposition:

I'm pretty excited about this build; it will be a very big one.

 

[watdachuck]

Looks awesome! Following along.

 

[saintsreturn]

Oh man i am following this one for sure! I look forward to lots of photos!

 

[saintsreturn]

Hey Folks,


The first question in my mind for the R2R community is: How much clearance room should I provide around the tank for something like this? Cutting a hole through the brick wall will be something I want to do only once and will probably hire a professional to do.

This is tough. I would not leave much room on the sides unless you want to add flow to the sides. But you will have to frame it... so it would be difficult working with brick. If you could have the front brink come close to tank and leave 4-8 inches clear from the back, i would try so you could always get in there and add a gyre or mp pump.

From the top, you will want to pick the lights you want now and stick with it forever. This way you know the recommended height and spread, so you can go from there. Leaving room to mount or hang them and have sufficient airflow as well.

Tough for someone with my skill set. That said, good luck!

 

[drcrook]

So I have a lot of equipment left over from the other tank that will work great.

1. I have 2 maxspect gyre 230s which will be installed on the sides (hence 4" clearance on either side). I intend to hide these with aquascaping (I'm going to go a bit crazy on aquascaping)
2. Pair of Reefbreeder 32" v2s I've emailed reefbreeder's for their recommendation on this setup. I figured 12" above tank w/6" space above them. Not sure if I run a single or both.

I'm considering

• 2 or 3 air bubblers on timers
• extra power heads (necessary?) Gyres are loud and I don't like to run them above 50% power. If I add extra power heads, I'll have to figure out where and how.

 

[Reef Breeders]

So I have a lot of equipment left over from the other tank that will work great.

1. I have 2 maxspect gyre 230s which will be installed on the sides (hence 4" clearance on either side). I intend to hide these with aquascaping (I'm going to go a bit crazy on aquascaping)
2. Pair of Reefbreeder 32" v2s I've emailed reefbreeder's for their recommendation on this setup. I figured 12" above tank w/6" space above them. Not sure if I run a single or both.

I'm considering

• 2 or 3 air bubblers on timers
• extra power heads (necessary?) Gyres are loud and I don't like to run them above 50% power. If I add extra power heads, I'll have to figure out where and how.

Hey David,

I received your email. 12" is a good height over the water, you may want to leave an extra couple inches just in case you want to raise these up any higher though, and to allow for ventilation and hardware.

Since your tank is 30" wide, I would suggest 2 rows of Photon V2s. You may also want to consider going with the longer 44" Photon 48-V2+ and a set of lumenbars, but if you have your 32s high up enough you might just get coverage on your 48" tank. With 2 32s, you can always stagger them a bit so you get better end to end coverage.

 

[drcrook]

I had a review with a civil engineer today. It is "possible" to do this, and the home's foundation is built well for this in that spot. The challenge is that the ticket price on this is likely pretty high and may have to wait until the down season out here when cost of labor drops.

 

[drcrook]

Finally got approval to do it (without the cut out in the wall). That wall supports almost the entire house, so the tank is going in front of it.

Tank will be an SC 150 (60"x24"x24"). I'll be adding a trigger systems 34 sump and traded out the reef breeder 32's for a single 50" which will go over the tank.

Construction on stand will begin in approximately 2 weeks.