Building an Inwall Tank

[Reefland]

Fellow Reeflanders,

The time has come for Michelle and I to become official reef-geeks and build a tank in the wall, with a fish room behind it for maintenance. We will be moving into a new house soon which will provide us with the space to do this. the space that will be used will be minimized to not take up too much space, but will also be large enough to do what we need, mainly conceal equipment and maintenance activities. The thing that is slightly different about this project opposed to other similar threads like this is we will only be using our current 75-gallon tank. Although a nice 180 sounds appealing, the space and room that we will be doing this in will be a perfect fit for our 75 and our busy life works better with the 75.

This thread will be used to document the process as we go. Since this will be a complete build, I would like to hear things that people wish they would have done differently with their inwall projects. I will also have some questions that I will post up soon in regards to wall board, ventilation and more.

[zhenya]

Well, first off congrats on the new house.

And good luck with the project on the in-wall tank build, sounds like fun.

[smidoid]

Good luck in the new house guys. I hope the move goes smoothly.

[Poseidon]

YAY! Congrats on the new space Scott! I am sure you will have fun moving all your STUFF! (Did I say how much I hated that part!?)

[charlie]

Scott and Michelle, congrats on the upcoming move!!! Do you have any pics of the new place yet?

[Reefland]

We do have some, however the house isn't completed yet.

The first two questions for this project:
1. Any concerns with putting saltwater in the sump well of the basement?
2. Any special considerations for wall board other than the typical bathroom wall board?

[inwall75]

We do have some, however the house isn't completed yet.

The first two questions for this project:
1. Any concerns with putting saltwater in the sump well of the basement?
2. Any special considerations for wall board other than the typical bathroom wall board?

Congrats on the new house!!! Wait until you see how lazy you become about keeping the fish room clean. Mine always looked like a hurricane hit it.

1. I don't know
2. I used a primer called Kilz on it and then painted the portion in my fishroom with a 'washable' type interior paint. Alternatively, I would assume you could also use an exterior paint that is designed to be rained on.

Consider building some type of decorative doors in your living area so that you can access the top of the tank from that side of the wall. Trust me, aquascaping and placing corals when you only have access from the back is very challenging. I bought a piece of black plastic that I kept on the back glass. When I needed to do maintenance, it was easily removed so I could see into the tank from the back.

Consider a dedicated circuit subpanel for your electricity. (I don't know if that's what it's really called, ask your electrician).

In your fish room, consider putting down those el-cheapo sticking linoleum squares. It's better to wipe up spilled water with an old towel than it is to have to buy a dehumidifier for the fish room. Concrete sucks up saltwater fairly quickly and then the fishroom becomes very humid.

[Reefland]

What do you do for ventilation?

[inwall75]

When I just had the 75g w/ 29g sump, I originally had the fishroom open to the laundry room. That amount of airspace kept everything in check. Then I installed a door to separate the two and the humidity would often become high. (That's when I learned to put down linoleum and clean up after myself). I also kept the door leading into the laundry area open for half of the day. Even when I moved to a 55g sump, I didn't have a problem.

Then I added a 200g frag tank to the fish room. That changed things dramatically. I first bought a dehumidifier and then I finally removed the door that separated the fishroom from the laundry room and cracked the windows periodically.

Unfortunately, I think you're going to have to experiment with this one like I did.

[optical]

Congrats on the new house!!! Wait until you see how lazy you become about keeping the fish room clean. Mine always looked like a hurricane hit it.

1. I don't know
2. I used a primer called Kilz on it and then painted the portion in my fishroom with a 'washable' type interior paint. Alternatively, I would assume you could also use an exterior paint that is designed to be rained on.

Consider building some type of decorative doors in your living area so that you can access the top of the tank from that side of the wall. Trust me, aquascaping and placing corals when you only have access from the back is very challenging. I bought a piece of black plastic that I kept on the back glass. When I needed to do maintenance, it was easily removed so I could see into the tank from the back.

Consider a dedicated circuit subpanel for your electricity. (I don't know if that's what it's really called, ask your electrician).

In your fish room, consider putting down those el-cheapo sticking linoleum squares. It's better to wipe up spilled water with an old towel than it is to have to buy a dehumidifier for the fish room. Concrete sucks up saltwater fairly quickly and then the fishroom becomes very humid.

i totally agree with you on this.
i would use some kind of marine paint for the drywall and wood frame. use the kilz (home depot) as a primer first. get the oil stuff, but you MUST wear a respirator or you will be high as a kite in a matter of minutes! and its not a fun high either! trust me.
i didnt do this step, but wished i had.

i actually had to lay linoleum down after our ejector pump coroded(3 years old) because of me dumping saltwater down the drain! the salt ate the wires and everything else and we had a little flood. DO NOT PUT ANY SALTWATER DOWN THE DRAIN TO THE SUMP PIT!!!!!!! having a slop sink with a ro/di hooked up to it would be ideal. the cheap tiles are great for around the tank though. the concrete just absorbs salt and makes it kinda nasty.

after installing a front access panel above the tank, i decided it looked wrong so i tore it out and re-drywalled the area so that the tank fit flush with the wall. i added a thick piece of trim to finish it off(wich was custom fabricated by glueing a 1/4" piece of wood to one side of the molding).
i wanted the tank to have a very low profile kind of look to it...like it was just a moving picture on the wall. it is difficult to aquascape though, but i think that sacrifice was worth it for the looks. i painted the wall with the tank on a very dark color, wich makes the tank really pop.

i positioned the tank about 43" up from the ground so that it is just about eye level and is still somewhat easy to get at from the back with a small step ladder. again, i cared much more about how the tank looked from the viewing side that how easy it was to work on it from the back. i didnt want to look down on it while viewing it.

one more thing- use a ground fault outlet on its own circuit for the electric.
good luck!

[Poseidon]

When I had the 135 in the wall, I had a window cracked all year. With the old aluminum windows we had sometimes the condensation would freeze on the window frame.

Are you going to use a bedroom, or is it something else that will become the fish room?

Curt does bring up a good point, access from the front of the tank would be good to have, otherwise aquascaping can be a PITA. I liked having a solid wall in front though, I think it helped with the illusion.

[optical]

one more thing...heres a pic of the back of the tank

[bubble]

get XTRA XTRA XTRA strong pieces of velcro and velcro the "picture frame" to the wall, and make it wide enough that there is substantial space between the top of the tank and the wall...good luck

p.s- there is a such thing as REALLY strong velcro that WILL hold it.

[BubbaWPB]

1. Any concerns with putting saltwater in the sump well of the basement?

I'd check with the sump pump manufacturer to see if the pump can handle saltwater on a regular basis without corroding.

[rjs5134]

Scott,

Congrats and good luck. Not that I'm an expert on the aquarium subject, but I can offer a few suggestions. Certainly prepare the concrete floor(if it is in fact concrete) with a waterproofing primer, salt will cause excessive and accellerated decay of concrete. I would not put down the 12"x12" self adhesive tiles, saltwater can and will get in between them and cause them to loose their adhesion, it will also cause deterioration of the concrete. A waterproofing paint, and or sheet vinyl would be better, remember to caulk the edges to stop the water from getting under the wall and vinyl.

Never dump salt water into the sump pit, again the salt will corrode the concrete slab and/or pre-cast pit. Your going to want a slop sink near the tank anyway, just make sure it is piped with PVC and you won't have a problem.

My guess is you will have high humidity, I would invest in a de-humidifier, attach a length of hose to it and mount it on a shelf out of the way so the hose can drain into your slop sink.

Can't wait to see pics.

Rob

[sihaya]

Congrats! I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun with this!

My husband keeps trying to convince me we should move into a house so we can have in-wall tanks (yes, he said "tanks"... the man knows the subtle ways to my heart too well). The only thing I don't like about the idea of in-wall tanks is that I imagine they'd be so much harder to get too. For those of you that have them, is that true? Can it be just as easy to get in and around a tank that's in-wall?

[Poseidon]

I dearly miss my in wall 135. I think it was worth the trouble of going around back to do the work, as it looks so cool from the front!

[Reefland]

Are you going to use a bedroom, or is it something else that will become the fish room?

Mike,

It will become an office. The room, after division for the tank area is 13.5' x 13.5'. The tank room will only be 9.5' x 5' but I think this will be more than enough room for the maintenance and equipment. I think we will go with a completely finished front and just deal with the access issues from the back.

rjs5134,

Never dump salt water into the sump pit, again the salt will corrode the concrete slab and/or pre-cast pit. Your going to want a slop sink near the tank anyway, just make sure it is piped with PVC and you won't have a problem.

What is the difference between putting the saltwater in the sump pit and putting it down the drain of a sink which will go to a sump pit? Perhaps I am misunderstood on the sump pit?

I have attached an image with a few drawn lines showing where the wall will be constructed, with the tank directly in the center. You can see the roughed in drain plumbing in the wall, and what will be a bathroom on the opposite side. So whether I use a tank or the sump pit directly, won't ASW enter the sump pit?

[Poseidon]

I think you are thinking of 2 different things Scott. Up here we have "sump pumps" and "sump pits" for rain water ONLY! All the other waste water, from the washing machine for example, goes down a city drain. The only thing that is supposed to go into that pit/hole is rainwater, as it is then pumped out to your yard.

As for the room size, make sure you put a BIG CFM fan in there, it is a small area and will need a lot of ventilation. I see it is also in the basement? That will make a exhaust fan even more important. I just brought my basement sump online, and I can already tell I need an exhaust fan down there!

[Reefland]

Just for rain water? Humm, maybe I am confused. As you can see all of the drains for the roughed in bathroom will connect to the pump in that pit and there will be a pump there to get water to the septic system which is higher than these drains.