Nemo's new home in the wall - build thread

[Nemo's Buddy]

I am laying the ground work for a new in the wall tank. It will be in what is essentially, a peninsula wall and viewable from both sides. The pictures of the wall below show a cabinet that will be the basis of the tank location. On the other side, the tank will be about where the picture is.





The side with cabinet doors is where my office is and the sump will be on the other side of that so there will be about 18' of run for the plumbing to and from the sump with about 7' of head.

I built the sump using multiple ideas from Melev's web site. It is 36" long, 15" wide and 16" tall. The refugium is at the end behind the partition with the "teeth", the skimmer will sit in the middle section. I plan on a split return to supply these areas. The return is on the other end and I will either use my old quiet one pump and drill the sump for it or buy a new submersible pump. I need to do a test and see what kind of flow I get with it.

This is my first attempt at working with acrylic. It's not perfect but it holds water.




The DT will be 14.5" wide X 48" long X 22" tall (about 66 gallons). I was going to build it myself but I can get it made buy glass cages for less than the glass would cost.

I am currently between the Reef Octopus 6" and the Vertex 100 but leaning to the Octopus. Any input is welcomed.

I will be putting this together piece by piece over the next few months to spread the cost out so I have plenty of time to think about all this. Please feel free to offer any suggestions or thoughts.

Mike

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

New build thread... Nice! The sump looks good to me.
I'll be aiming for a reef octopus skimmer when I do a tank upgrade and add a sump. I look forward to watching your progress.

[reeferbill]

Hi Nemos Buddy : Really professional work on the refugium/sump . When you are ready for some cheato algea I could send you a nice bag full. Happy Reef Building!!!!

[Jessie Nicoletti]

sweet looking sump did you order each sheet or did you buy them at home depot or something this has me inspired to try to build a bigger sump

[Chasman]

Very nice job on the sump. Did you use weldon 3 or 4. I've been using 4 with the best results. It is an art and it looks like you've done it well.

Chasman

[Nemo's Buddy]

Hi Nemos Buddy : Really professional work on the refugium/sump . When you are ready for some cheato algea I could send you a nice bag full. Happy Reef Building!!!!

Thank you! I will certainly take you up on that. The whole refugium thing is new to me. When I took my last tank down, the Berlin system was kind of a new thing in the magazines. It's fun reading through all this and catching up.

Mike

[Nemo's Buddy]

sweet looking sump did you order each sheet or did you buy them at home depot or something this has me inspired to try to build a bigger sump

Hi Jessie,

I bought a sheet at a plastics distributor in Columbus OH and cut the pieces myself. They would have cut them for me though. I am blessed in that I have a pretty well equipped wood shop so I have everything to do it with.

I have to say it was fun working with this stuff and I'm trying to think of a good excuse to make something else.

Mike

[Nemo's Buddy]

Very nice job on the sump. Did you use weldon 3 or 4. I've been using 4 with the best results. It is an art and it looks like you've done it well.

Chasman

Thanks, Chasman

I used #4. There is some messiness here and there because I really didn't understand how it worked. I was surprised that doesn't take much adhesive as it really draws it into the joint and a little bit will run way down the joint. Fortunately the adhesive dries clear so the places where I used too much are hard to see.

I've been following your thread and I like the system you are setting up. I would like to keep the plumbing out of site also but I can't replicate it because mine will be visible on both sides.

Mike

[twisted]

Nice Nemo. great work on the sump. ill be following along cuz you seem like an attention to detail kind of guy and i have a feeling this is gonna be a killer build!

[Nemo's Buddy]

Nice Nemo. great work on the sump. ill be following along cuz you seem like an attention to detail kind of guy and i have a feeling this is gonna be a killer build!

Thanks, Twisted

I'm going to try to get the details right. For 30 years I've dreamed of a an aquarium built into the wall. In case anyone gets confused and thinks I'm particularly smart, its taken me 4 years to realize that the ideal spot is sitting right in front of me.

[Chasman]

Thanks, Chasman

I've been following your thread and I like the system you are setting up. I would like to keep the plumbing out of site also but I can't replicate it because mine will be visible on both sides.

Mike

Mike

If you are building this into a wall, couldn't you do your overflow box, returns and so on at the ends of the tank to hide most of it. Or am I missing something as to how this will be mounted inside your wall. Also if you are planning on a BeanAnimal or Herbie style drain, I guess they don't work well with a large horizontal run. Don't know for sure, but it appears to be a stumbling block for that design. If you have an 18' run, I assume a fair amount of that is horizontal. I'm guessing the DT will be upstairs and the sump in the basement?

[twisted]

Thanks, Twisted

I'm going to try to get the details right. For 30 years I've dreamed of a an aquarium built into the wall. In case anyone gets confused and thinks I'm particularly smart, its taken me 4 years to realize that the ideal spot is sitting right in front of me.

that is a great spot. my best advice on your project is dont just settle on accessibility. when you place your equipment and parts that will need maintainance make it user friendly. there are alot of great mods and thingymajiggies out there that really make things alot simple and the tank more enjoyable. think about water changes and replacement water from it. how you will add your daily makeup water. valves to remove pumps if needed.... there are so many things i wish i had done from the beginning...some of the recent build threads look really nice. oh, and when things get rollin.....we'll need LOTS of pics!

[Brianh]

I like your sump. Looks great to me (and I own a plastics fab shop). I've been looking at Melevs website too. I think I want to make one almost the same as yours. I just need to make sure I can get the skimmer in and out under my stand!

Brian

[Nemo's Buddy]

Mike

If you are building this into a wall, couldn't you do your overflow box, returns and so on at the ends of the tank to hide most of it. Or am I missing something as to how this will be mounted inside your wall. Also if you are planning on a BeanAnimal or Herbie style drain, I guess they don't work well with a large horizontal run. Don't know for sure, but it appears to be a stumbling block for that design. If you have an 18' run, I assume a fair amount of that is horizontal. I'm guessing the DT will be upstairs and the sump in the basement?

The DT and the sump are on the same level separated by my office. I had originally planned to bring the plumbing around the wall of my office but I don't want them exposed like that and tearinig out the whole basement is a non starter.



My current thought is really out of the box and I'm not sure it can work. What I'm thinking is to take the plumbing up, across the office above the suspended ceiling and then down to the sump. This would require a pump on both sides and would be an interesting challenge to balance the flow.

What if i made an overflow that, instead of having a drain in the bottom held a submersible pump that was plumbed up to the ceiling?

The sump could be on a raised platform so the head would only be about 5 feet.

I need you all to pick this apart. Is there a flood risk that I am not seeing?

Mike

[Nemo's Buddy]

I like your sump. Looks great to me (and I own a plastics fab shop). I've been looking at Melevs website too. I think I want to make one almost the same as yours. I just need to make sure I can get the skimmer in and out under my stand!

Brian

The advantage I have is that my sump is not under the tank so I don't have a height issue. The disadvantage is the plumbing to get to the sump (which I'm still trying to figure out).

Mike

[Chasman]

Mike

Thanks to your diagram I now get it. But wow! I see your dilemma. Normally gravity works in ones favor. In your case, seems to be the opposite. That's a tough one. I'm sure it can be done, but you may have to expand your research to some other forums.

Can you put a (hidden if you wish) tank or container under the DT? Anything overhead can be such a siphon issue, you need a reservoir of some kind, I think. Idk.

Do you need this to be silent. I did the BeanAnimal because no noise. No air, bubbles or anything.

I'm rambling
Chasman

[twisted]

that sounds like a....uh.......man, thats a tough one. even with a tank set up normally there is always possibility of flood issues...lol....
i think the biggest issue would be hydrolics. thats alot of lift for the normal fish tank pumps. and im not sure if you would be able to match up a proper overflow to feed the pump you would need. im not saying it cant be done, but it could be a real expensive experiment getting things to work properly. ill do some research on it and let you know what i find. hopefully some others will jump in on this

[Nemo's Buddy]

I just ordered my skimmer. I bought the Reef Octopus 6" which seemed about as good as any in that price range. Her's to hoping it is...

Now I have to make the decision on building an acrylic tank or having glass cages build a glass one. The sump turned out pretty well so I'm tempted to try my hand on the half inch acrylic for the tank.

Please offer any thoughts as I wait for the wallet to recover again.

mike

[Chasman]

Hey Mike

I purchased the 6" octo and as you can see from my build thread I'm not using it yet. But I did run it in a 20 gal with some water from a water change and it seemed to work just fine. The air intake is a little noisy but I think they are all that way. Very good construction quality. I felt like you, best bet for the money, and I think it is.

Did you ever figure out your plumbing situation. I've thought about that quite a bit, and short of throwing major money at it, I haven't thought of anything brilliant.

The only solution I could think of is to have a reservoir tank underneath your DT that you could use for the overflow and then pump to your sump. Then the sump would pump back to the DT. But if you are going to do that, you might as well just put the sump under the DT in the same wall and hide it with cabinet doors.

Hope you have figured it out.

Chasman

[Nemo's Buddy]

I received the Octopus skimmer a week or so ago and it really looks like a good product. Seems to be well made and is very well packed and packaged. I'm really looking forward to seeing it work.

I found a great deal at a LFS on the Aquatic Life T5 light fixture - $50 less than anywhere on line. It seems like it never works that way and I was afraid they would say they had it priced incorrectly when I brought it to the counter.

No I need to start doing surgery on the wall so I can see whats down there to see what kind of drain I'll be able to use.

I'm currently leaning towards making an acrylic tank with a custom sized glass tank from glass cages as the other option.

As always, please feel free to pick apart my ideas. I'd rather discover my limitations now than later when I have to rebuild something.

Mike