# New Tank Journey - Maybe :)



## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

*New Tank Journey - Starting *

Hey everyone,
It has been awhile since I have been posting. My 30G AIO has been doing ok, and I have run into the typical "pains in the a$$" with saltwater; bubble algae, bryopsis, and the latest is aptasia. I am sure that I will get through this as I have with everything else and this forum has been key to some of my successes  With that, I am ready to order a tank, BUT my FIRST questions is around tank dimensions and I am looking for opinions.

I am currently in the process of renoing my basement, and have a space that will be dedicated to the tank and a dedicated fishroom right behind. The dimensions of the room are not optimal, but it's all I have to work with. Currently, I have my AWC located in the space and am just in the process of adding a wall to divide it from the rest of my furnace area.

Because of that I really only have 48" wide to deal with. I have seen many cubes that I really like (and currently have one). The kids also want to add certain fish so I want to go as big (water volume) as possible, but want everyone's opinion on my thinking on tank size.

I have include 2 images: (1) dimensions of the fishroom (2) a 3d rendering of the space that I have available to use.

*So question #1*: does it make sense to have cube tank that has 20" sticking out of the wall into the "office area" and the remainder hanging on the back of the fishroom?

As a family, our thinking is that the depth of the tank will look fantastic when sitting on the couches in the office area AND with approximately 250 gallons of DT water (48" x 48" x 30"), this should allow us to look at a trigger, groups of smaller fish, and my beloved wrasse, clown fish - but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

I will transfer over my corals, but don't plan on going coral crazy for awhile. More interested in getting fish and keeping them happy and healthy.


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

The concept of having 20" of display and 28" "behind the scenes" is really cool. In fact you're sort of making a 48" wide tank that is really really deep.

So with your sketch up skills, sketch up some rock work, and walk through what the view and rocks will look like. You can leave the three sides that are hidden in black vinyl and have the three sides in the office area as a three sided display.

It will be sort of a mini ripleys, as I seem to recall some tanks that sort of looked like this.

Do the base as something that can be continuous through the wall opening, like a bosch tube frame. Don't try and make a stand on the office side and match it to another stand on the back side.
Finish the drywall with corner bead and mdf jambs in the opening where the tank will sit, almost like a door opening, right to the floor.
Other than that, it's all fun and games until someone has to pay the credit card.
Have fun! This is a big leap from 30 gallons to 250 gallons, it will be fun!


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

Crayon said:


> The concept of having 20" of display and 28" "behind the scenes" is really cool. In fact you're sort of making a 48" wide tank that is really really deep.
> 
> So with your sketch up skills, sketch up some rock work, and walk through what the view and rocks will look like. You can leave the three sides that are hidden in black vinyl and have the three sides in the office area as a three sided display.


Does anyone know what software I can use for the tank layout, plumbing and rockwork? I currently use "Sweet Home 3D" for all my reno's, but this doesn't allow me the flexibility for the tank.



Crayon said:


> It will be sort of a mini ripleys, as I seem to recall some tanks that sort of looked like this.
> 
> Do the base as something that can be continuous through the wall opening, like a bosch tube frame. Don't try and make a stand on the office side and match it to another stand on the back side.
> Finish the drywall with corner bead and mdf jambs in the opening where the tank will sit, almost like a door opening, right to the floor.


Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking. I cut out from floor to ceiling so that I can have a continuous stand for the tank (from office to fishroom). I have always wanted to do the Bosch framing, but struggle finding a place in the GTA that has it (I am sure I will find one though). I was hoping to create a bookshelf on the office site with a backing, then storage under the tank on the fishroom side.

I will also list out the equipment that I have gathered over the last year to get opinions as to if they are sufficient or I need to rethink what I have. I want to keep things as simple as possible, including the layout.


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## wchen9 (Jan 23, 2014)

Seems like an interesting idea. How do you plan on lighting the front 20"?


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

I am going to build a ceiling overhang so that the lights are hidden. It won't go all the way to the top of the tank though. I am going to mock it all up once I get the hole created so that I can decide before I frame.


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

Marz said:


> Does anyone know what software I can use for the tank layout, plumbing and rockwork?


Google Sketch Up.
Basic software is free.


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

Marz said:


> I am going to build a ceiling overhang so that the lights are hidden. It won't go all the way to the top of the tank though. I am going to mock it all up once I get the hole created so that I can decide before I frame.


You might consider the Tunze submersible LED lights instead of doing any framing above the tank. I dunno, I'm thinking the bulkhead could get in your way of accessing the front 20" cause you won't be able to move it out of the way.
Either that or suspend something like a pair or 3 kessils from the ceiling on the office side. That way you have full access to the top of the tank on both sides.


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

@Crayon that's a really good observation as I hadn't though about that. I do like the idea of suspending the lights for the first 20". I have radions so that might actually work. Once I get the space cutout, I will have to play with it, and take some pics to get input.


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## bbgobie (Oct 13, 2016)

I'm working on something really similar. I'm setting up a 46 where about 8" hangs out from the wall. What I did differently is I left a few inches on either side and the space above the tank is open as well.

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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

Do you have a pic? I will post a few more pics this weekend once I cut the wall. Still a mess, but input from here is more important to me. 


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

I have removed the wall where the tank will be going, but still have to trim back the left side to where the doorway wall is. This will give me an opening of just over 52" that I will be building up. As you can "almost" see there is a drop down from the actual ceiling height. I am thinking that I will have the "canopy" drop down to the top of the tank so that you can't see through to the fishroom.



Ignore the blue tarp, as that was covering my AWC buckets and stand. 

This will move slowly as I still need to remove drywall and am going to add cement board to encompass the entire room.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Exciting!!!!!!
Keep us posted


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## Marz (Mar 1, 2014)

I started a separate thread for the tank, as I find it useful to separate out "topics" of my build.

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=274537


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