Tank Journal Archive

[Sam Parker]

Put the tank in the wall at the end of the wall, so like three sides are visible.

Personally is skip on the TV in the games room if you have the tank visible, but you could easily put it above or somewhere else.

Will be more planning, but seriously - planning only happens once, tank enjoyment happens every day!

You would need to build in access to the tank (above and below) but that is easy and can look very clean. Do a search in the net for peninsula tanks and see what can be done. Well planned ones are absolutely show stoppers.

 

[daveH]

How about something like this?
The tank goes through the wall but is flush to the wall in the games room and extends out into the family room.
Build a cupboard like area at the right hand end of the tank. This can keep your sump, chiller, dosing and electronics at an easy working height and with plenty of room to keep every thing nice and tidy. Better than struggling with everything under the tank.
Bring all your plumbing into/out of the tank through the wall into the cupboard.
Your lights can be pivoted at the ends for easy tank access and wiring for the left hand side of the tank (powerheads etc) can come above or below the tank through the wall. That way you'll barely see any wiring.
You could still put a TV above the tank in the games room or better still have a drop down screen and run all your media through a projector in the roof.
Anyway just a thought.

 

[Peter_1988_]

I like that idea of the cupboard on the side with the sump and everything inside but will have to think about it. I found an example of a tank built into the wall with three sides visible that I really like the look of and I could do the same sort of thing but also have the cupboard next to it to extend to the end of the wall. The main problem is that on our house design there is a blacked out square section of the wall that looks like it is a supporting structure that cannot be moved. It is right on the end of the wall and therefore you would only see part of the tank from the games room but not the whole thing. I suppose it could still work. The other problem though is that it will probably cost a bit more to do this and my wife is not too keen on the idea as the tank is already going to cost a fair bit. I copied the picture below of the example that is built into the wall. I am thinking at this stage that I will most likely have the tank up against the wall but only visible from the family room and from the side of the wall. I could still make it look like it was part of the wall by having the canopy extend right to the ceiling like in the example picture but only visible from one side.

Edit - fixed the picture link, I think - MagicJ

 

[Peter_1988_]

The other problem is that we have to finalise all structural decisions with the house in 1 month so I do not have a lot of time to plan it well.

 

[daveH]

A month? That's a heap of time. Haha
The drawing I did is meant to allow for the tank to be moved right a bit to allow for the support post in the plans so that the full length of the tank is seen from the games room.
The cost of the builder framing a hole in the wall and framing up a cupboard would be peanuts.
I've had 4 houses built and found that things like that are never a problem with the builder.
It would also make it easier for the plumber to work with.

 

[Sam Parker]

Can't agree with Dave more. A month is a heap of time and time spent here will save you a heap of cash.
Sell it to the wife on how much extra the house will be worth with a properly integrated tank built in ;)

Sam

 

[Peter_1988_]

Thanks guys for all your ideas. I have been busy so have not had time to reply for a few days. My wife has decided she would like the tank the whole length of the wall now which could look pretty good, but still does not want it built into the wall. The wall is 12 foot long. I am speaking with the builder to see how much weight the floor can hold and if it is strong enough will probably do a 12 foot tank along the whole wall. That leaves room for a 2.5 foot tall tank with 3 foot stand below and 3 foot above for canopy. If we go ahead with this I might look into having the tank built into a false wall with just enough room that I can get behind it for maintenance (maybe 2 foot between the actual wall and the false wall where the tank is?) and will need some kind of opening or door to get behind it built into the side of the false wall. I am worried that if it is flush with the wall that it will be way too hard for maintenance and to reach the back and if I leave it sticking out a bit without the false wall it will look weird. The other option if the floor cannot handle the weight would be to have the 8 foot tank with the cupboard filling in the rest of the 4 foot to extend to the end of the wall, and having the sump in the cupboard to the side of the tank. It just might take a little bit longer to build if we go 12 foot. Bigger tank means more money. Will wait to see what the builder says and then try and draw a diagram and post it here.

 

[chimaera]

Sounds awesome! Just on tank height, I have noticed a lot of people with 2.5ft high tanks struggle to maintain it, even with a ladder, and many are now opting for 2ft high.

Also I would go as wide as you can, at least I like the look of wide versus narrow.

 

[Peter_1988_]

I was considering going 2 foot high by 3 foot wide instead of 2.5 by 2.5 but thought the extra height would look much better since it is a fairly long tank. I should be able to reach the bottom if I have access to the back and the front of the tank but will be a little bit of a stretch. I definately would struggle to reach the back bottom part of the tank if I only had access from the front. As for the extra width, it would be nice to be a bit wider, maybe 3 foot wide but I thought 2.5 should be ok. Once I figure out how much weight the floor can hold I will have to make a decision. I'm going to draw a few sketches scaled down as well to see which height looks best.

 

[holly]

2ft is a bastard even with a ladder, 2.5 would be almost impossible without going for a snorkel to touch the bottom. I find that I am almost in my tank daily to readjust things, or move something here or there. It just saves a bit of mucking around. Agree it would look stunning though on a 12 ft tank. I really love the deeper tanks, gives such a fantastic amount of depth and movement for the fish. If I could I would go 4 ft deep.

 

[Sam Parker]

I want depth, I know it's hard - but let's be honest, this hobby isn't easy!!!

 

[holly]

I want depth, I know it's hard - but let's be honest, this hobby isn't easy!!!

I meant front to back depth not height just to clarify

 

[Sam Parker]

My bad! I want lots of height ;)

 

[Peter_1988_]

Ok, so I have drawn some sketches and decided that I am going with the 2.5 foot by 2.5 foot tank and the plan is to make it the length of the entire wall which is 12 foot long approximately. You will see the difference between the 2 foot high compared with the 2.5 foot high in the diagrams. In my opinion the 2 foot just looks too long and narrow so I am willing to put up with the difficulty of maintaining the deeper tank as it will look so much nicer. I have also attached a 3d sketch of what it should look like (the cupboards and design may change slightly) and also you will see that I plan on having a cupboard of some sort on the side of the tank so I can access behind the tank. Hopefully 2 foot is enough space for me to get behind between the wall and the tank. (It might be bit tight) Any opinions on this? I have also done a new diagram of the house plan with the longer tank and the gap between the wall and tank. I would like the cupboards up top to all lift up for easy access and for the stand and canopy to go from floor to ceiling so it looks like it is part of the wall. Having the 2 foot gap between the tank and wall will make the family room much smaller however we still have a games room and lounge so we are not too worried. The family room will probably only have a small couch and the tank. The only other downfall is the sump will probably have to go under the tank which may be a bit hard to access and the walkway through the family and kitchen will be closed up a little bit but it is a fairly wide walkway anyway.

 

[chimaera]

Wow that is going to be an immense tank! Around 2200 litres I reckon - not many tanks of that size around in the world nevermind Australia. I think @coral1 's 18ft L shaped tank is one of the few of that size or bigger. That is 2.5ft deep so might give you a sense of proportion - I think you are right in that a tank that size will look better at 2.5ft.

http://thereefuge.com/threads/my-18ft-l-shape-reef-tank.83/

Oh and as for 2ft space behind ... @macca_75 how big is the space behind yours? Would be about 2ft?

 

[Sam Parker]

But how cool is it :P

 

[Peter_1988_]

I found out that those blacked out areas in the diagram of the house are just empty cavities in the wall. (I thought they were load bearing walls or something) The square one on the LHS of the tank is the return air for the house and the triangle on the RHS is just a void space. I have decided to put the drain, water cavity and dedicated power point in that triangle cavity if possible so that it is all hidden behind the wall in case we ever have to move the tank or get rid of it. I am speaking with the builder to see if this can be done. (there may be issues with the drain)
I am also discussing with the builder whether the concrete slab will be able to hold about 3 tonne of weight. I have been told that generally they only hold one tonne unless they have been reinforced but the builder initially said it would be fine. I have asked them to check with their architect or engineer to make sure it can hold the weight. Once I sort out the weight issue and see if the builder is happy to put everything in that triangle cavity it should be all ready to go for whenever I put the tank in but until then you will not notice anything coming out of walls or any drains in the floor.
As for the tank itself, the plan is to have it built as soon as the house is built (around July/August 2015) however that will depend if we have enough money saved up. Otherwise I might have to wait a bit longer. The final plans for the tank will probably not be done until next year. I will definitely go with the 2.5 wide by 2.5 high but still deciding whether to have the tank up against the wall, or have a gap behind with a door to access behind the tank (preferred option) and whether the tank will be 12 foot long (preferred) or 10 foot with a cupboard either side.

 

[hhgz2002]

Excellent plan you got there. I'm in the same boat as you trying to design the tank and not willing to kill off the current freshwater stocks lol.
3 foot stand is pretty tall, why not go all out. Less cabinet space and more aquarium :)

 

[Peter_1988_]

I think having the tank 75cm tall is realistically as high as I can do while still being able to maintain it. If It was any taller I would definitely need a scuba mask to reach the bottom.

 

[MagicJ]

Not sure how I missed this - there has been some great ideas and planning going on by the look of things.

Please think seriously about the vertical depth of the tank, especially if you have no rear access. I am fairly tall and struggle to reach the bottom of the back wall of my 4 x 2 x 2 - I would have no hope if it was 2.5 x 2.5. I would never have a tank more than 2 ft deep - a large tank like you are planning is already going to be a lot of work - you don't want to make it any harder for yourself.