Colleen and Nate's in-wall 270 gallon - Tri-cities

[colleen]

Okay, it's time we posted a link on our 270 gallon tank in-wall tank install!

For those of you that don't know, we had a new house built this past June that included a built in in-wall tank with a small equipment room behind to house our plumbing, separate frag system, and quarantine tank. We learned the quarantine tank lesson the hard way after 8 years of living dangerously and hoping for the best. If you're going to have SPS in your tank you really do need one!

Our new tank is 8' x 26" x 24.75" tall with a starphire front. The tank was purchased from Concept Aquariums, <ST1lace><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City>Edmonton</st1:City>, <st1:State>Alberta</st1:State></ST1lace>. They were friendly, great to work with, and had great customer service.

The biggest challenge was getting the tank positioned into the wall --several glass suction cups, a genie lift, and a dozen guys (and a gal or two!) made the task fairly quick and painless. Thanks to everyone who showed up to help!

Our 155 gallon bowfront is still temporarily set up in front of the new tank, but we're within a few days of adding fresh water to the new system so we can see what glue joints we may have missed !

Thanks to all the people on the west side who have opened their homes to us, we wouldn't be where we are today without seeing so many different tank setups and being allowed to pick so many brains . The friendly attitudes of the people in the NW that are willing share their knowledge has been truly amazing.

Here's the link to the tank build progress:

http://canfieldreef.com/home/tank/

 

[tike]

What an awesome system! (droool!). Nice pics also....keep the updates coming.

 

[CarlaW]

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!! Nice work.

 

[krisfal]

Sweet Build! Just finishing up on a in wall myself, takes a lot of time but well worth it in the end. I love my system.

Good Job, That is going to be beautiful with all of you livestock in it!

 

[jnarowe]

Great progress guys...um, that plumbing looks wild!

 

[Nate C.]

Thanks everyone. We are SO ready to have this thing wrapped up and running!

Johnathan, we going to be able to talk you and Sherman into coming over for the meeting at our place??? (anyone else that may want to come over for the meeting is welcome to join us too...we'll update regarding date once we have it set...one step at a time, let's get the tank running first!)

 

[jnarowe]

SHerman's a weenie...but I will try to come.

 

[Nate C.]

slip him a sleeping pill and throw him in the car. When he wakes up in tri-cities...he'll just have to wonder what happened!

 

[jnarowe]

Damn dude, now he will be on the lookout!

 

[CarlaW]

slip him a sleeping pill and throw him in the car. When he wakes up in tri-cities...he'll just have to wonder what happened!

I do that every time I leave Spokane and head your way 'cept i am driving.

 

[colleen]

Sure wish I could figure out how to make that drive while leeping -- you're certainly not missing much scenery-wise!

 

[CarlaW]

Sure wish I could figure out how to make that drive while leeping -- you're certainly not missing much scenery-wise!

Yeah, I have seen prettier parts of Washington state. Ah, but if you like to drive, it all has it's own beauty.

 

[jnarowe]

Sure wish I could figure out how to make that drive while leeping -- you're certainly not missing much scenery-wise!

sounds like a business opportunity.

 

[Nate C.]

I do that every time I leave Spokane and head your way 'cept i am driving.

:lol: Well, hey, at least you've always made it in one piece. That's all that matters anyway!

 

[CarlaW]

:lol: Well, hey, at least you've always made it in one piece. That's all that matters anyway!

Believe me, it was questionable a couple of times

 

[MC Lighting]

Nate and Colleen that setup looks fantastic so glad things are coming along for you guys. I am sure this tank will be as happy and healthy as your other one but this is very impressive!

 

[MC Lighting]

one question I have for you guys I see that you have secured the chiller lines directly to the wall, I am wondering if you have isolated the pipe at all from the wall? I had a great deal of sound transmission from pipe to wall on my old setup I have been able to significantly reduce that vibration with the use of the pipe foam insulation. Just something to consider before you finish up and you probably already know this but hey wanted to throw it out there.

 

[colleen]

one question I have for you guys I see that you have secured the chiller lines directly to the wall, I am wondering if you have isolated the pipe at all from the wall? I had a great deal of sound transmission from pipe to wall on my old setup I have been able to significantly reduce that vibration with the use of the pipe foam insulation. Just something to consider before you finish up and you probably already know this but hey wanted to throw it out there.

It is secured directly to the wall, but with quick clamps. Figure we will wait and see during the test run if we get vibration noise, if so, will isolate with silicone sheet or something else. Hadn't thought of the foam as a possibility, if that seemed to work pretty well, may just do that, way cheaper than the silicone sheet. Thanks for the idea!

 

[colleen]

Finally Finished (are we ever really finished???)

Okay, I admit it, the tank build definitely got priority over posting photos and updates on the web page!

We got the aquascaping done in early January, starting over again with newly purchased rock and sand since we didn't want to add ANYTHING from our 155 gallon that had AEFW. 100 lbs. of the rock came from a friend that was tearing down her tank, and we bought detritivore kits and refugium flora and fauna kits from Inland Aquatics. We never did have a cycle, and the kits and 100 lbs of live rock had enough pods in them that our spotted mandarin came through the move well-fed. We also added a couple large pieces of live rock with some encrusting montis that we got from Tracy when she was getting ready to move from Palouse to North Carolina.

The web page has been updated with our latest photos, will try to get the tank-coral growth progress photos posted on a more regular basis now that life is finally getting back to "normal"!

www.canfieldreef.com

 

[CarlaW]

You guys gonna be on the tank tour this year? Things look really good, congrats!!!!