300 Gallon In-Wall Tank

[deepRED]

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share with you my latest project.


The tank is a 300 gallon ( 96"x30"x24"), acrylic, made by Tru-Vu in California.
It was delivered last week, and I've finally found some time to start working on it. It's spent the last few days sitting on my family room floor.



The tank behind to the right is a 300 gallon as well, but a 6 footer, which is currently a "holding tank" for my livestock while the other tank is set up.



This is replacing my old 180 gallon which was only 18" high, so after the old tank was pulled out, we had to rip the trim apart and cut the opening another 6" higher so the new tank could fit.



The tank actually sits in my office, and serves as a window from my family room to the office.



For the new trim, I've decided to use reclaimed raw cedar. I really like look and smell of cedar, and it was a cheap and simple fix. I think it turned out well.




I have about 250lbs of substrate to wash, and after that setting up the equipment, including a DIY custom trickle filter that will sit above tank.

I'll post more pics as the tank build comes along.

Thanks for looking!

[Diztrbd1]

Nice!! looking forward to seeing it when it's done!

[Johnnyfishtanks]

awesome man very cool

[Chappy]

Can't wait to see what you do with this - that's a lot of tank to play with

I also like really like the look of reclaimed planking, particularly cedar - it ages quite well.

[Chronick]

nice, man im jealous... how do you plan on cleaning the tank?

[2wheelsx2]

Not drilled. So no sump? Just canisters? T off the outlets for direct water changes?

[monkE]

looks great man! keep the pictures coming as this project progresses!

[tony1928]

Awesome, love to watch someone develop their tank from scratch. I'm a little surprised at how thin the acrylic looks and maybe its just an optical illusion. What's the thickness if you don't mind me asking?

[deepRED]

Not drilled. So no sump? Just canisters? T off the outlets for direct water changes?

Nope, above tank trickle filter instead. It holds 26 liters of bio-media and is driven by a compact eheim pump rated at 800gph.

Normally I would do a sump, but I don't have the space under the tank as I'm running quarantine tanks there. So it was more out of necessity than anything else.

This type of filter is not for most people as it sits above tank. Not the nicest to look at, but since the tank is actually in the office and the display side is clean, it works out quite nicely for my application.
They are very common in Asia, though the ones used there are typically long sealed sumps that pass through various media. This is a straight shower type trickle systems that drains into the tank via two bulkheads. Really simple, but does the trick.

I run a similar setup on a 2000 gallon pond, works like a charm.

For water changes I use a huge pump that I just plop in, drains the tank half way in like 5 minutes. Refill with a python, straight from tap.

I was thinking of setting up an auto water-change system, but logistically it would cost too much as I would have to run new drain lines etc.

I'll post some pics of the filter setup once it's up and running.

[m_class2g]

tank looks good! cant wait to see it stocked up!