8' In-Wall Planted Setup

[deepRED]

It's been a couple of years since I've posted any pictures of my tanks, but this tank has been in the works for quite a while now so I figured I'd document it's progress here.

I've come from running well over 2000 gallons worth of tanks to running none, and now to running just three.

This is my largest tank. Originally, I had a 550 gallon that I was planning on setting up in my new house, but after much debate I decided that it just took up too much space and I would have to be giving up my home office in the process.
The tank I have setup now was actually going to be the sump for the 550 gallon, so yes, I got rid of the tank and set up the sump.

First thing I had to do was cut a hole in the wall and reinforce the frame. This was done free-hand with a reciprocating saw.



I framed this simply with door casing.



Since the tank is so long, I had to actually build the stand in the room.
It's simply made of 2x4's and 2x6's. It's skinned with mahogany ply and I'll be adding some doors and trim soon on the office side with the help of a cabinet maker friend.



The actual tank is 96"x24"x18", making it around 180 gallons.
The framework is an island of driftwood that is centered in the middle to allow for two sided viewing. Substrate is onyx sand.

Here is tank the day after setup ( excuse the cloudiness from the substrate):



Lighting: waiting for the new reefbrite LED fixtures by marineland, currently using a 4 foot hoT5 fixture. I want to keep the edges of the tank clean, so a 4 foot fixture is more than enough lighting to keep the plants growing. The edges are shadowed and give a more unique look.

Filtration: Eheim 2080 Pro 3 Filter. Filled with nylon scrubbies, chem stars, ehfi-mech and ehfi-substrat.

Heating: 2x Ebo-jager 300 watt heaters.

Flow: single Koralia 4 powerhead

Lighting and temperature are controlled with a neptune aquacontroller jr. which allows me to monitor the pH as well.

Flora: Basically there are three types of moss, and three types of java fern. Simple, simple, simple. I've done many high tech planted setups in the past and I love them, but this tank was designed to be very low maintenance.

Fauna: Currently stocked with four types of rainbowfish x40, harlequin rasboras x20, rummy nose tetras x 12, albino bristlenose plecos x 10, gold angels x 7, japonica shrimp x 30.






I've lost the charger to my camera so please excuse the cell phone photos. I'll try to get some newer shots when I have time.

Thanks for looking!

[BigPete]

one word - BEAUTIFUL!

[gklaw]

Looks good Jeremy.

[Diztrbd1]

What a beautiful tank! Hope to do the same thing one day if I ever get a house. Thanks for sharing

[TCR]

that is one awesome set up

[Morainy]

Stunning! A real asset to the room, too. I love the way that you planted it.

[2wheelsx2]

Very nice. I like the fact that you resisted stuffing it full of tetras (like I did).

[Chappy]

LOVE it! Ah, the things I would do with that tank.......sigh

[Luke78]

Nicely done , i would stay in that room all day long just watching the activity.Thanks for sharing !

Shelley , i think you and i are thinking the same...A bunch of huge wild discus swmming as group !

LOVE it! Ah, the things I would do with that tank.......sigh

[Chappy]

Shelley , i think you and i are thinking the same...A bunch of huge wild discus swmming as group !

Stay outta my head That's EXACTLY what I was thinking. Can you imagine?