55 Gal Aquarium in Wall, diy sump, stand, overflow, lighting, diy everything lol

[dbfzurowski]

Hello Good People!!!

Please allow me to present you my journey, to how I build the ultimate entertainment/relaxation point in my home.

End of spring, beginning of summer my condo became available for total remodeling! One among many, many projects that has kept me up at night thinking, planning
smiling the most was the in wall tank!

It had been discussed a number of times with my awesomely supportive wife. The pros...and the cons.....In the end, my love for fish took the podium, in wall tank it is!

It might not seem like much for some, but I find peace and relaxation every time I look at it and that my friends that makes me proud of what I have accomplished.

Enough of this boring into, lets cut to the pictures!

For future reference, front side is looking at tank from my living room, back side is in my office.
Some of the pictures were taken with my phone so please forgive the quality.

Simple beginning, measure out where the tank needs to be in the wall.




Then Begin cutting,




Little more




Then other side,




Much more on back side




Not much to look at, for now.







So then I build my header and base


At this point I have removed all of the old electrical, well everything.


and front view




I pulled a separate 15amp line dedicated for the aquarium
You can see electrical pipe running on top with one outlet for lighting, then going on right side where my two switches are, down to stand.






I have planned and build everything, that if there is a need to disassemble it, I could do so with out any problems. Even saved the carpet under the stand.
That would be all for this episode. Good night.

[Second Hand Pat]

Awesome Dominik

[dbfzurowski]

Thanks, more to come later.

[ZX10R]

NICE!!!!! can't wait to see the final show. I love built in tanks

[dbfzurowski]

Due to lack of time/camera I didn't take any pictures further during the build. So these next pictures are of already completed project.

The stand I made out of one piece of finished plywood 4'x8'. I cut out the openings for cabinet doors with a skill saw and used them as doors.



I used Black hinges and door handles to match the tank frame. Screws were gold to kinda blend in with the wood, they dont but still better then using black.



Lamp is same as last build, Home Depot 4' fluorescent bulb fixture attached with black chains on both sides. Plugged into my timer which is plugged into my new outlet

[dbfzurowski]

Overflow and sump.


For the overflow I took 4" and 2.5" pvc pipes. I split them into two halves and put one over the other




I drilled holes on bottom and then jigsaw across it. I did it this way so that debris can be sucked out from bottom. With this system I have not once had to vacuum the bottom.
Much better then traditional overflow from top imo.



Soon after the setup good bacteria/algae started growing in my overflow, good stuff




Drains down to stand. One drain inside the wall, other just barely fits next to my desk.




It all goes to my sump





Now the sump is a 25G high tank. I used 1/4 acrylic to divide the tank into 3 compartments. 1st is to hold my micro sock in place. I am using short 6", 5micron socks. Soon I will get 14" 25-50 micron so that it wont clog so fast. 2nd is where my K1 moving media will go. In mail as we speak. Bioballs have done great so far but its time to rid of them. 3rd is for my 600gph pump. I have it turned down to about 350gph


Digital Finnex heater and fusion700 air pump. All is controlled with switches next to my drains.

[dbfzurowski]

Wallah!!!

Current stock:
-4 discus from Kenny
-3 green corycats
-4 bristlenose plecos
-4 german blue rams(2pair)
-25 blood fin tetras
-1 angelfish
Overstock you say? Damn right it is!!!! 3more discus coming in about two months.
Filter does its job is all I have to say















Wood is from PC1. Sand is pool filter sand. I love the simple look of it.


Thanks for watching.

[Second Hand Pat]

Darn nice and great job

[Darrell Ward]

It looks nice, and perhaps I missed something, but with water entering the overflow at the bottom of the tank, what prevents the tank from draining and overflowing the sump when the pump goes out during a power outage?

[dbfzurowski]

Darrell; There are two layers there.



The smaller pipe works as a regular overflow, collecting water that overflows to it. The bigger one, is taller then the smaller. This causes the water to be pushed up from the bottom.
When I flip the switch for the pump, the inside of the smaller pipe is empty while the area between small and big pipe has water equal to tank water height.

[dbfzurowski]

Thanks Pat, I cant wait for new discus. I think a pair of Piwowarski tefe RSG will look nice in there

[Darrell Ward]

OK, thanks! Interesting design.

[dbfzurowski]

It works great. With nothing but sand on bottom all my debris gets pushed down to the overflows and sucked up to sump, just as planned

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Pat, I cant wait for new discus. I think a pair of Piwowarski tefe RSG will look nice in there

Dominik, I agree. If I wasn't doing wilds I would be all over those Piwowarski.

[Second Hand Pat]

OK, thanks! Interesting design.

Darrell, the overflow on the 230 is exactly like this. It really does pull the junk off the bottom.