Kracers 120XH in wall build

kracer1025 · Sep 27, 2014

My current 180 is coming down and I am going to put a Marineland 120XH tank in the wall. When we had the house built we had a room built behind where my 180 was designated to sit. This room was designed purely for equipment and that was it. After running the 180 in a rather small 1800 sq.ft. home with really good windows and excellent insulation it was found that the level of humidity in the house went up to very uncomfortable levels.
Well living with the humidity for 2 years has been a chore. Running a dehumidifier 27/7 and the house at a constant 76deg during the winter months with no heater and 76deg during the summer with the ac working overtime has really hurt the pocketbook.
My only remedy I could think of was to put the tank in the wall. My hopes in doing this is keeping the moisture from the tank contained in a single small space. The only problem with that was how to vent this moisture. To accomplish this I found a 2 fan crawl space vent to pull the moisture from the room and pull fresh air back in.
The next problem was keeping the 180 running until the last possible moment until it was possible to transfer everything over.
Sorry for the long explanation but pics will follow.

kracer1025 · Sep 27, 2014

Here is my current 180 and equipment room.

kracer1025 · Sep 27, 2014

I decided to take the Refugium off line and I moved the skimmer to the front of the tank. I'm going to remove the Sheetrock from the equipment room wall but leave the 180 wall in place until the last possible moment. I will trim the studs and use this as part of the aquarium stand framework.

kracer1025 · Sep 27, 2014

Here is the new tank and lumber for the stand. I decided to use 2x6 so I could widen the space between the braces to allow for more room for the sump.

zybergoby · Sep 27, 2014

Looks good cant wait to see the progression of this build.

rado87 · Sep 27, 2014

Always like to watch tank in wall builds. Also looking forward to seeing the progress as it goes on

kracer1025 · Sep 29, 2014

Pulled the Refugium and skimmer and cut out the Sheetrock. Trimmed down the studs for the start of the stand build.

kracer1025 · Sep 29, 2014

Started the stand build which will be a combo of 2x4s and 2x6s tied into the existing studs in the wall. I don't have any fancy plans or anything blueprints to show. Everything was just figured in my head and measurements were taken and pieces were cut along the way. Here is the completed stand.

kracer1025 · Sep 29, 2014

Here is the stand in the tank room so I could scribe the studs and trim where needed.

kracer1025 · Sep 29, 2014

Studs are trimmed and the electrical has been moved to accommodate the new tank. Installed the stand and tip is measured out and cut to size.

kracer1025 · Sep 29, 2014

zybergoby said:
Looks good cant wait to see the progression of this build.

rado87 said:
Always like to watch tank in wall builds. Also looking forward to seeing the progress as it goes on

Thanks for following along.

zybergoby · Sep 29, 2014

No prob this looks to be one heck of a build. Cant wait to read and see its progression

kracer1025 · Sep 30, 2014

The cutouts for the tank overflow and return plumbing has been done and the tank cutout through the wall has been made. I added a sheet of wood behind the Sheetrock to ad a bit of stability and added some braces at the corners. The wood is also liquid nailed and Sheetrock screwed to the wood.

kracer1025 · Sep 30, 2014

You can see the cutout above the canopy on my existing 180. I wanted the tank to sit even with the counter top for ascetic reasons even though it will make it difficult to work inside the tank. A ladder will be needed for all tank maintance im afraid. It should be interesting to learn how to work on a tank from what is usually the wall side.

kracer1025 · Sep 30, 2014

The tank is on the stand and to my wife's amazement was perfectly level. We won't mention that a bit of shimming to the stand was done prior to placing the tank in place.

kracer1025 · Sep 30, 2014

Installed my tideline tide36 sump. Fit perfectly between my braces.

zybergoby · Oct 2, 2014

This build looks like fun times. Thanks for the updates.

kracer1025 · Oct 2, 2014

zybergoby said:
This build looks like fun times. Thanks for the updates.

Thanks for following along. It really has been fun. I have never built anything this extensive before. Definitely a bit of a learning curve.

zybergoby · Oct 2, 2014

I hear you there makes me wish I could do my 140 build right now. February can't come soon enough. lol

So after you get this build to the fill it up/ transfer stage. What's in store for the curreny tank in front of the wall port?

kracer1025 · Oct 4, 2014

I am going to transfer a majority of the livestock and rock work over to the new aquarium. After that I have several interested people waiting till the tear down to take possession of the old setup.

zybergoby said:
I hear you there makes me wish I could do my 140 build right now. February can't come soon enough. lol

So after you get this build to the fill it up/ transfer stage. What's in store for the curreny tank in front of the wall port?