# Tank In Wall Build Finished/ Write up/ Lots of Pictures



## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Started this project back in July and finished it sometime in august. I have not been on here in a while and vie been meaning to sit down and do a write up on my tank build as I get time to. I have tons of pictures of the tank so be patient and I'll be loading them on here as I get more time to do so.

So here is the story of this build, I found this tank on craigslist in July. The gentleman who was selling it only wanted a $100.00 for this 150 gallon fish tank. I offered him a trade and he took the deal and I ended up bringing home this 6' tank. This tank was in such poor condition that it needed a makeover big time! I first started to take the brace of the tank to allow me to separate the glass and begin to rebuild it.

Here is what the tank looked like when I brought it home









I found that using a spackle knife worked best when trying to remove the trim without breaking the trim.









After I removed the trim, I then began to break down the tank using a razor blade and spackle knife. This probably took about 2hrs since I was moving this tank all by myself with no help.

















Now that I had the tank all broke down, I decided to replace the front glass because it was heavily scratched. I went to a local glass dealer and ordered a new front glass panel, 2 custom glass lids and a new glass center brace.

Photo of new glass panel









While I was waiting for my new glass to be cut and made I decided to start cleaning the other panels of glass. This part is extremely important! You must remove all silicone and residue in order to get a good seal on the glass! Here is how I cleaned and scraped the glass:

I purchased a bunch of razor blade and some rubbing alcohol to clean the glass. I went over and over with the razor blade and applied rubbing alcohol to the glass to make the razor move better. 









Once I scraped by hand I pulled out my air compressed gun with a wire wheel on it. I found that brushing the glass with the wire wheel sped up time and got rid of every bit of the silicone residue.









After all the silicone was removed I cleaned the glass with rubbing alcohol before it was ready to be put back together. I don't have any photos of putting the glass together because we had to act fast when silicone the glass together. It took 3 of us to do this and this is probably the 2nd most important part of putting the tank back together. I had to make sure that there was a good seam in-between the glass and that I had no air bubbles! If a 1/4 or 1/2 of your seam has air bubbles then the seam could fail. You want to keep the air bubbles to a minimum. I wasn't going to risk 150 gallons of water ruining my drywall and floor due to being lazy and not doing it the right way!

Since I waited a few days to let the silicone cure I moved on to the trim. Now if you remember what the trim looked like it was oak and had duct tape residue all over it, why I don't know?

First thing I did was remove the old silicone from the trim, I used I razor blade and my air compressed drill with a wire wheel to remove it all. Once I finished that I got my palm sander out and sanded the finish on the front down to where it was a smooth paintable surface. Why even bother painting the trim if you will never see it since the tank is in the wall? Well, I wanted this tank to look brand new as if I just bought it from a local fish store, that just how I roll.

Here is a photo of the trim sanded down


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

After sanding I was ready to paint! I used a flat black latex paint and used a mini roller to put it on so everything was nice and even.









Now that I did that and it's been a couple of days it was back to the tank to start silicone the inside seams. I used regular painters tape and began to lay the tape down in a way that it overlapped, so when I pull the tape it all comes off in one piece. normally you would want a second person to help you, once guy will lay the silicone down and the other will smooth it out and remove the tape, but you don't have too, as I did this all by myself. So here is a picture of how I taped off my tank.

















Once I was happy with my tape job I began to lay the silicone down. You have to act fast when doing this; this was not easy at all by myself! I laid the bead down first and then dipped my finger in rubbing alcohol to smooth out my bead. After I smoothed it, I started to pull that sections tape off gently and quickly. The reason you want to pull the tape right away is because the silicone sets fast and if you wait too long the silicone will pull off with the tape leaving you with an ugly seam and possible air bubbles.

Here is what my seams looked like 









Now I waited a minimum of 7 days or longer to fill this with water and test it, so I had some down time while I waited for the silicone to cure. I moved onto silicone the trim on and working on the stand for tank. I always here about people saying "your stand is overbuilt" or "why did you use 2x4's?" 
Well... I always build my stands with 2x4's for peace of mind. 2x4's are cheap and I don't ever have to worry about them failing (I hope). I first took measurements of the tank and of my wall to see how wide and tall I wanted to make it. Height I came up with for the stand was going to be over 4' since I wanted the tank to sit high on my wall. So now that I had my measurements it was time to start building. I made it easy on myself and started cutting all my 2x4's all at once to my measurements.

My helper inspecting all my cuts, she gave me the ok to proceed.

















Now that all my boards are cut I began with the bottom and top bases first. I used a square to make sure every corner was true and square.

A picture of the top and bottom. See how tight and square they are to each other?









Once those where done I put the rest together using wood screws and brackets for extra strength since this stand was so tall.

























Once I finished the stand I put the tank on it to see how it fit and looked being so high.









My other inspector checking out the stand and gave me the ok to move on


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

So now that I finished the stand I started to work on the background and paint the sides and back black so no light would sneak through. I used a rattle can to paint it, but you can use latex with a roller as well. They both scrape off with a razor if you mess up or want to remove it later down the road.









Now on to the background! I don't know if many of you remember my 110 gallon tank build and my remodel build but I had a lake Tanganyika them going on. You can see some pictures of my tank here as TOTM http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/disp ... tank=23889 or search my user name. 








I have always gone with grey rock backgrounds and this time I wanted to do a tan color since from pictures of the lake of rocks looked like that. Here is a picture of the background by itself









Once I finished the background I did a test fit and it fit just perfect!








Some picture may be out of order...sorry

















After the tank was all assembled it was now time to leak test. I let the tank sit for about a week and took this time to work on the inside of the house and start doing some damage! When I first decided to do this I originally had a 240 gallon tank that I had purchased and wanted to do something like this









Well I was an idiot and didn't realize that an 8' tank would not fit in the room it was going into. So I sold it and made a pretty penny. Keep in mind this is all done on a budget and I haven't spent much money now, maybe $100.00 so far on materials.
So this is the wall in my living room that my tank is going into. 









Pretty plain I know.... well it was time to get to work! I took my measurements to the wall and used a level to outline the wall to insure everything was straight and level.









Now that I had my outline I took my drywall knife and started cutting a very straight line. Once I cut my lines it was time to remove the drywall, this was the messy part. I had to use a hammer and bust up the drywall to get it out. It would have been nice to have it come out in one piece but that now how it works for this large of a cut out.

















This is what the wall looks like with the drywall off. Now it's time to do the same thing on the other side of the wall









Now it's time to cut the 2x4 studs! Be very careful when doing this! Make sure you are not cutting into a load bearing wall which this one is not!


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

This was a pain in the butt, but it always is when putting tanks in the wall. I used a skill saw and had to make cuts on both sides. 

















Now notice how I have a power wire down the center of my hole. This has to be removed and re-routed. Kill the power to your fuse box and cut the wire. Then add a junction box up in the attic and re attach your wires there. I took time to install and wire my lights that will go next to the fish tank.

Now with my power wire re-located it was time to do a test fit. I had to make a few minor adjustments to the hole. I always make my holes very tight and true to the tanks.
Here is a picture of the test fit with a single shop light on it. Don't worry the lighting gets better.









Now that the test fit went well it was time to build my trim and put it on. This is not a pre-built molding. I designed and made this trim myself doing a buildup of the frame. Here is a photo of it all put together









Now it's time to stain the trim! I do not have any picture of the process but you get the idea on how to do it if you have made it this far!
I've always built my furniture and stained them dark. Either walnut or red mahogany! I felt walnut was going to be too dark for the room and the rest of my furniture is red mahogany.









Here's a picture with the lights finished









Now came time to fill the tank and put some of the rocks in. this was scary for me, I was so afraid the tank was going to explode or leak but I had to be confident in my work!









All filled up

















So here are some pictures of what it looks like all finished with fish


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

So now that the tank is done and the living room is finished its time to move onto the pump room. It is not yet finished as a plan on building the tank in its own little room so you don't see it when in the office. I will be dry walling a room and putting in some big closet doors that fold. I will also talk about my pumps, how the back ground works, my automatic water changer, and other cool accessories that I am using on this tank. There is a lot more to cover and I will update this later this week when I have time to write more.

I hope you guys enjoy my write up so far


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Very nice job and well worth all the effort. It is a perfect height for that room. Nicely done all the way around.

Steve


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Steve C said:


> Very nice job and well worth all the effort. It is a perfect height for that room. Nicely done all the way around.
> 
> Steve


+100


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Beautiful beautiful tank. And a great job of sharing how you built this. If I can ask, how does the mounting in the wall work. I see you built a stand, the wall has a pass through on it of "x" number of inches...and the tank appears to be flush with the front wall. Does the tank rest on both the wall (along the front pass through) and the stand in the back? Just curious if I'm seeing that right in my mind's image based on the pics.

Love your background and aquascaping. Overall a +11 tank I'd say or as ratbones86 said +100


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## Frazee86 (Aug 1, 2010)

Since it wasn't a load baring wall he(my guess) just took the studs out and flushed the stand up to the drywall. Since that wall is just there to separate two rooms. At least what I would of done and seems logical the way since he built the stand way he did. But it is really nice build lovely tank


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Thank you guys! I put a lot of hard work in this and it's the center of attention when guest are over. 

The stand is pushed up against the wall and on the inside of the wall I laid a 2x4 down and re-enforced it. So the tank sits on the stand and on the 2x4 studs with a 2x4 across it so the tank sits level with the stand. Does that make sence? Unfortanitly I can't find any pictures of that part of the build. I am hoping to get some free time soon here after the holidays to finish the pump room.


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## du3ce (Sep 11, 2012)

looks dope! i bet maintenance is going to be a pain


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Tank has been running since august and I have very very low maintenance. The tank gets 14 gallons of fresh water daily from my continues automatic water changer. I ran my tank before like this and water was always crystal clear and I got great growth out of my fish. I guess you could say the only maintenance I do on this tank is feed the fish, scrape the front glass every 2 weeks and every 3-6 months clean all my pumps. Catching a fish would be difficult, but *** had these fish for 3 years and don't plan to get rid of them. Thank you for the kind comments guys!


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## Frazee86 (Aug 1, 2010)

After thinking about how I would of done it...prob be kicking myself would been more work since would have to take screws n all out of the drywall then patch n paint...but I think I got the gist of how you did it

But props again well put together tank


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Frazee86 said:


> After thinking about how I would of done it...prob be kicking myself would been more work since would have to take screws n all out of the drywall then patch n paint...but I think I got the gist of how you did it
> 
> But props again well put together tank


Thank you!

Doing it that way would have been a lot more work and would be kinda permanent. Doing it the way I did made it easy to patch the hole in the wall. If I ever want to get rid of the tank and patch the wall doing it this way I feel is better. I've put other tanks in people's homes and enjoy doing the ones in basements where you have to build a wall. Just easier than punching a hole in a wall and cutting the studs along with re-wiring outlets ect...


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

a little update on the pump room/office. i got around to framing the room im building around the tank. my idea of this was to make this like a closet and put folding closet doors on. im going with 2 36" closet doors so i can have full open access to the back of the tank. building it this way saves me space in my office instead of adding a door which would involve me making the closet deeper which would take up way to much floor space. once its drywalled and finished i will be adding a dehumidifier inside the pump room to help with any moisture problems that may occur. here are a couple of pictures to show what the framing looks like so far.


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## FanOfSkynyrd (Nov 25, 2012)

Nice work, keep the updates coming.


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## Frazee86 (Aug 1, 2010)

Whole lot of filtration you have going on there 3 xp3s? And looks like two ac110? And a sump? Haha looks well put together tho.


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Ha, no I have 2 xp2's and 1 xp3 with 2 ac70's that I have running all the time but I use them as backups. The canisters leak from time to time and I will shut one down until I have time to fix and replace the seals. I also keep the HOB filters running so I can use them for a hospital tank. I dont have a sump that's my 10 gallon hospital tank. Lots of filtration is key! My water is always crystal clear and the continues fresh water helps too! I'll go into depth more about my pumps and equipment later. I've got alot of cool gadgets I've made for this tank that I will post later when I'm finished with the pump room. I hope to have drywall up by tonight or this week. More pictures coming soon!


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## Frazee86 (Aug 1, 2010)

I like the XP filters I have two XP 3's on my 75 which at some point being replacing with a 125. Have it just need the extra time to set it up. But looking good drywalling has to be least favorite home repair to do. Next to removing lathe and plaster lol


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Yeah, xp's are nice but I got them for practically nothing. I know a person who works for marrs and they wanted me to try the pumps out. I've had 2 of them for over 2 years with no real big issues. Not looking forward to drywalling but I'm pretty good at it, so it doesn't bother me to bad it's just time consuming to get it to look just right.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Very nice job on the tank reconstruction and installation in the wall. The fish are looking good amongst all the rocks and the DIY background.


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

got a little done today after work. i was only able to work on this for about 2 hours. i got as far as cutting the drywall to size and installing it. now i have to tape it and spakle. pictures look bad, not alot of room in my office to get a good full shot of the closet. i will probably spakle in the next couple of days and then sand once it drys. i have to make a run to home depot to pick up the doors and wood trim and stain those once im ready. probably going to be atleast another 2-3 weeks until i wrap this up. time has been very limited lately. hope you guys enjoy! and thank you for the kind words deeda!


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

nice lookin good! Wish i had the room to do something like this!


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## bft3278 (Oct 18, 2010)

Ha, I really don't have the space for it. My house is a rambler and space is tight! This is why I put my tank in the wall and got rid of my 110 tall on a stand. It took up alot of room. I hope to be able to get some time today and tape up the drywall. And if I'm lucky start to texture the walls. I'm tossing back and forth on what to do for doors. I was think bi fold doors or sliding doors. Not sure what I'm going with yet but I'm leaning towards bi folds since it will match the other closet int the room. I'll keep you guys updated


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

id go with the bifold luvered doors. that way it would help keep down on how much humidity is in that "tank area" along with the dehumidifier. Or you can put whatever you want it don't matter, as long as you like it


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## Woundedyak (Oct 19, 2007)

Great Job! Wall tanks can be tricky.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Holy-mazing-sauce!


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

btw you have a stock list? im going to be doing a 125g and was wanting to do something kinds like this and was just curious of the numbers you had. Thanks!


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