Akando's In wall design thread

Hello all!
I've been into aquariums since I was little but only into reef tanks since 2009. My father is also in to reef tanks. It all started with me bringing home a 72 Gallon bow front which I had planned to build slow. Flash forward a year, found another good deal on a complete 120 gallon and brought it back with me from Florida. In 2012, we moved into a new house with an insulated garage and way too much space. I currently have an 8x2'x12" frag tank that has the remnants of my friends tank that survived his tank cracking. I also have a 180g that is tied into my 125g in the garage. The 72 Gallon is in the game room currently.

My father and I have always wanted a Large tank say at least 10', we have located the "perfect" space to do an in-wall build, but only 8' long.

Hopefully, I can bounce my design ideas off of you guys so this tank will be successful for many years to come.
The tank will be centered on the wall with 16" space on each side of the tank, but not the same space in the room behind. I plan to do an 8'L x 3'D x 29" H tank with starphire front, with a sump under the display, and a Coral grow-out tank in the fish room.
Here is a picture of where I plan for the tank to be on the wall.

This is a crude sketch of the layout and measurements of the room behind the tank.

And a sketch of the tank


I haven't figured out the overflow(s) yet, was originally planning on going with 3 individual overflows but I would really like to go with a Coast to Coast style overflow, with a Bean Animal drain system.

I have an idea of what I want the sump layout to be, and will be doing a sketch tomorrow.

I had planned on placing (2) 200 gallon tanks in the room for RO and Saltwater storage/mixing but It really limits the space in the room.

My garage is roughly 23 feet away from the tank; and If I could, I would like to have the 2oo gallon tanks in the garage, plumbed into the room. Not sure if this would be feasible, but I already have a nice counter area with storage and a sink.

There is no sink in the fish room, no water hookup, and no drain, I could possibly place a pipe that could be routed to the exterior and be a sort of grey water drain. I am also on a septic system which limits my disposal capabilities.

That's all I feel like writing at this time, thank you for reading!

 

Haha, that is my friend Mike, I didnt even notice he was flipping me the bird!

You are correct, Ace. I would only need to Pump water 23' from the garage to the tank during water changes. I would probably located the RO/DI unit in the garage near the mixing tanks but I am thinking that I will need a RO container in the fishroom for top off water.

 

Really the only thing that I do rinse out is my algae screens and dump my skimmer cups into the drain, rest of my water change water (which hasn't been much since Ive been neglecting my tanks) goes out to the 30'x45' area on the side of my house that is covered in rock. That is also where I could plan to pipe the drain from the fish room to...

 

Thanks for the advice Kerry, I am still up in the air about the final depth of the tank and also unsure if I want to go with a DSB or Bare Bottom...

Here's a crude sketch of a sump layout, 1st chamber will be a turbulence chamber which will overflow into chamber 2, where the (6) filtersocks will be set in a frame for easy removal, water will normally flow out the bottom of this chamber into the reactor chamber, #3. I will also probably place the ATS pump in this chamber. Chamber 4 I may use for a return or possibly connect it to another larger sump to increase my water volume. I have not decided on final sizes of sumps or how I will tie in the grow out tanks to this system. I am up for ideas!

 

That's a good idea! I'll have to measure one to see if I can fit it in the room. I could also possibly go with a vertical tank.
Here's a question for ya, what happens when the power shuts off and the 100g tank starts to drain into the sump?
I just re-read your post and saw that the line would be plumbed UP from the bottom of the tank so I guess once the sump level equalizes with the stock tank, water flow ceases.

 

Here's a sketch I drew, If I put the 100g tank on the same plane, I could just drill a bulkhead into the sump correct?
I want the sump raised so I can easily drain each chamber. That's what the small circles are, bulkheads. How would you guys pipe in the stock tank?

 

That was my intent with the bulkheads in the side, got kinda carried away with them heh. I'm still a little fuzzy on the stock tank idea, I'm worried about overflowing the sump with what's in the stock tank.
On a side note, look what I saw online today!