Hey everyone,
New to the forum, looks like a great community.
Wanted to share my experience as I get into a planted 180g FW build.
About 10 years ago I got into crested geckos and really got into the vivarium part of the hobby... building tanks and interesting ecosystems... bred them for awhile.
Then I went into dart frogs with a large colony of borja ridge ventrimaculata housed in a custom 100g planted viv. The vivarium included a 6gallon planted pond feature where I had guppies, tetras etc. Having spent a number of years in the dart frog hobby, I certainly appreciate the value of a local hobby forum/community.
Recently I undertook a project to renovate my basement in full and decided to pull the trigger on a 180gallon in-wall aquarium.
I haven't yet decided on the fish species, but am really taken with the Amano style of Nature Aquarium and will likely be emulating this style of tank.
I've attached a couple pictures of the build location in the basement. From the one side of the wall, as you come down the stairs into the basement there is a 'porthole' which exposes about 1/3 of the tank. From the other side, the tank will be fully visible from the bar/office/theatre sections of my basement.
The opening is oversized by about 8" on the left side to allow for me to run plumbing/electrical up the side of the tank. The idea was to then cover the front in wood paneling with doors etc.
Seeing as we were framing the basement from scratch, while I know it is over-kill, the contractor went with LVL beam, supported on the concrete floor and tied into the wall structure. Thought was that this should remain straight, strong and sturdy for many years to come. I have included a dedicated electrical circuit with two, 2-gang outlets (1top, 1 bottom - at opposite ends of the tank), some ventilation and a place to run RO lines once the bar (to the left) is complete and an RO unit installed. We used moisture resilient drywall and the ceiling was first strapped with 1/2 drywall to allow me to screw/secure into this anywhere to hang lights etc.
The 180g low-e tank from Aqua Inspirations is on order, as is the 75g sump.
I'm inclined to go with Radion FW LEDs and the Vortech pump. Beyond that I haven't finalized equipment yet.
One area I'm struggling to nail-down is the cabinet facing... how I am going to complete the paneling on the front of the tank. I would like to have one large top hinged door across the top, and a couple doors across the bottom... My thought was then to have a large panel on the left, covering the excess space off the end of the tank, which I can remove if needed to service the plumbing and electrical.
Attached is a conceptual drawing for this as it ties into the bar...
I had a quote to face the tank/openings in a Walnut Vaneer/Waterproof MDF product, but the quote was significantly more than I had imagined... Would definitely appreciate any suggestions, contacts on this piece!
Look forward to sharing my progress, learning from the vast experience of the community and diving into this project head-first!
Happy to get some feedback, suggestions and questions to help guide me through this exciting project and hopefully add some value to this community along the way.
New to the forum, looks like a great community.
Wanted to share my experience as I get into a planted 180g FW build.
About 10 years ago I got into crested geckos and really got into the vivarium part of the hobby... building tanks and interesting ecosystems... bred them for awhile.
Then I went into dart frogs with a large colony of borja ridge ventrimaculata housed in a custom 100g planted viv. The vivarium included a 6gallon planted pond feature where I had guppies, tetras etc. Having spent a number of years in the dart frog hobby, I certainly appreciate the value of a local hobby forum/community.
Recently I undertook a project to renovate my basement in full and decided to pull the trigger on a 180gallon in-wall aquarium.
I haven't yet decided on the fish species, but am really taken with the Amano style of Nature Aquarium and will likely be emulating this style of tank.
I've attached a couple pictures of the build location in the basement. From the one side of the wall, as you come down the stairs into the basement there is a 'porthole' which exposes about 1/3 of the tank. From the other side, the tank will be fully visible from the bar/office/theatre sections of my basement.
The opening is oversized by about 8" on the left side to allow for me to run plumbing/electrical up the side of the tank. The idea was to then cover the front in wood paneling with doors etc.
Seeing as we were framing the basement from scratch, while I know it is over-kill, the contractor went with LVL beam, supported on the concrete floor and tied into the wall structure. Thought was that this should remain straight, strong and sturdy for many years to come. I have included a dedicated electrical circuit with two, 2-gang outlets (1top, 1 bottom - at opposite ends of the tank), some ventilation and a place to run RO lines once the bar (to the left) is complete and an RO unit installed. We used moisture resilient drywall and the ceiling was first strapped with 1/2 drywall to allow me to screw/secure into this anywhere to hang lights etc.
The 180g low-e tank from Aqua Inspirations is on order, as is the 75g sump.
I'm inclined to go with Radion FW LEDs and the Vortech pump. Beyond that I haven't finalized equipment yet.
One area I'm struggling to nail-down is the cabinet facing... how I am going to complete the paneling on the front of the tank. I would like to have one large top hinged door across the top, and a couple doors across the bottom... My thought was then to have a large panel on the left, covering the excess space off the end of the tank, which I can remove if needed to service the plumbing and electrical.
Attached is a conceptual drawing for this as it ties into the bar...
I had a quote to face the tank/openings in a Walnut Vaneer/Waterproof MDF product, but the quote was significantly more than I had imagined... Would definitely appreciate any suggestions, contacts on this piece!
Look forward to sharing my progress, learning from the vast experience of the community and diving into this project head-first!
Happy to get some feedback, suggestions and questions to help guide me through this exciting project and hopefully add some value to this community along the way.