Cato's 250 gal in-wall system build.

[chirocato]

OK, this is the official start of my build thread. I have read many (but never enough) build threads here and this is my 1st. Sooo please chime in with thoughts, ideas and/or suggestions and recommendations as I go.

My hopes are to do it right the 1st time. I was gonna post a drawing of the system set up but I think I left it at my local reefer meeting last weekend. Can't seem to find it anywhere. Off to a great start, huh?

Will draw out another and post it as soon as I can. For now here's the low down. My wife is pregnant and due with our 2nd child (my son) on Nov. 2nd. I currently have converted the 3rd bedroom of our house into my home office/man room. and she wants me out. Want's it to be some nursery or something. Well, I kept saying "No". Finally, I said (and I thought I was aiming high) fine, I'll get out if...I can finish off part of the basement with a 180 gal reef tank and a 42" plasma home theater system. She said..."OK" I said "what?".

Well...that was all she wrote and here I go!
Here's the site...



All cleaned up

[chirocato]

To the right is where the tank will be.

[IMG][/IMG]

This is the wall the plasma will be on.

[IMG][/IMG]

And here's the plasma. It's a Zenith built by LG. All the reviews rave about this TV.

[IMG][/IMG]

Can't wait to see this baby fired up!! The "man room" will also have a beverage refrigerator and cigar humidor on top with of course a piped in ventilation system.

[Fountainhead]

It's a lot of pressure to start your own build thread. We'll be expecting great things! Please try not to disappoint us. ;-)

I do see one problem already though. You asked your wife for a 42 inch plasma, but the box say 50 inches. Seems like you may have some 'splaining to do.

[yoboyjdizz]

Man looks like the perfect place... And you got the 50inch plasma instead lucky. Can't wait to see the finish project!

[chirocato]

Originally posted by Fountainhead
It's a lot of pressure to start your own build thread. We'll be expecting great things! Please try not to disappoint us. ;-)

I do see one problem already though. You asked your wife for a 42 inch plasma, but the box say 50 inches. Seems like you may have some 'splaining to do.

I will do my best not to disappoint. I'm sure this will be a timely process so pleeeeze be patient w/me. I have a full time practice a 3 1/2 yr old daughter and my wife also works full-time. Should still be good though.

Yeah, It was a trade off. I decided on a Oceanic 156 gal display (instead of 180g), 55 sump ( I know it's a bit small but already drilled and ready), 38 frag tank and a 20L fuge that will be gravity fed back to the main tank to spare pods from the impeller.

The 156 is the exact same size as a 180 only 1 foot shorter. (I figured I got a smaller tank so a bigger TV would make up for it) I liked the 24" front to back size for depth but honestly a 6' tank was just too big for this room. In my next house however....I really like the size of REEF-DADDY's 280.

[mg426]

Looks like you are working on something mighty nice.

[WarrenG]

Originally posted by Fountainhead

I do see one problem already though. You asked your wife for a 42 inch plasma, but the box say 50 inches. Seems like you may have some 'splaining to do.

Well, see, what had happened was, uh, I figured you were thinking TV's were measured across and that YOU wanted the TV that was 42 inches across, so I looked around and got a great deal on this TV that is 42 inches across. Pretty nice, huh? Yeah, some companies measure their TV's from corner to corner, weird, huh? Yep, 42 inches across and 50 inches diagonally.

You know, if the tank was just 30 gallons larger I think we would have room for that fish you really like...

[chirocato]

Originally posted by WarrenG
Well, see, what had happened was, uh, I figured you were thinking TV's were measured across and that YOU wanted the TV that was 42 inches across, so I looked around and got a great deal on this TV that is 42 inches across. Pretty nice, huh? Yeah, some companies measure their TV's from corner to corner, weird, huh? Yep, 42 inches across and 50 inches diagonally.

You know, if the tank was just 30 gallons larger I think we would have room for that fish you really like...

[Fiziksgeek]

Looking forward to watching your progress.

My wife said no to the plasma, which is why I went with the 210, haha.

[REEF-DADDY]

Very Nice, you just had to out do me with the 50"!

[chirocato]

Originally posted by REEF-DADDY
Very Nice, you just had to out do me with the 50"!

Well...they do make a 60.

Actually I had to out do my bro. He got a 42 for himself last Christmas.

REEF-DADDY, when I saw your set up I was all weirded out. You took the vision I had in my head and already put it in your basement. It was FREAKY! BTW, appreciate all your help.

[chirocato]

Hey does anyone know if an ice cap 440 is sufficient to overdrive a 2 x 80w T5 retro kit or would I be better off with a 660? I have a 6 x 80 setup now on 2 660's but need to add another 2 bulbs.

[ChillingBoy]

nice

[REEF-DADDY]

Originally posted by chirocato
Well...they do make a 60.

Actually I had to out do my bro. He got a 42 for himself last Christmas.

REEF-DADDY, when I saw your set up I was all weirded out. You took the vision I had in my head and already put it in your basement. It was FREAKY! BTW, appreciate all your help.

I was actually just sitting at the bar. LMK if you want me to come up for a day and give you a hand. Are you set with the bar, so you have a game plan?

[chirocato]

Well, my son is due in 2 mos and I need the room done asap. Running out of time and feeling the pressure. The upstairs 3rd bedroom still needs to be turned into a nursery. Tank has to be last to set up. As you can tell in the pics, I can't frame the tank wall until the end otherwise I have to lug materials through the other end of the basement to the actual entrance door to the room. Started running the wiring tonight. Hoping to have it rocked by the end of this weekend. Would def love some help when the bar fab time comes to play if your free. Thinking maybe 3-4 weeks (I hope).

[chirocato]

Update

All of the electrical in wall is done. I screwed up though. I forgot to order all the cables for the plasma to run in wall. Ordered them yesterday 2nd day air and guess what ordered them 3 ft too short. Figures. Have to reorder the correct length on 2 of them. ( The HDMI and component lines) Also ordered PC RGB cable so I can hook that baby up to my computer. Plan is to have all wires unseen in the walls and my PC set up wireless so I can sit back in my recliner and surf RC on a 50" monitor. Here's where I'm at so far...

I have to put access doors on 2 areas shown below just in case for the future. Does anyone have any ideas what I could use that will look decent? Kinda not sure what to do there. Thanks.









I have to put access doors here.



And here...



Looking to start hanging rock this weekend.

[Drakis]

That's gonna be a sweet setup. I love having my tanks in the basement, it stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

[REEF-DADDY]

I dunno bro. I've got an antique door over my water meter and a picture over my main panel. Get creative, you'll think of something.

edit: put your wine cooler/beer fridge in front of the water meter and just make a door out of paneling.

[chirocato]

Originally posted by REEF-DADDY
put your wine cooler/beer fridge in front of the water meter and just make a door out of paneling.

Now that's an idea!

[hans1976]

Lookin good........

[chirocato]

OK guys... Everything is set to start sheetrock in the a.m. I HATE freakin' rock. Used to build houses back in the day and it is the nastiest part of this project. Here are a few pics. In pic 2 you can see the wall the tank will be. I'm salivating the whole time I'm down there. The tank is just sitting on the floor staring at me all the time. As soon as the rock is up and moved in I can begin building the stands for the system. Trust me I'm going as fast as I can with out making mistakes that could set me back. You can see in pic 3 the wall the plasma will be on will be the last to be done. The HD and component cables won't be here till Tuesday. (my screw up...forgot to order them )

Just want to mention that there are 2 main BIG system build threads I have been following for quite some time for my ideas and I hope those guys chime in occasionally for advice. They are Rich Durso's build and Melev's build. Special thanks to you guys for the inspiration to take on a project like this...The 17th of this month will be my 1yr anniversary in the hobby. I don't even want to think how much $$$ I've spent on it thus far. BTW Rich and Melev I will probably be copying a lot of your Ideas.

Also Big thanks to the guys in my local reef club, CTARS. There have been some special people there who have helped me a great deal. One of which I owe a few Guinness's to. Soon!

[chirocato]

OK I recieved 2 penductors (as it is printed on them) They have a little penguin on them. Would a Gen X PCX55X push them OK or Do I need more? They won't be my main source of flow, just trying to get more out of my returns. I have a feeling I will be modifying them (the returns) also.

Here's a pic of them...

[chirocato]

Getting closer to the actual tank build. Kinda boring to this point but it's comming.

[chirocato]

OK, drafted up a new "blueprint" of my new system. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks.

[drummereef]

Looking great! Keep it up and keep us posted!