This may prove to be one of the slowest builds in history, but here's it goes!!
We bought this house in Dec (thanks JeeperTy) and right away I noticed this arch, visible from all of downstairs and some of upstairs, that is screaming "please put a tank here!!!". The opening is 50" wide and the current plan is to leave the wall mostly alone, and build the stand around it.
In this pic you can see there is a little divider wall and I want this side of the stand to come out even with that. So that limits me to 11" on each side and a 30" x 48" tank.
Yesterday I managed to get a hole cut in the wall to peek in and see how it's constructed, and where any wires are located.
Here goes nothing!!
And here's what I found
top
bottom
It's constructed just how I expected. I was able to put that rectangle right back into place to keep curious kiddos out. I'm glad that part worked out!
Timfish handled the move of my 90gal from the old house and while he was here I enlisted his help with this new build. A couple things we talked about are: having an external overflow, closed loop for circulation, leaving the wall studs as-is (figure something out with that wire) and having a sump possibly in 2 or 3 parts and have it run in between the studs, having drywall on the green side so it looks just like it was part of the house all along, and on the kitchen side having the stand be skinned in cabinetry that matches the kitchen. It'd be nice to have a section separate for the controller and other electronics. I plan on only accessing the tank on the tile floor side, but I plan on having access on the hardwood floor side too, just in case it's needed. Trying to think of ways to do that with drywall. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I'd like to get the tank ordered asap. Now that we know what the wall looks like, we can plan where any holes might go, and I can get the tank ordered and drilled.
The lights will hang from the arch and if I can do it, I'd like to have the wires for the lights go strait into the wall and run down inside the wall. Tim mentioned using a tray that the lights would poke down out of to keep things really clean looking vs the bar they hang from now.
That's about it for now! I'll list the equipment I have and general plans for the tank later. Everything in my current tank will transfer. Thanks in advance for any input. I'll need lots of advice on this one!