# 8' In-Wall Planted Setup



## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

It's been a couple of years since I've posted any pictures of my tanks, but this tank has been in the works for quite a while now so I figured I'd document it's progress here.

I've come from running well over 2000 gallons worth of tanks to running none, and now to running just three.

This is my largest tank. Originally, I had a 550 gallon that I was planning on setting up in my new house, but after much debate I decided that it just took up too much space and I would have to be giving up my home office in the process. 
The tank I have setup now was actually going to be the sump for the 550 gallon, so yes, I got rid of the tank and set up the sump. 

First thing I had to do was cut a hole in the wall and reinforce the frame. This was done free-hand with a reciprocating saw.










I framed this simply with door casing.










Since the tank is so long, I had to actually build the stand in the room. 
It's simply made of 2x4's and 2x6's. It's skinned with mahogany ply and I'll be adding some doors and trim soon on the office side with the help of a cabinet maker friend.










The actual tank is 96"x24"x18", making it around 180 gallons. 
The framework is an island of driftwood that is centered in the middle to allow for two sided viewing. Substrate is onyx sand.

Here is tank the day after setup ( excuse the cloudiness from the substrate):










Lighting: waiting for the new reefbrite LED fixtures by marineland, currently using a 4 foot hoT5 fixture. I want to keep the edges of the tank clean, so a 4 foot fixture is more than enough lighting to keep the plants growing. The edges are shadowed and give a more unique look.

Filtration: Eheim 2080 Pro 3 Filter. Filled with nylon scrubbies, chem stars, ehfi-mech and ehfi-substrat.

Heating: 2x Ebo-jager 300 watt heaters.

Flow: single Koralia 4 powerhead

Lighting and temperature are controlled with a neptune aquacontroller jr. which allows me to monitor the pH as well.

Flora: Basically there are three types of moss, and three types of java fern. Simple, simple, simple. I've done many high tech planted setups in the past and I love them, but this tank was designed to be very low maintenance.

Fauna: Currently stocked with four types of rainbowfish x40, harlequin rasboras x20, rummy nose tetras x 12, albino bristlenose plecos x 10, gold angels x 7, japonica shrimp x 30.



















I've lost the charger to my camera so please excuse the cell phone photos. I'll try to get some newer shots when I have time.

Thanks for looking!


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## BigPete (Apr 22, 2010)

one word - BEAUTIFUL!


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Looks good Jeremy.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

What a beautiful tank! Hope to do the same thing one day if I ever get a house. Thanks for sharing


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## TCR (Jul 13, 2010)

that is one awesome set up


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Stunning! A real asset to the room, too. I love the way that you planted it.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice. I like the fact that you resisted stuffing it full of tetras (like I did).


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## Chappy (Apr 21, 2010)

LOVE it! Ah, the things I would do with that tank.......sigh


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Nicely done , i would stay in that room all day long just watching the activity.Thanks for sharing !

Shelley , i think you and i are thinking the same...A bunch of huge wild discus swmming as group ! 



-N/A- said:


> LOVE it! Ah, the things I would do with that tank.......sigh


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## Chappy (Apr 21, 2010)

Luke78 said:


> Shelley , i think you and i are thinking the same...A bunch of huge wild discus swmming as group !


Stay outta my head  That's EXACTLY what I was thinking. Can you imagine?


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## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Actually, discus will be in the plans for this tank for sure. I was actually going to do a nice large school right off the bat, but I decided to do fast moving schooling fish instead for now. It's really cool watching them zip around an 8 foot long tank. 
Once the tank settles in for half a year or so, I'll begin reducing the fish load and adding a nice shoal of large discus. My last planted tank was a 150 gallon cube with 14 of them. Definitely a head turner when people walk into the room.



Luke78 said:


> Nicely done , i would stay in that room all day long just watching the activity.Thanks for sharing !
> 
> Shelley , i think you and i are thinking the same...A bunch of huge wild discus swmming as group !


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## fraggalrock (Apr 21, 2010)

I am for once in my life speechless!
Simply amazing


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

deepRED,
That is one beautiful job !! It will certainly look sensational when you get it fully done & stocked. As Shelley & others said, I can just visualize the shoal of super discus in there !!
Post pics for sure when you decide to do just that. It'll be amazing - without a doubt.
Paul


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

DeepRed,

Was the aquarium custom made, or did you buy it from a LFS? The footprint is prefect for all your fish/plants/and the room its self.This kind of layout is exactly what i have in mind in the near future for my newer setup.Head turner for sure no doubt about that, if done right in any home including yours forget the tv,home theatre setup, computer room iam in there all day.What happened to your previous discus ? Keep updating please and thanks for sharing !



deepRED said:


> Thanks for the comments everyone.
> 
> Actually, discus will be in the plans for this tank for sure. I was actually going to do a nice large school right off the bat, but I decided to do fast moving schooling fish instead for now. It's really cool watching them zip around an 8 foot long tank.
> Once the tank settles in for half a year or so, I'll begin reducing the fish load and adding a nice shoal of large discus. My last planted tank was a 150 gallon cube with 14 of them. Definitely a head turner when people walk into the room.


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## jay_leask (Apr 22, 2010)

wow that is insane, very nice.


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## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

This tank was custom made by a couple of members and was initially going to be used as a saltwater breeding/grow out tank.
I purchased it in the summer, basically thinking to use it for the sump on my monster tank. 
My wife is much happier now that this is the display tank. You know your wife is understanding when an 8 foot tank is the compromise. 



Luke78 said:


> DeepRed,
> 
> Was the aquarium custom made, or did you buy it from a LFS? The footprint is prefect for all your fish/plants/and the room its self.This kind of layout is exactly what i have in mind in the near future for my newer setup.Head turner for sure no doubt about that, if done right in any home including yours forget the tv,home theatre setup, computer room iam in there all day.What happened to your previous discus ? Keep updating please and thanks for sharing !


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## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

Some of you may know that I had some issues with this tank and so after some long deliberation, I decided it was best to swap it out with a new one. Since I had to do the work anyways, I decided I might as well take the opportunity to go bigger. 

I ordered a new tank 6 weeks ago and I was finally able to pick it up yesterday. 

It is a 96"x30"24", 300 gallon, acrylic, made by Tru-Vu in California. 

This tank is much larger and opens up greater possibilities for stocking.

Going with a custom made over-tank trickle filter that holds 26 liters of bio-media, driven by a compact eheim pump. 
Lighting will be LED's, so very low wattage draw overall. 


I'll be starting a new tank build thread in the next week, lots of work to do but it should be fun!


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Can't wait to see this awesomeness. I love my LED's, they throw off virtually zero heat and are infinitely adjustable for brightness. I used to be able to heat my room with my bank of T5HO's.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Oooo...can't wait to see this. Always nice to get new ideas from new setups. Seems there are more and more LED setups without have to DIY too.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

absolutely awesome! great job on the tank and great idea with the cut out. The scape looks quite nice with all the driftwood you have. Congratulations on a job well done!


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