moving my tank in wall

[dsotmoon]

I will soon (maybe summer) be moving my 55 gallon from a cabinet stand in our living room to inside the wall right behind it (picture frame style), behind the wall is a large walk-in closet that will allow for this

my questions are

a) should i move the tank out a little, do the work to the wall, set up a new tank with new equipment and let it cycle, then add the fish, then resell/trash my old stuff

or

b) should i move the tank out a little, do the work to the wall, transfer the fish to a cooler/temp tank in their own water, drain and save some of the water, re-establish the same tank into the wall and add back in partial water change/old water with the same equipment

I have 25 or so fish, well established for the last 4-5 years that survived a move from an apartment to our new house last june, so i feel confident the move wont stress them too bad but i used the same tank, equipment and partial water

I would like to take the opportunity to move up to a bigger tank, 90-150 gallon while i am doing this but am concerned with moving them to a complete new set up

any thoughts, ideas or opinions??

Thanks in advance,
Joe

 

[Menagerie]

[center:43a0862737] Welcome to AA, dsotmoon!! [/center:43a0862737]

I am moving this to the DIY Forum--you will get much better help there.

 

[Menagerie]

Hmmm, maybe your Q isn't better off here. You really have two very different questions.
~How to set up the tank
~How might the fish react to a new environment

I can help with the second Q
Your fish will love a new tank. Transfer the substrate and use the old filter while the new filter is establishing on the new tank and add the fish. This is not the time to add new fish. Allow both filters to run, or if you are using canister filters on both, you can transfer the media to the new filter and ditch the old one.

 

[BillyZ]

If you're interested in a larger tank, there's no better time to do it than with this plan. Move the tank out from the wall some, prep your space for your new tank. Get it hooked up a plumbed. Xfer yoru fish to a temporary space with some of their existing water. use the rest of the existing water/substrate/rock to set up your new tank. With active LS/LR you should barely have a cycle to deal with. Just be sure you put your NEW substrate on the bottom of the tank first, then the existing substrate on top of that. I would probably leave a couple decent sized pieces of your LR in with your fish while they are in the temp holding space.

This is what I'm considering doing when my new stand is complete. I'm building a stand that will hold either a 55 or a 90.

 

[dsotmoon]

Hmmm, maybe your Q isn't better off here. You really have two very different questions.
~How to set up the tank
~How might the fish react to a new environment

I can help with the second Q
Your fish will love a new tank. Transfer the substrate and use the old filter while the new filter is establishing on the new tank and add the fish. This is not the time to add new fish. Allow both filters to run, or if you are using canister filters on both, you can transfer the media to the new filter and ditch the old one.

thanks for the welcome, i dont think this is exactly a DIY questions as i know what to do for the most part, my main concern in this is for the fish and the set up or transfer of old/existing equipment

If you're interested in a larger tank, there's no better time to do it than with this plan.

i think i agree, although a 55 gallon is plent big for the fish and wall i think a 90 would "flow" better in the room and allow to add more fish in the future

 

[dsotmoon]

haha, well, while searching for something else online i found this original post i made, over 3 years after i made this post i finally did what i said i was going to do, i hope you enjoy the pictures from start to finish...

here is a pic of the 55g, the 135 g will be inside the wall right behind it

if you look at this pic, to the right you see the front of the current tank, take out all the clutter you see in the closet and imagine the new tank sitting there pushed up against the face of the wall where the back of the current tank is now...

my wife helped me clean out the closet and i took out the shelves and base moulding...

then my wife wanted to release some anger for some reason and i let her put a whole in the wall with the hammer ...

and then i used a utility knife and hand router to take out the drywall on the back side...

i got the old wall cut out to a rough dimension, went to Lowes and got the pressure treated lumber, I could have saved some money by using regular lumber but i thought the extra money would be worth it so that i never have to do this again, then i started building the base to hold the new tank, using mostly 4x4's to handle the weight...

 

[dsotmoon]

heres the tank...



i have the base structure done with the plywood top screwed to it and got the cut out done in the wall since i have accurate measurements from the tank now, you can see from the cutout how much bigger it will actually be than the 55

almost there....

 

[dsotmoon]

got the picture framing done...



this is what it looks like after one coat of paint, still have to apply another coat and paint the trim...

done

i used a black sheet attached with velcro from the back to block the view into the closet, bring out color and allow easy access to the back when cleaning

 

[Roberz00]

AWESOME JOB!!! Wish my wife would let me do that but I guess I'll just have to settle for what I have as I have them. **sigh**

 

[jim692]

Great looking job. Congrats.

 

[nanpat]

hi, i am new to this site and just came across youre new installation.. looks really nice,did you do all the carpentry work yourself? i am looking to purchase a 6' foot aquarium soon but i will have to make my own stand also but it will be in the living room basement i am still drawing up the plans.. it will probably be made out of MDF and painted black... what did you do with youre old aquarium ? how long have you been in the hobby?

 

[jose7878]

Congrat's on the new tank. Nice job on the pics on the step -by - step process. Looks Real good.

 

[FastFly67]

I'm highly jealous.

 

[SWerner13]

Basically my dream setup. So Tight.

 

[dsotmoon]

Basically my dream setup. So Tight.

it's mine too, i have been dreaming of it for about 20 years, i'm finally at a point in my life where i had the money, the perfect wall/room and the house i plan on living in for a very long time

hi, i am new to this site and just came across youre new installation.. looks really nice,did you do all the carpentry work yourself? i am looking to purchase a 6' foot aquarium soon but i will have to make my own stand also but it will be in the living room basement i am still drawing up the plans.. it will probably be made out of MDF and painted black... what did you do with youre old aquarium ? how long have you been in the hobby?

hello, yes, i did all of the work myself except i had someone do the electric when i had another recepticle moved into the room for extra power, if you make your stand out of MDF just remember water is 8# per gallon, i think you would need some more bracing for it, i was giving my old tank away but it cracked as me and my son were moving it in the yard, i have had some type of fish for over 20 years now

thanks for the kind comments everyone, it was alot of work but well worth it when you can sit down on the couch and watch the fish

fyi for those who are interested, below is my estimated costs to do this project

$547.00 - tank and lid, upgraded starphire glass
$250.00 - approximate lumber and framing to build stand and frame it out
$498.00 - filter, lights, heater, pump, hose, some fake plants
$350.00 - rocks, decorations, more fake plants, test kits
$517.00 - price for electrical work to add more, dedicated power to the room

 

[nanpat]

hi, do you know of anyone that has ever built an aquarium stand just out of MDF ? the stand i will make is for a 6' but i am making it with 1" thick MDF ... i will have the top sitting on 6 divisions of 1" thick mdf and that will rest on my platform the same size as the top ... the whole stand will sit on a little base of 2" high , something like the bottom of most kitchen cupboards are made , if you know what i mean... of course i will put a back and make some raised panel doors for the whole thing to give it its finish look... i will make a dome for the top also with a look of raised panel front also... i think that 6 divisionns of 1" thick should be strong enough.. i am looking for a site that can tell me how strong mdf is but can find none yet... if you have any other advice ... i would appreciate it thanks... just another little question. when i recieve a response from a member it shows up in my home email, is this normal ? i thought that the responses to questions would show up on this site... maybe its just me because im still trying to find out how the basics of this site works.... man i wish that we had people to communicate with like this years ago.....its comforting to know that we have friends at our fingertips.... thanks again for all youre informatoin.......... Pat...

 

[austinsdad]

Normally responses come thru the site. Not sure whay someone would respond to your home email directly - unless you've set your preferences to recieve notifications thru your email. The AA/this site will send it to your email in that case. I like to get those notifications that someone has responded to a "subscribed" thread - that is anything you've started or responded to. Otherwise, unless you're logged in to AA, you won't know yu got a response.

Did I make that clear as mud for you???

P.S. - what is "mdf"?

 

[dsotmoon]

P.S. - what is "mdf"?

medium density fiberboard... Temple-Inland / Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF)

hi, do you know of anyone that has ever built an aquarium stand just out of MDF ? the stand i will make is for a 6' but i am making it with 1" thick MDF ... i will have the top sitting on 6 divisions of 1" thick mdf and that will rest on my platform the same size as the top ... the whole stand will sit on a little base of 2" high , something like the bottom of most kitchen cupboards are made ,

how many gallons is your 6 foot?

well 1" MDF will probably hold up, however i do not know about the base you are talking about, i'm not sure if that would provide even weight distribution or not, but i'm not a professional cabinet maker by no means

the only thing you may want to consider is putting braces in between your divisions to help prevent any warp or sway, myself, i would feel more comfortable if there were some 2x4 bracing in there to add some strength, i have attached a crude drawing of what i think you are talking about and the braces i am talking about, but i tend to overbuild things

also remember you need a good wood screw and probably predrill the MDF, screwing into MDF, especially the end grain can split it very easily

 

[welsummer]

Wow! that is an incredible job! I am very impressed.... though I think I would be far to afraid to do it myself even if my wife let me! Something to be proud of!

 

[lightemup619]

Nice idea!!

Hey man cool tank i did the same thing and i love it!! but mines in my closet to and i need to put an exhaust fan for the evapurated water to escape im upgading my sump to a 50 gallon to i also gapped the trim a half inch cause im going to put fiberoptic lighting behind it