Can I make my in wall tank idea work?

[John S]

I just joined and I’m looking forward to learning a lot about reefing. I’ve been in and out of the hobby for about 20 years and so far I’ve had 3 tanks starting with a 75g, 90g, and lastly a 300g but that was taken down about 5 years ago. In all 3 tanks I’ve used “The Package” from tbs saltwater and always enjoyed the results (with the exception of the mantis shrimp). My tanks have always comprised of fish, live rock, and live sand but not really any corals. I’m looking to get back into the hobby and I have to reacquire everything and looking to install a 400 to 500 gallon setup with fish and coral; now here is my issue.

I want to put the tank in the basement and contemplating an in wall version through a wall adjacent to the garage. I want the sump to be remote and either cut out a hole in the wall between the basement and the garage to run everthing through and then seal it up or put the entire tank and sump in the garage and cut out the viewing area in the garage wall. I'm looking for some insight and ideas as to if anyone has done the same or help with solutions to possible problems. I would prefer to have the entire setup in the garage but that exposes the tank to heating and cooling, pest, the seal between the garage and the interior. Any advice would be helpful....Thanks

 

[matticus1181]

I could have sworn there was a thread in the "Large Tanks" forum where someone did a built-in wall tank with pipes going up through the ceiling into a remote room. Either way, there are a couple of build threads in here: https://atlantareefclub.org/forums/large-tanks.280/ where people have the experience you're talking about

 

[John S]

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

 

[siege]

Here’s @scuba steve's in-wall build for reference - worth a look if you're considering this kind of setup: https://atlantareefclub.org/threads/240g-in-wall-home-office-build.1183967/post-1364890

You've got some decisions to make. Personally, I’d want more of the tank visible in the room so I could walk around and see it from different angles instead of being limited to the front panel. That said, it really depends on your layout and how you plan to enjoy the tank.

Having the sump remote is a great call. It’s easy enough to insulate or cover to reduce evaporation and keep out dust and pests. Keeping it separate from the display also makes maintenance much less of a hassle, which in turn makes it more likely to get done consistently.

If any part of the system will be in the garage, it’s important to think through insulation and protection. Removable insulation panels will help in winter unless you’re heating the space. A cover or hood will protect against dust, pests, and airborne chemicals. If you park in the garage, that adds more exposure. You’ll want ventilation and maybe even a fan with a filter. A NIOSH-rated organic vapor filter would be a good extra step if you’re worried about fumes.

Garages are also rarely well sealed. That makes them vulnerable not just to air quality issues but also to serious environmental swings. Summer heat can be a real problem, but the bigger issue might be wintertime evaporation. On a system that size, evap losses could be massive. There’s someone on the forums running a system roughly double that volume and surface area, fully climate-controlled in its own dedicated indoor room, and they’re still losing several gallons per day to evaporation. A garage setup will likely see worse.

Some other things to think through:

• Are you planning to climate-control the garage, or just try to manage the seasonal swings?
• How close is the garage to your RO/DI source or drain access?
• If you’re cutting through the wall, are you going to need to deal with soundproofing?
• What kind of wall is between the spaces? Framed or block? Load-bearing?

Friendly reminder: the bigger the system, the more convenience matters. If something is hard to reach or maintain, it’s going to get neglected eventually.

 

[scuba steve]

Thanks for the shout out @siege I'm happy to answer any questions or provide more photos of how I built mine.
For a video walk through, here's this video I did with WWC.

Another project I built that was a garage filtration setup was also featured during the WWC visit