Jeff, just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed keeping up with your project and what a great job you have done.
The idea of putting the lights on the Closet Mate shelving with the pulley system is really nice. Have you had any problem with the halides melting the coating on the shelving?
Steve
Here's my90 tall,It was not near as complicated to set up as Jeff's tank ,I did all the work myself ...there is a closet on the other side of the wall where i access the tank.I use a hang-on protein skimmer and live sand/live rock for filtration so there was no plumbing involved,just built a stand and cut and finished the wall.BTW it's supposed to look like a porthole, this tank is in my son Vaughn's room.
This is in a store but it is a good example of doing more then one tank in the wall side by side.I have thought about doing something in my home like this too so I could have a differant tanks run from the same system.
I think it is thw 9th picture down the thread. I have to post the link because I don't know how to just upload the one pic. from a file. (Can I do that here?)
I have had no problems with using the Closet mate shelving from Home depot. It seems to be a paint coating and not plastic but not sure.
Actually the spiderlights reflect so well they don't get hot on top at all. Also the rack system gets great ventilation in an around the aquarium. The top of the Acrylic stays nice and cool even with only 8 or 9 inches above the water. I have an A/C unit that blows across the aquarium and the fan is running all the time. My tank so far stays right at 80 degrees day and night. I keep the room at 77 degrees.
I did not come up with the Idea at all. I got the Idea from Rockcanyons site which is owned by Jim Perry. http://www.rockcanyon.com/reef/construction.htm
In fact almost all of my tank design and plumbing came from Jim Perry's site and my filtration came from John Rice'S site, with a little of the Reef Admiral's site.
I just spent a lot of time on the phone and internet with several people and picked out the things I liked from each and incorporated the Ideas into my own plan. Every thing has worked out great so far. I did not want to start from scratch and learn from my mistakes. Its better to learn from others mistakes and avoid them. IE: Johns top fracture story. etc...