10' Tank Upgrade with Fish Room Height Limitation--need your advice

[flameangel88]

Tank upgrade is long overdue and been delayed for a year but the fish room in the basement will be ready in another month.

Someone is giving me a tank but I'll need to replace the front glass which I don't mind of getting a new glass knowing that there will be no scratch. The tank (roughly 600g) is 120" (l) x 36" (w) x 30" (h) and the stand (which will require some work) is 43" tall. The problem is that the fish room is only 75" in height and the current tank plus stand is already 72" and I still need to account for the lighting and space on top to move things in and out.

I'm thinking of trimming the tank down to 26" (which will cut the tank down to about 500g) but not sure how much to trim on the stand and still have a reasonable viewing. The tank has a internal overflow with 2.5" pipe and I was told it'll require a 4800gph pump for adequate flow. There's also a 90g sump with baffles. I was told the glass pane are light 400lbs a piece so they will cut it to the size I want and be bought down 1 at a time and everything will be put together in the basement.

I still have about 4 weeks before the glass gets in but would like to finalize the plan as soon as possible. Please feel free to share your thoughts as to the height of the stand, is the 2.5" drain pipe and 4800gph pump a good match or adequate flow. Is the 90g sump adequate? If not, what size will I need? If I left out anything please feel free to let me know.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Kevin

 

[lucidheights]

i'd trim the stand down by 10 inches or more. 13" should be a manageable amount of space over your tank given the circumstance

 

[Crazy One]

Just cut out the ceiling above the tank and redywall it in. That's what I did.

 

[EnderG60]

Just cut out the ceiling above the tank and redywall it in. That's what I did.

yup mount the lights between the joists

 

[roktsintst]

Great to hear Kevin! Now you can add a bunch of new fish :lol2:

Anyway, I would also trim the stand. I have mine at 43" too and love it but i've also got 9' ceilings so that isn't a problem. IF you got a low sitting couch and dropped the height of the stand you would be ok. i also likethe thought of pulling out some drywall and mounting the lights between the floor joists fi that is possible. Ina ddition, if it sint' too much to trim the tank down 4-6" i would do that too!

For drainage, i've gto 4 1.5" drains on my 300. I only use 3 of them and hvae no problems. I run a dart return and the drains keep up just fine. I dont think you need 4800 gph. Dart's are 3600 ish and would be fine for return flow!

Good luck and keep this thread updated!

 

[FOSELONE]

x 3 on the stand...id leave the tank as is...

 

[Lightsluvr]

Just cut out the ceiling above the tank and redywall it in. That's what I did.

+1

That's what I did, thanks to a great contractor.

Previous height in the fish roo, - just 7 feet:

Raised the ceiling to 8' 6":

While cutting the opening for the tank:

I'd leave the stand as is - cut down the tank if you can... a 30" deep tank is a POA to clean, unless you got NBA-length arms...

JME.

Good luck.

LL

 

[flameangel88]

Thanks for all the inputs. I'm pretty close to finishing the basement floor but the recent rain/flood held me back 2 weeks. Right now the target is to have the glass in by mid April and hopefully see water by May 1st.