Questions for Large Peninsula Owners

[dlux4life]

Hey Guys-

It has been some years since I have had my reef. I recently transitioned to a role, meaning more money and the ability to work from home. I have an unfinished basement that I would love to close off making a theater area and an office / bar area.

I have steel poles providing support going from side to side in the basement in my house. My thought was to box those out turning them into columns, and place a peninsula tank in between them (roughly 250 gallons, having the filtration plumbed through the wall to the unfinished side of the basement). I felt this way I could have the returned plumbed from the unfinished side, through the wall, under the tank, and then up the boxed in column on the far side of the tank to provide flow.


Has anyone ever seen this done? I can throw together a paint mockup of this if people feel that it will help with understanding.

My concern with this would be having the basement column very close to the aquarium glass and addressing issues if water were to get in there (which it would do in time).

 

[dave.m]

Couldn't you isolate the steel beams with a plastic wrap?

Dave.M

 

[dlux4life]

Hey Dave-

Thanks for the response. I am not sure what you mean by a plastic wrap.

I was going to use MDF and make columns. The tank would be placed right in the middle of the two columns and the plumbing and electrical would be hidden with in them. I would make some of the panels with in the columns removable in case I need to access plumbing.


Something like this, but with a big tank right in the middle.

<div><a href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/1005083/Finished-Basement-traditional-basement-detroit'><img src='http://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/e5e1e3a10fc55aa0_3-0939/traditional-basement.jpg' border=0 width='320' height='240' /></a></div><div style='color:#444;'><small><a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional/basement' >Traditional Basement</a> by <a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/professionals/general-contractor/detroit' >Detroit General Contractors</a> <a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/pro/mhsllc/majestic-home-solutions-llc' >Majestic Home Solutions LLC</a></small></div>

 

[dave.m]

From your original description it sounded like the metal support pipes would be exposed to saltwater directly from the tanks within the columns. If you wrapped the metal with plastic as used in making a vapour barrier and sealed with acoustic tape it would be protected from the ravages of any spray or humidity from the tank.

Dave.M

 

[AirForceAquariu]

Realistically it is no different than running household plumbing in the "sealing" of the areas, except that the way you actually run it would be a little different.

Also it would be wise to leave some sort of access panel (disguised of course) in the boxing for those unpredictable problems that might sneak up if you don't!

 

[dlux4life]

Has anyone seen this done before? I would love to read through a build thread.

Also, would you get the tank built so the glass went right up to the columns? I would be concerned if it weren't a water tight seal of glass to column and that water might get in between and cause a mess.

I don't want there to be a big gap between the two because then you would see a long pipe and cords coming out from the column.


i'll take some pictures tonight of my basement and draw in what I mean by my set up to help clarify things.