Hello!
I am currently running a 40g, 72g and am now in the process of setting up a 180g. The new tank is a standard 72x24x24. I figured I'd start this thread to get some feedback on what I've done so far and throughout the process from other RC members.
My other two tanks are in my recroom and there isn't enough room for another one in there so I've rearranged a couple spare bedrooms and a home office to free up a room for the new tank. I also have a small 20g QT tank in this room. I'll post pictures of the other tanks when I have a chance if people are interested.
As you can see the tank has placed against a wall. All my tanks are on my ground level floor (which has a 4ft crawl space underneath). The other two tanks are running perpendicular to the floor joists. I made sure to position the 180g in the same manner. I planned on reinforcing the floor joists to be sure the weight of the 180g would be supported.
Once I inspected this location I realized the wall the tank was placed against didn't have a corresponding support wall in the crawl space. Instead there were 14ft joists that ran from my exterior wall to the wall of the next room over. Our decision was to install a 2x10 beam (which we cut down by half an inch to fit) supported by 2x2 stacked cinder blocks.
We centered the cinder blocks under the tank directly above.
We gradually jacked up each joist and supported it so we could slide the beam in place
Pressure blocking was glued and nailed in place as well. Some of the joists were not square so this was a fun process.
The finished product:
After installation of the beam we tried jumping around in the room (a very scientific method I know). There is a noticeable difference as it feels much stronger in that the joists move together instead of individually (if that makes sense). I'm hoping this will be adequate, or perhaps its overkill. Thoughts?
Now onto the sump and plumbing"¦
I am currently running a 40g, 72g and am now in the process of setting up a 180g. The new tank is a standard 72x24x24. I figured I'd start this thread to get some feedback on what I've done so far and throughout the process from other RC members.
My other two tanks are in my recroom and there isn't enough room for another one in there so I've rearranged a couple spare bedrooms and a home office to free up a room for the new tank. I also have a small 20g QT tank in this room. I'll post pictures of the other tanks when I have a chance if people are interested.
As you can see the tank has placed against a wall. All my tanks are on my ground level floor (which has a 4ft crawl space underneath). The other two tanks are running perpendicular to the floor joists. I made sure to position the 180g in the same manner. I planned on reinforcing the floor joists to be sure the weight of the 180g would be supported.
Once I inspected this location I realized the wall the tank was placed against didn't have a corresponding support wall in the crawl space. Instead there were 14ft joists that ran from my exterior wall to the wall of the next room over. Our decision was to install a 2x10 beam (which we cut down by half an inch to fit) supported by 2x2 stacked cinder blocks.
We centered the cinder blocks under the tank directly above.
We gradually jacked up each joist and supported it so we could slide the beam in place
Pressure blocking was glued and nailed in place as well. Some of the joists were not square so this was a fun process.
The finished product:
After installation of the beam we tried jumping around in the room (a very scientific method I know). There is a noticeable difference as it feels much stronger in that the joists move together instead of individually (if that makes sense). I'm hoping this will be adequate, or perhaps its overkill. Thoughts?
Now onto the sump and plumbing"¦
