SpacedCowboy
New member
So... I have been away in the UK for the last 6 months or so, winding up my family's affairs over there. The "house-sitters" who were supposed to be looking after the tank (and everything else, but that's not relevant here...), well, basically didn't. I get back to more of a swamp than a tank, the only alive things being a snail here or there, and possibly a crab or two. Livid didn't begin to describe how I reacted... Just what I didn't need...
[breathe] ... [breathe] ...
Ok, so every setback being an opportunity and all that, I started to think... I have basically 2 options. Start over with the existing tank, or upgrade :beer: - we did talk about the third option (call it a day), but wife-mine was keen to keep the tank ("it's one of the first things I noticed when we met" ... aaaah
)
At the same time (since I'm starting over), there may be scope to stop using the second bathroom as a fish-room. At the moment, there's a sump, a fresh-water tank, and a refugium in there, but I could move the water-tanks to the other end of the house (we're space-challenged) and connect with plumbing/pumps, and make a combined sump/refugium under the existing tank...
Option 1) Just keep everything as-is. The problem here is that the tank I have is not my ideal tank - it's a 180-tall (72x18x31) non-starphire-glass tank, so it's too narrow, too tall, and isn't the best glass. Just adding a sump that would fit into the existing stand would be by far the easiest option though, and all my equipment would work for this setup, so the outlay there would be lower.
Option 2) Upgrade to a 240-long (96x24x25). This would actually give me more space in the living room (I'd make access be from the front, so we could eliminate the 18" behind the existing tank, thus gain about a foot of living room). It's a far better shape, and I could order starphire-glass.
One option that occurred to me would be to re-purpose the existing display tank as a sump tank. I'd obviously have to block off the (drilled-in-base) overflow holes. What's the best way to do that ? It does worry me slightly, having a tank that's designed to drain water out of it's base as a sump tank, because once it's in there, the only way that sump would be coming out would be in pieces.
Another concern is the weight of the larger tank. At the moment, I reckon the floor is supporting about 2100 lbs. If I use the glass tank as a sump, and add a 240-long, the sump ought to be about 1300 lbs (because it's not full) and the display-tank would be ~3200 lbs for a total of ~4500 lbs.
At the moment, the 180 tank is just supported by the floor joists, but the house is getting on for 60 years of age, and there's no way I'd want to try and support 4500 lbs on just the joists, even if it is perpendicular to the joists (it would cross 4 of them, IIRC). So, what's the best way to add support to the joists ? Do we just sister them (could be tough getting beams down into the crawlspace), or do we need to lay foundations and jack up the existing joists ? Or both ?
Finally, the stand. I was thinking of building the stand out of 80/20 extruded aluminium. That way I can guarantee absolute 90-degree angles (my woodwork isn't that perfect), and I can customise the stand to support both sump (with any plumbing requirements) and if necessary, I can even build the frame *around* the tank. The metal construction ought to give me more access to the tank - I was thinking of skinning it with plywood/wood-mouldings that attach magnetically for easy access, and making it about 3' tall. The tank is next to the "dining room" part of the living room, so the tank being eye-height when sitting down would be ideal.
If I do build the frame out of metal, what's the best way to support a glass tank - I've read conflicting reports of people saying everything from "nothing between the tank and support" to "you must place a piece of styrofoam between tank and support"...
Thanks for reading this far
Simon
[breathe] ... [breathe] ...
Ok, so every setback being an opportunity and all that, I started to think... I have basically 2 options. Start over with the existing tank, or upgrade :beer: - we did talk about the third option (call it a day), but wife-mine was keen to keep the tank ("it's one of the first things I noticed when we met" ... aaaah
) At the same time (since I'm starting over), there may be scope to stop using the second bathroom as a fish-room. At the moment, there's a sump, a fresh-water tank, and a refugium in there, but I could move the water-tanks to the other end of the house (we're space-challenged) and connect with plumbing/pumps, and make a combined sump/refugium under the existing tank...
Option 1) Just keep everything as-is. The problem here is that the tank I have is not my ideal tank - it's a 180-tall (72x18x31) non-starphire-glass tank, so it's too narrow, too tall, and isn't the best glass. Just adding a sump that would fit into the existing stand would be by far the easiest option though, and all my equipment would work for this setup, so the outlay there would be lower.
Option 2) Upgrade to a 240-long (96x24x25). This would actually give me more space in the living room (I'd make access be from the front, so we could eliminate the 18" behind the existing tank, thus gain about a foot of living room). It's a far better shape, and I could order starphire-glass.
One option that occurred to me would be to re-purpose the existing display tank as a sump tank. I'd obviously have to block off the (drilled-in-base) overflow holes. What's the best way to do that ? It does worry me slightly, having a tank that's designed to drain water out of it's base as a sump tank, because once it's in there, the only way that sump would be coming out would be in pieces.
Another concern is the weight of the larger tank. At the moment, I reckon the floor is supporting about 2100 lbs. If I use the glass tank as a sump, and add a 240-long, the sump ought to be about 1300 lbs (because it's not full) and the display-tank would be ~3200 lbs for a total of ~4500 lbs.
At the moment, the 180 tank is just supported by the floor joists, but the house is getting on for 60 years of age, and there's no way I'd want to try and support 4500 lbs on just the joists, even if it is perpendicular to the joists (it would cross 4 of them, IIRC). So, what's the best way to add support to the joists ? Do we just sister them (could be tough getting beams down into the crawlspace), or do we need to lay foundations and jack up the existing joists ? Or both ?
Finally, the stand. I was thinking of building the stand out of 80/20 extruded aluminium. That way I can guarantee absolute 90-degree angles (my woodwork isn't that perfect), and I can customise the stand to support both sump (with any plumbing requirements) and if necessary, I can even build the frame *around* the tank. The metal construction ought to give me more access to the tank - I was thinking of skinning it with plywood/wood-mouldings that attach magnetically for easy access, and making it about 3' tall. The tank is next to the "dining room" part of the living room, so the tank being eye-height when sitting down would be ideal.
If I do build the frame out of metal, what's the best way to support a glass tank - I've read conflicting reports of people saying everything from "nothing between the tank and support" to "you must place a piece of styrofoam between tank and support"...
Thanks for reading this far
Simon
