What Have I Done?!?!

[Black Mammoth]

I bought a 300g wide tank yesterday. I haven't picked it up yet as I'm trying to find a vehicle to move it LOL. I'll probably pick it up Monday. It is 96Lx30Wx24H and it was made by GlassCages. I really wanted a 6ft tank...maybe a 180 or 220ish. However, I just couldn't pass up this awesome deal. I'm getting Halides, Sump, Skimmer, Pumps, etc all for about the price of a new 300g. The tank is only 6 months old.

This is going to be an in wall tank for the house I'm building. Unfortunately, my house won't be finished for another 6 months; so this will have to sit in the garage at my current place. When I go to move, I'll start the standard Reef Central log

The biggest concern I have about getting this tank is getting it in to my new house. It's going in the basement. So that means it has to go down a walk up basement (stairs). Yikes! Anyone have experience moving a tank this big on stairs?

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I've moved my Oceanic 135 down stairs. It want only me and another guy. I will be moving my AGA 210 down the basement stairs in the next week or so. I will let you know how that goes. Good luck with a 300 from Glass-Cages....their tanks weigh a ton!

 

[Black Mammoth]

I'm starting to have second thoughts now. I didn't realize what was involved with such a huge tank. I thought I could get away with a dehumidifier for the room. Lack of research on that is biting me in the *** now.

 

[catalyst]

stick with it - you won't regret it - that is a nice footprint - you won't need to upgrade for awhile - good to hear that the tank will be in-wall - GC tanks aren't the prettiest

sounds like you have plenty of time to do research btwn now and when your house will be done

glasscages tanks are *heavy* - I've seen a few threads in the Large Tanks forum that utilized a sled and a motorized pulley to get a large tank down the stairs at a slow & controlled rate of speed - look around, I'm sure you'll come across a good solution

for your ventilation, simply hookup a Dayton Blower to exhaust air out of your tank room to the outside through a 4" vent (like you would with a clothes dryer) - I have an environment controller that controls both my dehumidifier and my blower - humidity and temperature stay at what I preset the controller and it takes care of the power cycling of the blower and the dehumidifier - set it and forget it ... for the controller, check with hydroponics dealers online

other things you can do is hermetically seal the tank room: insulate it, caulk it, use bathroom paint or shower panels on the walls ... keep the humidity in that one room and then you only need to deal with exhausting it from one place

 

[hsvtoolfool]

Re: What Have I Done?!?!

BMammoth, installing the tank is trivial compared to other stuff
you should be thinking about right now. You can always find
volunteers and/or pros to move a tank when the time arrives.

You have a huge luxury since your house is not built yet. You may
have time to prepare for a super nice and easy to keep system.
Planning ahead makes a 1000G tank easier to maintain than a
125G tank where everything is crammed under the stand.

Go to OregonReef.com and see how a large tank is done
properly. He's thought of everything. But here's a quick list
of rough-in prep you should think about ASAP...

#1) Since this is an in-wall, I presume you will build a utlilty room
to house the sump, quarantine tank, frag tanks, pumps, chiller,
etc? That is the single greatest luxury with any sized tank. You
can make this room water proof with bathroom cement-board
and pipe excess humidity outside no problem.

#2) Is it too late to tie into your home plumbing? A cold tap and a
utility sink in the support room is nice. A safety overflow for your
sump and skimmer that's plumbed into your drain system is
awesome. A floor drain is also nice to handle spills and (heaven
forbid) disasters.

#3) If the house is still just framed, now is the time to rough in
a ventilator and/or AC unit to the tank's utility room. Your utility
room contains all the humidty. A small humidifier can handle the
rest of the basement (if it's even necessary). A small AC unit in
the utility room removes heat from the chiller, lights, and lowers
humidity.

#4) Think about power. What do you plan to keep? Fish only?
Softies? SPS? This determines how many circulation pumps and
lights you must use. If you're undecided, assume you'll keep
SPS and will use MH ligthing with 4 or 5 Sequence Dart pumps.
Install a dedicated panel in the support room with enough circuits
for everything plus a little room to grow.

I agree that you have a neat tank size. The 24-inch height allows
you to use T-5s and keep SPS with a moderate power bill
compared to MHs.

 

[hsvtoolfool]

Oh, and what you've done is make a lot of people around here jealous.

 

[swegyptian]

If the house is still under construction, I would get the tank there now, as it will be easier to put it in the basement.

 

[catalyst]

forgot to mention: consider putting up a 4mil vapor barrier btwn the insulation and drywall in the tank room

and install multiple electrical circuits - so your water circulation equipment is not all on the same circuit, in case one trips, your tank won't be w/o any water movement

 

[Ceak]

don't mean to hijack the thread but you got me worried now..

I'm getting a 245G for my condo and and I too was planning to run a dehumidifier, you guys don't think that's enough?

 

[swellsearcher]

245G in a condo ? go I hope it is not upstairs

 

[Ceak]

it's actualy on a 3rd floor! I checked with the contractors and the floor will be able to support it... getting it up there will be a challenge though ...

 

[splateee]

I agree with glass cages tanks weighing a ton. It took five of us to move our 240 gallon. You can look into maybe buying or renting those suction cups that are used to lift glass. We used those to load the tank into my truck and it was a breeze.

 

[Chicago]

try piano movers... they have the experience....