Dream Tank Build

[nkd5024]

I am in the design stage of my 75 Gallon upgrade.
And I thought it would be cool to see how all of you would build the tank.

So with a,
-75 Gallon Reef Ready Aquarium
-30 Gallon Sump

How would you set up a nice mixed reef aquarium?
Include your choice in,
-Lighting
-Flow
-Skimmer
-Pumps
-Sump use
And anything else you would include in the setup.

I look forward to seeing you designs!
Nick

 

[Dylan_89]

I know next to nothing about Marine tanks But I am watching this thread to maybe one day spark my hand into pulling money out of my wallet for a marine tank.

 

[nkd5024]

HAHA thats cool.

I think I will have a good 4 or 5 months to make sure I design it as best as possible until I have all the money I need to buy everything.
Your on the right track though, do as much research as possible before "diving in". I think I read at least 3 hours per day on different subjects just to make sure I can do the best I can.

Nick

 

[ben1987]

what sort of budget do you have in mind if you dont mind me asking. only as you ay dream tank you could probably quite easily spend 10k going all out.

what tank dimensions are you looking at aswel?

 

[nkd5024]

Hey Ben,

I don't mind you asking,
I agree, if this really was my "Dream" tank, it would be at least a two or three thousand gallon tank with a VERY LARGE budget.
But back to reality.

I don't necessarily have a budget, I am going to design the tank the way I want it, and what it costs it costs.
I would say it will more than likely be in the $2,000 range for the entire setup.
That is excluding the Live Rock, Sump, etc. that I already have in my current setup.
I have around 60 pounds of live rock in my tank right now, plus about 60 sitting around as base rock that I am going to use.



The dimensions of the tank will be 48"x18"x21" same as any common 75 gallon.

I would LOVE to get the 30"x30"x24" 90 Gallon Cube aquarium, but I don't know if the extra 15 gallons will be to much, since I am putting this tank in a second floor apartment.
I read an article written a structural engineer who is also a reef aquarist which stated that as long as the tank will be setup perpendicular to the floor joists and up against a weight bearing wall you can put up to a 125 Gallon aquarium safely on any floor.

I was planning to have a 75 gallon display plus a 30 gallon sump resulting in approximately 105 gallons. It is currently holding 60 gallons (30 display/30 sump) with no problems what so ever.
The 90 gallon cube plus the 30 Gallon sump would be 120 gallons, and okay to put in my apartment according to the article. I would just feel safer being under the 125 gallon limit.
Do you have any knowledge on this subject?

So let me see the way you would design the 48"x18"x21" 75 gallon reef ready aquarium with an approximate $2000 budget.
If you go a little over or under, thats fine.

I can't wait to see your guys designs. I will post mine when it is done,
Nick

 

[HappyGeorge]

I have a mate who is an engineer and works mainly with lifts, so works with load and load distribution, I have also read loads on this but there are a few basic principals on load.
Most importantly what is the floor? Is it concrete or is it wooden, if it's wooden what is the size of the joists, distance between the joists?
The tank if supported on a stand will only exert pressure on the the points it contacts the floor (obviously) but in a marine tank with a sump the mass of the sump would be spread across the base but the mass of the tank would be transmitted down the vertical support points i.e sides and back of cabinet. The ideal situation being that the tank transfers its load onto a point which is close to a main support, so either a retaining wall under a wooden floor or the point where a joist joins the wall. So in theory if the distance between the retaining wall under your joists is 48" then it would be better to have a heavy 48" tank on that point than a 24" tank, that is significantly lighter on the space between the walls.
Ultimately it is very complicated and difficult for anybody to say what is safe, and also the effect of that weight over time on a wooden floor that could slowly bow, just because something has held a weight for an hour, day, week, doesn't mean it won't disappear through the floor in a month time.

This probably doesn't actually help much but I know I have just taken up the wooden floor in my living room and put in 2 extra joists between the nearest 2 retaining walls to support my new tank. Which will be about 550-600kg when full I suspect, I'm sure you know already that a litre of water weighs 1kg.

 

[nkd5024]

I am in an apartment so adding floor joists isn't really a possibility.

I'm not sure what you meant when you said
"So in theory if the distance between the retaining wall under your joists is 48" then it would be better to have a 48" heavy tank on that point than a 24" tank that is significantly lighter on the space between the walls"
What is the 48" distance between? The retaining wall and what else?
Did you mean to say that if the distance between the tank and the wall is less than 48" than it would be better to have a 48" heavy tank than a 24" lighter tank further than 48" away from the wall?

There is no way for me to find out how far apart my floor joists are, short of ripping up the carpet.
Unless the joists in the ceiling are always the same distance, than I can find out since I have access to the attic.
The attics joists are around 12" apart. I was also told that older buildings are usually stronger than newer ones because they are made of stronger wood.
That makes sense to me unless the wood is so old that it has started to rot or something?

As of right now I plan on putting the 75 gallon tank up against a weight bearing wall and perpendicular to my floor joists.
The tank should be able to sit over 4 joists if I position it correctly (assuming the floor joists are the same distance apart as the ones in my ceiling), or three if I can't figure out where they are and miss one.
I'm am guessing that the tank will weight around 900 lbs with the water/tank/stand/rock/sand/etc.


Nick

 

[HappyGeorge]

Sorry mean't to have an "s" on the end of wall, but yeah you get the gist it's better to be spanning as much as possible and not applying pressure at the gaps in between. I wouldn't assume that the attic is same as any other floor there are general rules for old and new but there's always exceptions. For example when I took my floor up I randomly had an extra wall 6 inches from the back wall of the house and half the joists rested on that and half went into wall?. If it's an old building timbers are likely to be larger. Of course you won't have retaining walls under the floor if it's not ground floor, issue would more be whether it's resting on a retaining wall so it is a wall below your wall on the ground floor and not an open space?
I have had a lot of bad experiences with workmen so I now do everything myself and the horrendous things I've seen in various properties have lead me to mistrust the floor, just a personal thing that I need to take the floor up and check for my own piece of mind, and the fact that I don't want a half ton of glass and water toppling onto my 3 yr old.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I will leave the technicalites asside and just state that a room with three walls covered with a 6 foot high horseshoe shape aquarium would do it for me, with the worlds most comfortable swivel chair positioned in the middle.

i base all this on winning the lottery

 

[nkd5024]

George,

I completely agree, it would be terrible for your tank to come down on your child.

As you said, since I am on the second floor, I won't have any walls under my floor to support my tank, as I am almost positive that the first and second floor apartments have their walls in the same places.

You seem to know a lot on this subject.
In your opinion, do you think I could go through with this (75 Gal. Display and 30 Gal. Sump) and more than likely be ok?
As long as I place the tank up against the weight bearing wall and perpendicular to the joists?

I can always ask maintenance about the distance between the floor joists, but I don't really think they would know.

I have also been told that the floors in different rooms can be stronger or weaker than others in the house.
Do you know this to be true? If so, would it be better to put the tank in the main living area or my bedroom?

I really appreciate all you help with the subject.

Thanks, Nick

 

[HappyGeorge]

My knowledge is by no means complete, it is a combination of A level Physics (many moons ago), building/DIY experience, reading stuff on the net and discussions with my engineer friend.

Unfortunately you have no way of knowing for sure what's under there and I wouldn't even want to make an assumption on mine, much less on yours. I would agree against wall is safest, in a corner is probably most safe of all, basically the nearer you can get to the supported end of a joist the better and the more joists you can spread it over is better again.

I think in your case I would want to know that the joists were actually supported by a load bearing wall or lintel. I know I am being a what if merchant but imagine that on the floor below someone without a clue or a cowboy builder has removed that wall and put a lintel up that's barely sufficient or non existent and then you come along and plonk an extra few hundred kilos on it? Now we have the weight of your wall, and your tank all supported by...........very little.

This is all hypothetical but I would want to try and find out that the wall below yours is still there.

Sorry can't be of more help really.

 

[ben1987]

Hey Ben,

I don't mind you asking,
I agree, if this really was my "Dream" tank, it would be at least a two or three thousand gallon tank with a VERY LARGE budget.
But back to reality.

I don't necessarily have a budget, I am going to design the tank the way I want it, and what it costs it costs.
I would say it will more than likely be in the $2,000 range for the entire setup.
That is excluding the Live Rock, Sump, etc. that I already have in my current setup.
I have around 60 pounds of live rock in my tank right now, plus about 60 sitting around as base rock that I am going to use.



The dimensions of the tank will be 48"x18"x21" same as any common 75 gallon.

I would LOVE to get the 30"x30"x24" 90 Gallon Cube aquarium, but I don't know if the extra 15 gallons will be to much, since I am putting this tank in a second floor apartment.
I read an article written a structural engineer who is also a reef aquarist which stated that as long as the tank will be setup perpendicular to the floor joists and up against a weight bearing wall you can put up to a 125 Gallon aquarium safely on any floor.

I was planning to have a 75 gallon display plus a 30 gallon sump resulting in approximately 105 gallons. It is currently holding 60 gallons (30 display/30 sump) with no problems what so ever.
The 90 gallon cube plus the 30 Gallon sump would be 120 gallons, and okay to put in my apartment according to the article. I would just feel safer being under the 125 gallon limit.
Do you have any knowledge on this subject?

So let me see the way you would design the 48"x18"x21" 75 gallon reef ready aquarium with an approximate $2000 budget.
If you go a little over or under, thats fine.

I can't wait to see your guys designs. I will post mine when it is done,
Nick

If i was going to spend 2k on that set up i would get.

ATI powermodule probably 6 tubes
Deltec skimmer probably apf 600
vortechs for flow maybe two mp20
phosphate reactor

you could get an awesome set up for that amount especially if you didnt mind teh odd bit of second hand gear too!

 

[nkd5024]

Ben,

Really, you would choose a T5 lighting system over Metal Halides or LED's?
Whats your reasoning?

The Vortechs are amazing pumps. Honestly with the $300 price tag, I would use 1 of them with a koralia pump as well.

George,

I know that the wall below me is still there as it is an outside wall made of brick. This is the wall that I plan on putting my tank up against, I like your idea of putting it in a corner, but if I was going to do that I would angle it to create a small space behind the tank.
Although I agree, it would SUCK if the tank fell threw the floor. Especially if the people were right under it.

Maybe I should hire a structural engineer for his opinion?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[kj23502]

I am in the design stage of my 75 Gallon upgrade.
And I thought it would be cool to see how all of you would build the tank.

So with a,
-75 Gallon Reef Ready Aquarium
-30 Gallon Sump

fun...I get to design.

How would you set up a nice mixed reef aquarium?
Include your choice in,
-Lighting

I would either do 2 250w metal halides that are 14k or 20k or have 10k with retro fit actinics. I don't like the pee water look of 10k.

-Flow

2 vortech mp 40's (I have a mp10a already and I love it)

-Skimmer

One of the octopus SRO SSS probably the 1000 unit

-Pumps

I have an eheim 1262 to use on my 75g. I'll put a gate valve inline after the pump to control flow if it's too much. I also plan to tee off the return and add nipples for multiple reactors and a control valve feeding each nipple.

-Sump use

Sump would fall into the left side compartment containing the skimmer. I'd have 3 baffles and then the return pump in the middle section. Right side is my fuge with a 4" sand bed and cheato. The tee off the return would also feed the refuge with a gate valve to control flow to this too.

And anything else you would include in the setup.

I look forward to seeing you designs!
Nick

Above anything else, consider what you want to keep in making some equipment purchases. For example if you are going to have fish that create a higher bio load then buy a skimmer that is definitely rated for more than your tank. Don't forget to make your return pump easy to remove so you can service it without having to cut your plumbing. Use unions or if not that, the plastic clamps if you will be using soft hose and a barb for your line.

Any questions?

oh yea. Don't forget the carbon and phosphate reactor. Best to have 2 separate unites since they both do best at different tumbling rates.

Don't forget that you don't have to buy everything new. My 75 RR is second hand as well as the sump. Second hand items typically go for half the price of new.

 

[onebto]

I will leave the technicalites asside and just state that a room with three walls covered with a 6 foot high horseshoe shape aquarium would do it for me, with the worlds most comfortable swivel chair positioned in the middle.

i base all this on winning the lottery

Sounds good to me like your style

Regards onebto