Dream build need help

[juiceguy]

you can go acrylic to cut down on the weight......my 290g with 3/4" glass weighs in by itself at 645lbs.

 

[clownlover]

where in brooklyn are you? my father is a big contractor in brooklyn, he does tons of workin all the brown stones and the other styles.. those old floor joists are very weak and should be sisterd up and suported regardless of if it can hold up now.. if it sags and stress cracks in the future and yor tank tips and pours out.. thatll suck...but if you need help, im in brooklyn 3-4 days a week

im in park slope but the tank will be in staten island

 

[clownlover]

+1 listen to Alfie. Now regarding Glasscages....I would never buy a large one from them. I have a 50 gallon frag Tank from them and am very unimpressed by it. The only thing is the price but this is one area where I would not cheap out on. Try Miracle, coast to coast, or AGE. All make great tanks. I have a 10' tank and it is acrylic....have you thought about this ? A remote sump is definitely the way to go. There are so many other things to consider when doing a large build. My advise is do lots and lots of homework in the design phase. Another huge issue I am having with my 10' tank is flow....this is fun.....:banghead:

its going to be a reef tank so everyone told me acrylic would scratch

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

+1 on acrylic that size, sucks when gets scratch but its easy to pick up

 

[clownlover]

are deep sand beds still the way to go?

 

[juiceguy]

glass can scratch also. acrylic does scratch easier but that is usually when you slouch off on cleaning and coraline starts to grow on it.

 

[clownlover]

if the only downside to glass is the weight then its not really a problem. lots of juicebags on staten island to help. that scratchiness of acrylic scares me...but then again so does a silicon failure so i dont know

 

[JimmyR1rider]

If your basement is unfinished or even if it is you can build out a room to house your sump and everything - in that room or section of the basement you can buy smaller versions of what the city used when the fire apparatus we use today outweighed the structural capacity of the concrete apparatus floors. They use the adjustable lolicolumns underneath the rigs in the basement. You can get smaller versions of them and put a couple maybe at the beams at the ends of your tank that way the beams will be supported by the strength of the houses foundation, and then beef up the beams that the tank sits on that dont have the columns under them. Just a thought- they are relatively cheap for a version to support the weight of the tank.


NYCDOMINICAN stated that its the same weight as a house party worth of people BUT not all those people are in 6-10 foot area that the tank will be. Your putting the weight of all those people that would be dispersed all over the floor in a very small area of the beams, so I would worry about the weight. Wood is stronger than a lot of people think it is but that is A LOT of weight, in a small area.

 

[albano]

have you seen my tank build thread...450g 8' acrylic tank...I presently have 1 170g, and 3 130g tanks, and an 8' sump, all acrylic...you should definitely consider it! There are advantages and disadvantages to either!
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/tank-threads/63397-hundreds-corals-fish-free.html

 

[clownlover]

If your basement is unfinished or even if it is you can build out a room to house your sump and everything - in that room or section of the basement you can buy smaller versions of what the city used when the fire apparatus we use today outweighed the structural capacity of the concrete apparatus floors. They use the adjustable lolicolumns underneath the rigs in the basement. You can get smaller versions of them and put a couple maybe at the beams at the ends of your tank that way the beams will be supported by the strength of the houses foundation, and then beef up the beams that the tank sits on that dont have the columns under them. Just a thought- they are relatively cheap for a version to support the weight of the tank.


NYCDOMINICAN stated that its the same weight as a house party worth of people BUT not all those people are in 6-10 foot area that the tank will be. Your putting the weight of all those people that would be dispersed all over the floor in a very small area of the beams, so I would worry about the weight. Wood is stronger than a lot of people think it is but that is A LOT of weight, in a small area.

i wish but the basement is finished

 

[JimmyR1rider]

You could still do the columns and then box them out in wood and nice mouldings. Paint them to match the rest of the basement

 

[clownlover]

found this article not sure if people have seen it or not

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Is the only reason I wanted to comment on NYC's post about the weight. People in general- especially buildings that weve responded to with the FD that have had partial collapses is because of them storing SUPER amounts of bulk items in the house and then a water leak occurs causing the weight to grow to 10X+ the original weight of what they are storing and then something gives way. Whether a building can support 10psf or 40fpsf isnt rated for a small area of the flooring and bearing walls to handle its spread out evenly wall to wall. Good luck on your decisions about how to support the tank. Am sure youll work it out in the end.

 

[clownlover]

thanks jimmy...jarrett just finished 15 pages of ur build very nice!

 

[clownlover]

albano just finished ur monster 18 page post....great tank

 

[clownlover]

what do u guys think of a coast to coast pipe overflow??

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Lets get some pics if you have any of the layout

 

[albano]

what do u guys think of a coast to coast pipe overflow??

problem, that I saw with C2C overflow, on a 6' or bigger tank, is, if a fish goes into the overflow...HOW are you going to catch it...MURPHY's LAW...fish will go into overflow...that's why I have two 2' overflows, and NOT a C2C....BTW glad you enjoyed the thread!

 

[cali_reef]

Why would you need that much overflow? You should figure out how much water you want to process through the sump and design an overflow sized to accommodate 30-50% over that flow rate.

 

[clownlover]

so im closing in on a custom tank- 96 x 24 x 30. what overflow woul dyou recommend for a tank this size?? i wa shoping to get away with corners instead of corners and center overflows.