My 52x28x28 reef tank in progress

[Len]

eek. Fine, 2006 it is

 

[LA-Lawman]

thank god!!!!

i was about to come book ya for "contributing to the delinquency of a procrastinator!"

good to hear... are you still gonna wait on those aquatech jobbers...

i was thinking about streams but I will wait if the things stands up to the "hype"

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

Slow and steady wins the race, or in this case, creates a purdy tank
Take your time Len, you must be doing things right :lol:

 

[magicman76]

Nope. I'm the epitome of patience

I get my sand tomorrow, but I likely won't add it until next week. A contractor is going to come over and reinforce my floor (sistering the joists, adding cross beams and pillars, etc.). I probably won't have any livestock in the tank until 2007.

umm.. Len.. its best to do the reinforcement before there is a load on the floor.. are they going to jack up the floor or move the tank when there doing this???????

 

[Anonymous]

I was thinking the same thing....

Hopefully you empty the tank before the contractor starts banging nails into the joists under the tank....

 

[LA-Lawman]

Len, is your home old??? are you placing the tank near a load bearing wall? I would think that there should sufficient brcing in areas that the wall bears a load...

my uncles 50yr old hardwoord floor is built better than my buddies new home!

 

[Len]

I may remove the water from the tank if required. I know it's better to do the work before there is any load. It's one reason I am not adding anymore equipment, rock, or sand to the tank before I get the floor further reinforced. As it is, I already have four additional pillars of reinforcement, but I want more for peace of mind.

 

[Len]

BTW, my home is about 40 years old. The floors were overbuilt to begin with. 12" spacing on the 2x12 joists, full 1" thick boards that lay atop the joints. The tank is on at least one load bearing wall (exterior wall, iirc, bolted to the concrete foundation) and maybe two load bearing walls. If you look at the pics, the rear wall is an exterior wall and definitely load bearing. On the right side of the tank, there is a big archway that appears to be load bearing as well.

 

[LA-Lawman]

do you get creaking with the tank filled? what prompted you to add support... did you have a break in the past...

 

[fishgills]

Great job, good luck.
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[Len]

No creaking or floor bounce. The tank actually helped make the floor feel more solid/rigid. I'm just being paranoid. And I'm sure the designers of the house never thought there would be a 4000 lb object on it. I'm confident it will hold up fine under normal circumstances, but an earthquake is another story.

 

[LA-Lawman]

i hear ya on 4000lbs... thank god i am single story...

 

[Len]

I'm single story too, but I have subfloors (that is, my house doesn't rest on concrete slabs). There's about a 3-4' high crawlspace below the house. I think it's california regulation.

 

[Anonymous]

Just fill it up and go for it - whats the worst that could happen?

Looks great Len, makes me ashamed to post pics of my plumbing!

 

[LA-Lawman]

I am on a slab... so no worries there. your tank looks great.. sorry to push ya. I do things at my pace also... keep us posted...

if ya need help. I can drive down and lend a hand. 8)

 

[HClH2OFish]

Big ol truck full of natural seawater

Holy Seawater, Batman!! Do these guys deliver to Phoenix? LOL

Man I gotta move close to the ocean...

 

[magicman76]

BTW, my home is about 40 years old. The floors were overbuilt to begin with. 12" spacing on the 2x12 joists, full 1" thick boards that lay atop the joints. The tank is on at least one load bearing wall (exterior wall, iirc, bolted to the concrete foundation) and maybe two load bearing walls. If you look at the pics, the rear wall is an exterior wall and definitely load bearing. On the right side of the tank, there is a big archway that appears to be load bearing as well.

how far do the floor joist span.. if its less then 12-16 feet your more then fine with those stats..
did they plan on your house being a commersial space or something? LOL JK..

more support definately wont hurt anything.. and yes I would do anything to move weight away from the area.. such as removing the water and placing it in a room that isnt on the same set of floor joists..

 

[HClH2OFish]

...more support definately wont hurt anything.. and yes I would do anything to move weight away from the area.. such as removing the water and placing it in a room that isnt on the same set of floor joists..

But if he does that, won't he need to get more support for the floor in the other room while the first room is getting worked on? :lol:

Gratz again w/the tank Len. Looking forward eagerly to more pics!

 

[cklayko2000]

Earlier in the thread their was some discussion about which return pump to use. A major requirement was sound.. Len have you thought about custom sea life pumps. There is a shop up in the bay area called Natural life aquarium that bought out the remaining Custom Sea Life pumps. I just bought one of these pumps and love it, it's totally silent and the design is really cool. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[Len]

Thanks cklayko. I've actually used those pumps before (also sold as Silent Seas). They are dead quiet and have plenty of flow. However, because of their design, all three I've owned have seized up on me due to Ca buildup in my stony-populated reef. And I'm too lazy to clean pumps regularly

magicman, i don't know what the span is. I'm gonna have to ask. When the house was remodeled, I do recall a beam dividing the room in half so that the joists don't run the full width of the room.