1st Marine Tank

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Hi all

I have had Tropical tanks for a few years now, and - like most, I want to move on to marine. However, the project i have in mind will not be done over night, and due to the much hyped credit crunch, it is gonna take even longer.

Underneath my stairs is a wall separating the front room and back room - see photo. So I am thinking of taking the window out and replacing it with a marine tank. I am going to move the radiator and strip the floor back to the beams to build a heavy duty frame to support the tank. The wall will have to be made wider, i.e. the width of the tank. Hopefully there will be space underneath for the sump and skimmer.

Before I move along with this project I would like any recommendations or ideas as I have not built a setup like this before.

Thanks

Iain

 

[rabbut]

When knocking down any walls, you want to speak to a structural engineer first, unless you are 100% shure it isn't structural.

for a good scape, you will need a wide bace realy, so that you can stack rocks without incroaching on swimming space. Don't forget to leave plenty of room on top for maintanance work, and again, speek to an engineer before building a frame to support the tank, so that they can advise on how to build it's foundations and all it's structural weight. 25 litres of marine water weighs 25.75KG's due to the salt content increasing it's dencity, and the rockwork in the tank is likely weight a fair bit also... The guideling is 1KG of live rock per 10l of water, but there are a few work arounds for price. However, the work-arrounds will still weigh the same, so bear this in mind when speaking the the engineer, or planning the stand, to ensure s/he/you are fully aware of the weights involved here. Worst case secnario is that the tank stand fails once full of loverly livestock, breaking the tank and writing off your investment.

That will be one loverly set-up once finished. Will of caurse need a full journal of how this set-up progresses

You will also need to consider power supply to this tank. If you plan on coral, you may need some good light, depending on what types you whish to keep. With most marine tanks you will need good flow also, and this means water pumps. Then you have the skimmer to power, and possibly a seporate feed pump to it than what the sump runs, and even heaters/chillers for temperatue control as dictated by your lighting and room temperatures. One way or another, thats a lot of plug sockets... Work out what equipment you want to use, and how many watts of power it uses. If it comes to more than 3000W (unlikely realy, but possible if you go large) you may also want to involve a qualified electricial to discus if the power supply can handle it, and if not another will need to be installed for you. Also note that most sockets are part of a larger ring main structure, so other equipment may be using some available power. If you don't know what other sockets the ones you plan to use are connected to, or if you don't know the ring mains maximum capacity, you would be wise to involve a sparky anyway to play it safe.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks Rabbut.

I am not planning on knocking down the wall, just removing the window and using that space for a tank (The window is bigger than it looks).

Good point about the power supply, my bro is a sparky so I should be ok there. Prob a good idea to have the sockets quite high as water can run down the cables if they are below the tank.

Biggest issue at the moment is the frame for the tank then. I will remove the carpet and floor boards, and brick up underneath the beams. Then use 2x4 wood to make a frame.

I will try to keep a full log here of my progress, but i think this will take many months to do!.

Thanks

Iain

 

[ox5477]

What size you tank are you looking at right now? Wghat dimensions? If its gonna be under 90-100G, adding extra bracing isn't neccessarily needed, especially if there is a wall directly below where your putting the tank. It more depends on the footprint and total volume of the system...

for bracing, it might be easier in the long run to look into the metal jack posts that are in most basements in modern homes to support long spans... I believe you can find them at a home store, but not 100% on that... well wait, your in the UK... dont know what you guys have for this over there... maybe you dont have these structural metal posts... idk

Anyways, check to make sure the wall isnt load bearing (if it is, just need to put a header over the tank to take the weight... not much extra work really) and determine the what sized tank your going for.

Ox

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks Ox

I have just brought some second hand equipment.

Tank - L 38" W 17.5" H 21" - 50 uk Gal / 60 US.

Powerhead #1
EHEIM 65 W 40 L per min

Powerhead #2
Aquabee 30 W, 2k L per Hour.

Single light unit with Vossloh encapsulated control? (Don't know much about this yet)
300w Heater (Will get another)
Protein skimmer and sump (L 18", W 16", H 18")

Do you think i wll need alot of reinforcement on the frame for this?

Thanks

Iain

 

[ben1987]

this is going to be one to watch

 

[shibby]

il be following this thread, i love the tank in wall style.

 

[kj23502]

I'll be lurking here too

Sounds like it's going to be really awesome!!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Yup, sign me up as a lurker as well, Im stoked to see where this goes.

 

[ox5477]

Depending on the current structure of your home and whether there is a wall below this wall... that will say whether you need extra support.... but I'm go out on a limb and say you should fine as long as there is a wall below this one that is placed either on another wall below that or a concreate slab... Is this the first floor where it is going? and what is directly underneath it?

And, just because you may not have to reinforce... doesn't mean it can't hurt as long as you do it right

What brand of skimmer is it? What kind of bulbs/wattage does the light ficture have?

Ox

 

[SkiFletch]

Hey sweet, sounds like my tank (36x18x24"). I'd bet money that wall (being under the stairs like that) is NOT load bearing. So the real question is, which way do the floorboards run underneath it? Do they run parallel or perpendicular to that false wall? If perpendicular, you're all set. If parallel, you might have to add some bracing to the floor. Either way the stand can be made of very simple 2x4 construction with some creative use of the side panels to prevent torsional strains.

Remember when designing the tank/hood to consider and make it large enough to fit the sump in the stand, tall enough to get the skimmer out, and make sure you make the hood tall enough to get your arms/hands/rocks in without burning yourself on lights AND keep clearance under the stairs... Quite the project here

 

[[email protected]]

Took up the floorboards at the weekend, the boards run parallel to the wall and the beams run perpendicular. The good news is there is solid concreate under the beams so it looks like I am all set there.

The sump is 1.5 " less than the tank, where the wall is 3-4" thick so in order to get the sump in I either have to build the frame out more or make a hole in the wall. Making a hole in the wall will cause problems as it will not be able to take as much weight. So I think building the frame out is my only option.

As for the skimmer, it is a Turboflotor Multi SL 1000

Just started to look into the lighting, I have got a single tube atm but not sure of the bulb. I might be able to get an old arcadia 250 watt metal halide for now, but it only has one 14,000k bulb.

 

[ox5477]

Im sorry, but I'm a little confused by your previous post... maybe I'm just dense... I believe what your saying is that your sump tank is 1.5" shorter in length then your proposed tank... hence the problem that the stand will have to be larger than the display tank causing what you may feel could be an eye sore? Is that right?

Is the proposed tank the same length as this window?

Is this wall load bearing? << have we found this out yet?

If yes for the window and yes for the load bearing, you will have to put in a new header and kick out the jack studs supporting it to make the area longer, a little bit more work, but nothing crazy IMO. If the wall is non load bearing, then just move the two studs on either side of the window out 3" or so and you should have plenty of room

Ox

 

[SkiFletch]

I suppose it COULD be load bearing, but having it under a staircase with a big window in it like that makes it highly unlikely that the wall is load bearing. If you pulled away the top trim of the window and looked behind it you'd fiture it out. Were the wall load bearing, there would have to be a BIG header up there, think 12x2 type lumber stacked together. If there's no header, the wall is not load bearing.

Good to know the floor can hold as much weight as you can throw at it

 

[[email protected]]

Regarding the sump, it is the width that is the problem. The tank is 17.5" wide and the sump is 16" wide. As the tank will replace the window I was going to build out to the width of the tank, but the sump will sit below the tank and window, next to the wall (See my bad drawing)

So the sump next to the wall will be 3" + 16", where the tank will only be 17.5".

Regarding the load bearing stuff, I am just taking out the window and don't plan to take out any more of the wall?

Do I need to do anything to the wall if I am just taking out the glass?