Reef Discussion

[IJG3145]

I very nearly bought a second hand tank, stand etc for my next DT. Tank capacity without sump was 912 litres, I was already in love with this tank and I was going to have it........

Luckily I thought I had best think about what a tank this size would mean. 20% water changes meant 180 litres of new RODI water every week (could I realistically produce that) plus top up water, enough salt every week, this thing was 80cm deep and 80cm front to back - how would I aquascape it, do maintenance etc? Stuff it I'll manage......(probably wouldn't have).

Then I thought about weight. I live in a very old house that sits on wooden stumps. Conservatively this thing was going to weigh almost 2 tonne when fully set up and be pushing all that weight into an area of less than 4sq metres. There was no way my sub-floor could handle it so I reluctantly let it go.

I post this as a message - don't forget the basics. I almost did. :rolleyes


Out of curiosity I spoke to a builder and according to him, many modern houses (even if built on a slab) would not take that focused weight well, potentially cracking the slab. House slabs tend to be the minimum they can get away with.

 

[Savage Henry]

Yep, I thought about this even with my smallish three footer and made sure I had the tank spanning across three beams.

Should people place more weight on this aspect of locating their tank? Anyone have any bad experiences to share?

Might not also be a bad idea to point out to new comers the need to check whether aquarium cabinets or whatever is used, is strong enough to hold up a tank over time.

 

[MagicJ]

Personally, I would never have a tank deeper than 60cm as they are just too hard to maintain.

Interesting comment about the concrete slab - I would have a assumed that a house slab would be able to support just about any tank.

 

[IJG3145]

Personally, I would never have a tank deeper than 60cm as they are just too hard to maintain.

Interesting comment about the concrete slab - I would have a assumed that a house slab would be able to support just about any tank.

He likened it to a driveway. It's designed for cars and you can usually drive on it for years and years without issue. Start driving even a light truck on it regularly and any driveway not designed for it will crack. Apparently the average house slab is of fairly mediocre quality and even the process of creating it is the minimum required.

Whereas say a small factory floor of even similar materials will be far better quality because it has compressed substrate underneath, is kept moist during the curing process etc. Apparently your average house slab can hold your average tank but is just not rated for 2 tonne in such a small space, he did do the math but frankly that went beyond me.

He says you won't even notice the damage for quite some time but if a crack appears and the right environmental conditions occur, the two parts can separate. He told me that during the last big drought (when water restrictions became permanent in Melb), houses all over Melb started to move and people had to install systems that literally watered the slab to minimise damage. Yet there were very few reports of commercial buildings doing the same because of the design and construction rules are much stricter.

 

[Savage Henry]

It might be hard to determine whether your concrete slab cracked because of your tank or for reasons, i.e. the result of drought as you pointed out.

I have also heard comments about car driveways not being up to have a car just sit there for an extended period as opposed to a drive way that gets driven over every day.

 

[Susan Bates]

I very nearly bought a second hand tank, stand etc for my next DT. Tank capacity without sump was 912 litres, I was already in love with this tank and I was going to have it........

Luckily I thought I had best think about what a tank this size would mean. 20% water changes meant 180 litres of new RODI water every week (could I realistically produce that) plus top up water, enough salt every week, this thing was 80cm deep and 80cm front to back - how would I aquascape it, do maintenance etc? Stuff it I'll manage......(probably wouldn't have).

Then I thought about weight. I live in a very old house that sits on wooden stumps. Conservatively this thing was going to weigh almost 2 tonne when fully set up and be pushing all that weight into an area of less than 4sq metres. There was no way my sub-floor could handle it so I reluctantly let it go.

I post this as a message - don't forget the basics. I almost did. :rolleyes


Out of curiosity I spoke to a builder and according to him, many modern houses (even if built on a slab) would not take that focused weight well, potentially cracking the slab. House slabs tend to be the minimum they can get away with.

Mine has been estimated at over 1 ton because of the amount of rock i have in it........the only thing i sometimes think about is the bottom falling out of my tank, I am on a concrete slab

 

[Uglyman]

I live in an old house (circa 1890) and I have a 4x18x18 sitting in a corner of front room and the floor has dropped about 2cm since I installed the tank 10 years ago. I am getting ready to put in a new tank later this year that will be about 850litres tank/sump and I would never consider putting a tank of this size down on the current floor. So house is getting a complete re-stumping as current stumps are not great and extra stumps and bearer will be installed below the new tanks position. :)

 

[Susan Bates]

I live in an old house (circa 1890) and I have a 4x18x18 sitting in a corner of front room and the floor has dropped about 2cm since I installed the tank 10 years ago. I am getting ready to put in a new tank later this year that will be about 850litres tank/sump and I would never consider putting a tank of this size down on the current floor. So house is getting a complete re-stumping as current stumps are not great and extra stumps and bearer will be installed below the new tanks position. :)

good idea, could you imagine the night mare if it went throw the floor