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NEReef

Working on the new tank.

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8 Comments
by
NEReef
, 06-21-2011 at 04:37 PM (1193 Views)
So i started cleaning the tank today and evaluating where the tank will be set up. The tank has four 1" bulkheads on the back for the closed loop, and when the tank was taken down the closed loop piping was just sawed off in the bulkheads. I will have to get new bulkheads but before I do I am wondering if I should drill the holes out for bigger bulkheads? I have never run a closed loop, and I am planning on running my Iwaki md-100rlt for the closed loop pump. Does this sound reasonable at 1" piping or should I drill the bulkheads bigger for 1.5"? Also the overflow has two 1" bulkheads I am wondering if I should drill another overflow with two more 1" bulkheads. I plan on using my Iwaki 30rlxt for my return pump and I am hoping to use penductors/eductors??? (the ones that Marc has) on my returns and closed loop so that i wont have to use any powerheads in the tank. The trim on the top of the tank looks a little unusual, it looks like the plastic brace/braces were removed and a glass brace was siliconed in place instead. Not sure how this will affect the tank. As far as placement goes, I plan to put the tank against the outside wall of the master bedroom which is above my two car garage (24'x26'). I am trying to determine the direction of the floor joists and I am a little confused. I always thought the floor joist run in the same direction as the roof rafters?? I looked in the eaves next to the shed dormer and it appears the floor joists run perpendicular to the roof rafters which is good because then the tank will be spread over numerous joists. I looked at the ceiling of the garage beneath the bedroom and it looks like the main carrying beam runs perpendicular to the ridge beam as further support of the direction of the joists. Now for some pictures!
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The closed loop bulkheads that had been cut.
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Shots of the glass brace that has been added to the middle of the tank.
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Some pics of the chiller setup.
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This is the wall in our bedroom where the tank is going to go.
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This is the main beam in the garage beneath our bedroom.
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This pic shows the beams location is perpendicular to the ridge beam. The tank will go against the wall to the left upstairs.

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Comments

  1. cyano's Avatar
    I am really glad you started looking at the floor supports for that tank and stand, I would say 1" would be what I would do for the pipe given that is the size of the connection coming out of it, plus that particular pump is pretty good at handling back pressure from what I have read on it, but if you are running multiple ports out of it (which I assume you are for flow) then depending on how many Tees you run you may have to go down in size to keep the psi up if that makes any sense
  2. mulebutter's Avatar
    I don't know wood, but I know iron. Seeing the beam in the garage, if it was like a structural iron job, I would say that the floor joists are running perpendicular to the main beam in the garage, and sitting on top of it. But, I would think that anything parallel to the floor moist where a load bearing wall sits on them, is probably braced to the adjacent moist. I will talk to a guy at work tomorrow and find out what he says because I think he knows about wood. If not, ill find the carpenter foreman and his opinion. In either case, see if you can calc out the pounds per square foot your setup will have, the area it covers, and we can go from there. Im willing to bet that you'll be good with it though. But, I see where you're going with it, and I think its cool you're covering all the bases.
  3. cyano's Avatar
    most of the time when you have a large support beam like that it's like mulebutter said, they run perpendicular the the main support bean, but depending on the thickness they are rated for X amount still meaning that typically they were never designed for a large volume of water, rocks, and wood to be placed in one spot on the supported floor, but that doesn't mean it won't hold it, I would say as long as you can get the middle of the tank over that main beam you should be on, but you may look at placing a pillar underneath it just to cover all your bases. I need support under my floor as we speak and from what I recently found out from my neighbors the previous owners of my house had a tank in that spot as well. So now I know that the floor had most likely given a little before I owned it meaning that even if I had supported it before placing my tank there the floor would still not have been at its original height so now I have to not only support it but try and jack it up possibly
  4. NEReef's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mulebutter
    I don't know wood, but I know iron. Seeing the beam in the garage, if it was like a structural iron job, I would say that the floor joists are running perpendicular to the main beam in the garage, and sitting on top of it. But, I would think that anything parallel to the floor moist where a load bearing wall sits on them, is probably braced to the adjacent moist. I will talk to a guy at work tomorrow and find out what he says because I think he knows about wood. If not, ill find the carpenter foreman and his opinion. In either case, see if you can calc out the pounds per square foot your setup will have, the area it covers, and we can go from there. Im willing to bet that you'll be good with it though. But, I see where you're going with it, and I think its cool you're covering all the bases.
    ya i think it will be ok. I went into the little closets/unfinished areas under the eaves, next to the dormer, and I followed the nail lines in the plywood floors, and they went 16" apart in perpendicular lines from the outside gable end wall. Im extrapolating that those nail lines are where the floor joists are located since 16" OC is the common spacing for framing. I took a picture of the base that the whole setup sits on. Its a little unusual in the sense that the stand and the two cabinets both fit into the base piece not rest directly on the floor. I am a little concerned by that since everyone is always talking about stand construction and how you want to transfer the load directly to the floor. I would appreciate any insights anyone wants to share!

  5. NEReef's Avatar

    Here is the picture of the base. the tank stand sits on the middle section with either open end being where the side cabinets fit.
  6. mulebutter's Avatar
    You know what!? I say screw it, let's get crazy, lag some eye bolts into the rafters and get you a floating tank off the ceiling! Ha ha! Yeah, that's it!! Lemme see what calcs I can come up with real quick here...
  7. mulebutter's Avatar
    Ok, im having a very hard time figureing out how much your floor can support per square foot. But, round about, you can figure that 150 gallons of salt water weighs around 1200 lbs. Plus, add in however much weight of live rock, and the weight of you stand etc. Then, figure out the square footage of the surface applying the weight (length X width) and head into home depot or call a contractor or something and ask what the typical wood moist floor will support per square footage wise and wha-la! Bingo! Like I said, ill try and round up some info at work tomorrow (im working on structural steel at a hospitol at the helicopter pad so SOMEBODY should have some idea.
  8. cyano's Avatar
    every one I know running a reef tank over 75 gallons on any floor higher than the first floor has had to support underneath the tank