120 gallon Nice and slow

[Streetdoc77]

Hello all ! It’s been awhile, I finished up a move over the summer from Memphis Tenn to mid Michigan and tore down my sps dominator tank ..... I was heartbroken but .... with heartbreak comes new beginnings!!!! Ever since I’ve moved into my place I have gone back and forth on how big ? Where to put it ? Difficulties and obstacles that need to be overcome... that’s part of the fun right ?

So I went with a Sca 120 rimless starfire over the thanksgiving holiday I priced reef saavy and miracles and got a deal on the sca plus free shipping and residential delivery super yay for that .

I am overall impressed with the quality of the tank the eurobracing is straight and no bubble in the silicone just a little sloppy on the silicone injection but not bad overall for $677 I could not ask for a better tank the bulkheads that came with are meh but hey it’s ok .

Going to be building my stand and beefing up the floor joist In the basement and all that stuff . I really can’t wait to start this project I will undoubtedly need help along the way . Here is a pic of the sca in the garage for now and a pic of the sps dominator before I tore her down .

 

[ETBReefer05]

Welcome to the Mitten! You’ll find there’s a healthy base of hobbyists here and the Detroit area has some great LFS, if you’ve never been to Preuss pets in Lansing, it’s a must see! The old tank looks great and I’m excited to see the new one develop. For what it’s worth Reef Saavy is my dream tank but SCA has some deep discounts right now, good find!

 

[Streetdoc77]

Thanks for the welcome ETBReefer05 ! I will certainly check out Preuss pets Lansing is about 80 miles from me it will make a good day trip .

 

[Streetdoc77]

Taking inventory and doing some maintenance. Blew all the funk out of the radion ,cleaned the fan and housing . Pulled out my skimmer from the moving box ugggggg ! Looks like I need some acrylic binder.

 

[Streetdoc77]

Installing new valve on the rodi unit . There’s no good place to put it on the floor joist .... might have to mount it to the concrete ...

 

[Streetdoc77]

Here is where she’s going , top and bottom . If anybody with basement cribbing experience wants to chime in I’m all ears ! I need an experienced reefer to help me out with this I have some ideas on how to go about suring up the floor not sure if I’m on the right track though ..... I figure two floor jacks with a 2x12 or a 4x4 ?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Looking good so far!! Cool to see someone else setting up the same tank. We'll have to compare notes.

 

[ETBReefer05]

You could

Here is where she’s going , top and bottom . If anybody with basement cribbing experience wants to chime in I’m all ears ! I need an experienced reefer to help me out with this I have some ideas on how to go about suring up the floor not sure if I’m on the right track though ..... I figure two floor jacks with a 2x12 or a 4x4 ?

Floor Jacks with sistering of the joists are going to give some extra support. Without knowing your specific joist spans and load, etc... I will say that my advice is not professional and YMMV.
I would ask two questions. How far from a load bearing wall are you going to be placing the tank?
Will the tank be sitting perpendicular to the joists, running across multiple joists or parallel to the joists, possibly only resting on one?

If running perpendicular across multiple joists, the best case scenario is the middle of the tank hits a joist and the two ends hit a joist. If the tank will be spread across three joists, with a 120, lets just round up and say 1500lbs total system weight. 500 lbs distributed to a 24 inch x 2 inch area. 500lbs force/8 sq ft per joist= 0.443 Pounds per square inch. Assuming your first floor is rated 40 Pounds per square foot (Michigan code), this tank would be 62.5 PSF, or 22.5 PSF over your standard load capacity.

I would say floor jacks are a minimum requirement for this load, but I may also make the beams directly under the tank "I-beams" by running a 2x4 along the bottom of the joist, with the 4 inch side touching the existing joist. This 2x4 would also need to a continuous span from one load bearing wall to the next. Another consideration is this will reduce the height of your basement by 1.5" nominal, so if you have a low Michigan basement, it may not be comfortable.

This would ensure that the jacks can support the extra weight, AND, the existing joists would be stiffer while handling the extra load, ensuring that they don't shear/twist under the added weight.
If my tank were going anywhere other than directly next to a load bearing wall, I would use these two methods every time. (My tank sits on a steel I-beam, lucky me)
I have experience framing houses, so I can answer basic questions. If you want to be 100% sure, spend the $200 and have a structural engineer come do an inspection. The $200 inspection will give you piece of mind
that will be far cheaper than replacing your $5000 reef setup and $10,000 floor if it fails.
Sorry for the novel!

 

[Streetdoc77]

The novel is what I need !!!! This is invaluable information for me I truly appreciate your input the last thing I want is to have a structural failure . Turns out I met a civil engineer over Halloween Your right about having an engineer to take a look $ 200 is a drop in the hat compared to the damage I could do to my home .......

So the tank would be centered 60 inch off the steel I beam and across 3 - 2x12 and 2 inches off the fourth the center would be where you see the returns end the left end of the tank would be 43 inch off the concrete wall and the ceiling height is 92 inch’s off the floor .

 

[ETBReefer05]

Yes, at 5 feet from the I-Beam and 3.5 feet from the concrete I would suggest the combined 2x4 and support jacks pretty much directly under the tank. Minimum of two support jacks, but three recommended. Place them directly under the tank as centered a possible running parallel to the tank. Engineer would still be a home run in these cases, but I'm confident in those support jacks as well.

 

[Streetdoc77]

Looking good so far!! Cool to see someone else setting up the same tank. We'll have to compare notes.

Thanks ! Sure thing DiscoBiscuit

 

[Streetdoc77]

Yes, at 5 feet from the I-Beam and 3.5 feet from the concrete I would suggest the combined 2x4 and support jacks pretty much directly under the tank. Minimum of two support jacks, but three recommended. Place them directly under the tank as centered a possible running parallel to the tank. Engineer would still be a home run in these cases, but I'm confident in those support jacks as well.

Man thanks for the info and the advice !!!! I really didn’t know where to start ....

 

[Streetdoc77]

While wrapping presents I found time to mount the ro unit Previous homeowner left me this handy reefing workbench ! And a pic of the old / new frag and quarantine tank 75 gallons . There was some sizable 1/4 inch acrylic panels left also for my DIY sump ordered some acrylic weld , going to give it a good ole college try lol

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Looks good!

 

[Streetdoc77]

Merry Christmas

 

[Streetdoc77]

Found a little time this morning to repair the skimmer . If it’s broke fix and reuse !

 

[Streetdoc77]

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[Streetdoc77]

Reef octopus xs 160 is reborn !

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Nice work!

 

[Streetdoc77]

Thanks !