FarmerMaz
New Member
So my wife and I made the move cross country to her historic family farmhouse and had to downsize from our 7 tanks on our beautiful cement slab house, to fixing up a 165-year-old farmhouse. So I am making this build thread to share the trials, tribulations, and maybe successes as we go, as well as hopefully generate advice and avoid making too many mistakes as I go. We are currently in phase 3 of this project which is the "Holy Heck what did I bite off, my wife must think I am insane" Phase. Phase 1 was "This house cant support a tank and I will kill us all putting one on these floors" and Phase 2 was "How do I repair my 250-gallon tank that was damaged by the movers or convince my wife to upgrade, *hint* its all about the corals *hint*".
This is the first thread I have ever followed along with let-along posted on, so please bear with me as I struggle bus with formatting.
Phase 1 Pictures :
In phase 1 I identified the most level part of the floor in the house and sistered new beams to the existing hand-hewn beam. I braces and supported the planned load area with two-floor posts each rated for 30,000 lbs. I took the time to run a dedicated circuit to the wall for the tank to have its own electrical source separate from the room. I tooled around with the idea of building a water-making and change station under the tank and drilling through the floor to run the plumbing, but I think my wife would kill me, and finding a pump with the proper lift capacity could be a problem. Access is easy so this is still on the table as a future project.
Phase 2 pictures:
In phase 2 after drooling over tanks, the owner of my LFS had the deal of a lifetime for me. After conferring with the employees and having them triple-check measurements on their end, and quadruple-checking measurements on my end, the stand was 1/4" wider than expected. So I had to cut through the door frame, which moved up the project of replacing the door, Sorry Honey, we got the sucker in.
Now for phase 3 or as I am lovingly calling it the fall of man, or the, I learned enough to be dangerous so I can handle everything right? Nope!:
This is where I have hit the hubris point where "I can figure it out" Is turning into "what the heck is this, why are the sumps plumbed together, how was the flow designed"
So if you have any thoughts let me know, but right now I am working on figuring out how to start getting things together before my wife kills me.
This is the first thread I have ever followed along with let-along posted on, so please bear with me as I struggle bus with formatting.
Phase 1 Pictures :
In phase 1 I identified the most level part of the floor in the house and sistered new beams to the existing hand-hewn beam. I braces and supported the planned load area with two-floor posts each rated for 30,000 lbs. I took the time to run a dedicated circuit to the wall for the tank to have its own electrical source separate from the room. I tooled around with the idea of building a water-making and change station under the tank and drilling through the floor to run the plumbing, but I think my wife would kill me, and finding a pump with the proper lift capacity could be a problem. Access is easy so this is still on the table as a future project.
Phase 2 pictures:
In phase 2 after drooling over tanks, the owner of my LFS had the deal of a lifetime for me. After conferring with the employees and having them triple-check measurements on their end, and quadruple-checking measurements on my end, the stand was 1/4" wider than expected. So I had to cut through the door frame, which moved up the project of replacing the door, Sorry Honey, we got the sucker in.
Now for phase 3 or as I am lovingly calling it the fall of man, or the, I learned enough to be dangerous so I can handle everything right? Nope!:
This is where I have hit the hubris point where "I can figure it out" Is turning into "what the heck is this, why are the sumps plumbed together, how was the flow designed"
So if you have any thoughts let me know, but right now I am working on figuring out how to start getting things together before my wife kills me.
