Aquarium in weightlifting room - shock absorber ideas?

[Squirrellyman]

Here’s a weird one for you... hopefully, someone else has already solved this at their home.

We are in the planning stages of our “big” aquarium, which would probably have a ~75g sump in the basement. However, the basement is where our son lifts free weights (in a cage). Occasionally, he’ll have to “dump” (drop a heavy weight) and the whole basement shakes.

I’m worried this could eventually cause the sump to crack, bust a seam, etc.

Has anyone else ever had a similar issue? How did you solve it? I was thinking I’d need to figure our some sort of shock absorber system for the sump...

 

[ReefPig]

Here’s a weird one for you... hopefully, someone else has already solved this at their home.

We are in the planning stages of our “big” aquarium, which would probably have a ~75g sump in the basement. However, the basement is where our son lifts free weights (in a cage). Occasionally, he’ll have to “dump” (drop a heavy weight) and the whole basement shakes.

I’m worried this could eventually cause the sump to crack, bust a seam, etc.

Has anyone else ever had a similar issue? How did you solve it? I was thinking I’d need to figure our some sort of shock absorber system for the sump...

I hear gym membership is very reasonable compared to breaking tanks

 

[lavoisier]

A Styrofoam pad under the sump should do it. A wooden stand would be an added measure of safety.

 

[Brett S]

If the sump is going to be in the basement anyway then I assume that space isn’t too much of a problem. I would just use something like a Rubbermaid stock tank for your sump, which should have no problems with shock or vibration. If that’s too big, then go with an acrylic sump instead of glass. Acrylic is a lot less brittle than glass and I feel like it would be much less likely to be damaged. But really I think the stock tank is your best bet.

 

[Ef4life]

Tractor supply sells horse stall mats - a layer of them under where he lifts/ drops weights. Some people do double layers. That should really help.

 

[sp1187]

I'm trying to wrap my head around the floor not cracking (cement?) and the whole basement shaking.

 

[Biff0rz]

I lift weights in the connected fish room, so yes, this is not unique lol. My sump is on the floor. I do deadlifts and squats. I definitely drop the deads more than dump the bar when squatting. A few thoughts - if he's lifting in a rack for squats (he should, it's your home) the safety catches should catch the dump. So in that case it's easy, add a 3/4" rubber stall mat below the rack. Amazon and tractor supply carries them. For deadlifts, have you considered building him a deadlift pad? Again, 3/4" rubber and two 8x4 plywood sheets and some light building then you're good.

Aside from the lifting mods, you can also place the sump on a similar pad as other have mentioned but it will still shake.

Attached a pic of me lifting near my coral qt. Sump is behind the wall/storage behind me.

 

[Johniejumbo]

I lift weights in the connected fish room, so yes, this is not unique lol. My sump is on the floor. I do deadlifts and squats. I definitely drop the deads more than dump the bar when squatting. A few thoughts - if he's lifting in a rack for squats (he should, it's your home) the safety catches should catch the dump. So in that case it's easy, add a 3/4" rubber stall mat below the rack. Amazon and tractor supply carries them. For deadlifts, have you considered building him a deadlift pad? Again, 3/4" rubber and two 8x4 plywood sheets and some light building then you're good.

Aside from the lifting mods, you can also place the sump on a similar pad as other have mentioned but it will still shake.

Attached a pic of me lifting near my coral qt. Sump is behind the wall/storage behind me.

I hurt my back just looking at this lol.

 

[RedReefer]

I hurt my back just looking at this lol.

Very bad for your back and knees! If you can’t rep it 25 times I wouldn’t put it on the bar.

 

[Biff0rz]

I hurt my back just looking at this lol.

Once you get in a groove, this sounds counterintuitive, but it feels good. I feel bad when I don't lift weights, odd, I know.

Very bad for your back and knees! If you can’t rep it 25 times I wouldn’t put it on the bar.

Not true, but this isn't the place to debate weightlifting. Lifting with improper form can do those things though. (I can rep it 25 times, not that it matters)

 

[Bigdaddy05]

Once you get in a groove, this sounds counterintuitive, but it feels good. I feel bad when I don't lift weights, odd, I know.


Not true, but this isn't the place to debate weightlifting. Lifting with improper form can do those things though. (I can rep it 25 times, not that it matters)

My 17 old definitely doesn't do 25 reps when he's breaking records amongst the other football players 1-2x max

 

[Biff0rz]

My 17 old definitely doesn't do 25 reps when he's breaking records amongst the other football players 1-2x max

As he shouldn't (not really sure where that 25 thing came from lol). And as I'm sure he (you or his coach knows) you're not always maxing, you work up to those sessions. And kudos for getting him lifting early, I really wish I started that young.

 

[Bigdaddy05]

As he shouldn't (not really sure where that 25 thing came from lol). And as I'm sure he (you or his coach knows) you're not always maxing, you work up to those sessions. And kudos for getting him lifting early, I really wish I started that young.

I wish I would have started even sooner keeps him out of trouble and away from drugs up until covid he had a good shot at the nfl but not sure now with a whole season lost

 

[blasterman]

I used to have a holography table and learned the physics on vibration dampening.

You can either fix something to a cement floor with brute force to keep it from moving or use a floating inertial mass approach. Since a tank full of water is already pretty heavy I would use the inertial mass approach. If you take a large barbell and put rubber balls underneath it anything sitting on that barbell will be insulated from vibration through the floor.

I know a guy in cali that applied this to his big reef given he had a tank cracked in an earthquake. He basically mounted his stand on plywood and then used wood rollers / dowels underneath. Ground shakes or vibrates and the inertial mass resists moving. The wood doesn't conduct vibration very well. The dowels are at slight angles to each other so the tank can't just roll back and forth.