This weekend was productive for the tank move. I was running out of options for movers to come help with the best quote $900 and no insurance overage. As a last ditch I texted a friend who pulled through the next morning bringing himself and 3 other guys to help. It took every bit of us to get it down the stairs and onto the stand, but it is thankfully safe on the stand. Reminder, its 5/8" glass, and double braced with overflow and armor seams... It is a BEAST.
Sadly I found that the stand isn't as perfect as I thought.. Turns out the stand has a hump in the center even with the middle feet off the ground and the 500lb tank on top its roughly 3/16" out across the 6 feet. I decided to shim between steel and plywood and have gotten the plywood flat across the 6' down to 1/32". I am basically shimming each end up and then reducing the shims as they approach the middle. Sanity check me on this please, I think its good, especially with the 7/8" foam between plywood and tank, but let me know.
Copper treatment has been going well, I suspect i may be dealing with flukes also but haven't found any yet. My sailfin was flashing and rapidly changing colors last week, a FW dip has helped him considerably. Once copper is done I will be switching to a fluke medication, any suggestions for such I can get in Canada would be helpful.
Here are some photos of the setup, the hump, and the shimming. Went with the old playing cards trick, they have massive compressive resistance, obviously they need to stay dry, as does the plywood. Ill likely wrap the stand and tank trim in a exterior flashing tape to let any water that might get behind the stand boards drain off without touching the wood.
Here are the 6 tool steel feet. 6" long and 3.5" wide bottom pad. With around 500lbs on each foot, they spread the load to 23psi, about 33 percent of the underlayment capacity. It then steps to a 2x6 that will spread it further to around 11.5 psi at most.
The stand with the base. I also ran 2x4's along the length of the frame and topped it with a sheet of plywood. The sump will sit on white foam inside the stand and sunken down a few inches onto this plywood base. A drip tray will be built on the open end with Apex water sensors to buy some time if a leak happens. The whole basement is waterproof LVP as well, so no real concerns if there is a leak besides the wood spreader base.
The sump is still going slow, I haven't ordered glass yet. I am thinking of keeping it incredibly simple,12" area for the ATO resi, a 24" area for skimmer, a roller mat, heaters, any media I want to place there. The bubble trap and returns chamber with dual returns will be far left near the back wall of the tank. Thoughts? I dont plan to run an overly complicated system, my tanks have never ran socks, usually just a heater, lights, and a skimmer. Dosing will be added to this tank, and the reef mat is a new tool id like to try to help keep my sump cleaner.
The tank made it in one piece.
The stand and tank are 10" from the wall to allow for plumbing. This will be boxed in as part of the stand skin in white painted wood. Access doors will let me get to the siphon, the overflow box and dry sides of the MP40s.
The hump. Hard to see, but just above the middle leg, it humps up. Over 6' this is only 3/16 or so, but more than I am happy with. I want that top FLAT.
Here is mid leveling of the wood. This stand and tank are edge supported, this adjustment has made the plywood perfectly flat with the 500lbs empty tank sitting on the stand but slid over 2" to adjust and set the level on the plywood. I cannot detect a hump anymore.
A keen eye might have caught the return lines on the end of the tank above. I am trying something new running dual return pumps and dual return lines along the top of the euro brace to these 1" bulkheads in the end euro brace. Peninsulas are bad for getting water to the end of the tank, I am hoping this will help. I expect my wife wont love the look, plus the light spill from the 4 XR15s, and want a hood anyways so why not go for it.
Why the stand has a hump is yet to be determined, when doing this the feet in the center were off the ground, adjusters all the way up, so its not the ground pushing on it unevenly. I spoke to Miracles on leveling the stand but am calling tomorrow about the hump. The tank has about an inch of water in it for cleaning and some weight, and all looks perfect at the moment. I also spoke to the owner of miracles on the plates under the feet and 2x6 base. We use a flooring product called DMX 1Step under our LVP so there is a 69psi limit on the floor, spreading that load was a requirement.
Let me know your thoughts on how I adjusted it, if you think this will be fine for the next 10 or so years, and what you would do, I would like to hear your ideas.
Before I leveled with cards, every corner had wiggle room in the foam, but now everything is snug. I will bring out the laser before I fill it to check and monitor any shifting or settling while I fill it. Hoping to get RODI in it by the end of the month.
