hoooooo
 

Ok, so I built my stand. It is a BEAST! I am starting to wonder if my weight for everything once it's done might be too much for a second floor... anyone have any thoughts on this? lol.

I'll put some pics up, but all you're going to see is once massive stand that could probably hold a tank with a footprint of 25"x48" that could weigh as much as a dumptruck. What the hell was I thinking? Ha ha. Anyways I put the 75gal underneath and it fits fine, so I have nothing left to do but commit to ruining it with a bunch of weird baffles and crap, then actually trial run it.

So I just put in the first 2 pieces of acrylic which will hold up the skimmer. Apparently I will wait for them to dry and complete the sump from left to right, so I can adjust sizing as I go if needed.

I'm still not sure what to do with the open spot I'll have under the skimmer. I suppose I could put some LR down there to break up the bubbles too. Why am I so obsessed with bubbles before even having to deal with them?

Pics soon once I find my camera cord.

Looking good so far.

If you're living in an apartment, I would check before you slap the 90gallon on the 75 gallon sump with the "beast" stand.

I would guess the total weight would be at least 1500 pounds when you have everything in; and that might be too much over 4 feet.

Floor strength
 

Hmmm... I came up with yet more interesting things just now...

If anyone is interested in learning about floor strength and concepts, check this out: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...ium_weight.php

Here's a good link for starting on aquarium weights (just water, rock is more obviously): http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aq...zesweights.htm

Then I went down and checked the floor joists in this place and holy crap was I shocked. Where I assumed would be 2x8's or 12's were these CRAP weird 2x3" truss things... not even the plywood stuff I had seen in some newer places. To top it off, they were at like 18" spacers. WTF. I am sick of all the ways builders screw people over now! No wonder the bookshelves in one room are making another room have a creaky floor!

Looks like I have to rethink the tank location until I can be sure of what those crap looking trusses have for load bearing. Sheesh. Or I could speed up the whole mortgage thing and just get a new house already. Yet another kink in the whole plan.

you just have to reinforce the joists measure the truss things from floor to the bottom then buy some 2x what ever the hight is and laminate on both sides of truss things. But remember truss structures are stronger than a single 2x8 would be they are designed to bear weight out word to the supporting ends. you may want to look into things a bit more you can probably do it with no troubles but check first, you may want to go to a 30g sump which is enough for a 90g.

Bill