What to look for in a house when planning a large tank

[michika]

Okay cool.

So if I had say an 8" floor would I have to, or should I, reinforce it further? Or is this one of those things that I should wait and see what the floor is like?

[michika]

fkshiu,

How did you set up your system? Did you have to do a significant amount of demo, or renovations to make your basement tank worthy? I personally expect to have to run extra electricity, water, a drain, and possibly construct a false wall. Did you run into anything extra, or eventually ended up having to do something that you didn't originally plan for?

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by michika

fkshiu,

How did you set up your system? Did you have to do a significant amount of demo, or renovations to make your basement tank worthy? I personally expect to have to run extra electricity, water, a drain, and possibly construct a false wall. Did you run into anything extra, or eventually ended up having to do something that you didn't originally plan for?

I wish I had taken "before" pics, but we pretty much gutted and re-wired the entire basement. I didn't have the budget for a dedicated fish room so no plumbing was done beyoned having a laundry basin installed (well there was the new bathroom but that was for us humans).

It's a 60-year old house and the slab was solid, but very uneven. I ground down the peaks where I was planning to put the tank and had a new 2" slab poured perfectly flat and level. I used porcelain tile on top of that.

Greenboard rather than standard drywall was installed behind the tank and an ultra-quiet Panasonic bathroom fan was installed on a programmable timer above the tank for venting.

Anything I could have done differently? Probably should have put the GFCI outlets off to the side rather than right behind the tank for increased safety and maybe have gone even bigger!

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by michika

Okay cool.

So if I had say an 8" floor would I have to, or should I, reinforce it further? Or is this one of those things that I should wait and see what the floor is like?

There's no need to reinforce it further unless it's falling apart. The concern for new houses is that the concrete still has to settle and cure possibly causing some cracking (if it wasn't poured properly) and movement. Hence the suggestion of using an isolation membrane if you plan on tiling. I would also suggest porcelain tile over ceramic or natural stone given its strength and resistance to cracking. If you use carpeting it not as big of a deal. Just make sure the floor's flat and true.

For older houses, the slab isn't as much of a concern since all the shifting and curing has already ceased and you can go about dealing with it "as is".