Advice sought: Upsizing an upstairs FOWLR 29 into a large reef setup

Blorton · 12-11-2005, 03:32 PM

Gang,

I set up the 29 a little over a year ago since I had it and a 55 in the basement from an Oscar I kept many moons ago. Silly me went with the 29 instead of the 55 since I wanted to make sure I could deal with the salt side of things, and now I sure wish I'd used the 55 instead.

Anyway, here's my concern...

The 29 is not drilled and positively bristles with HOB items. I am beyond tired of that and am ready to move everything into a sumped setup. (Sorry, I'm not a fan of hang on overflows and for what they cost, that's a good chunk towards a RR tank.)

I have the 29 set up on the third floor of my home, in the office. I can rearrange the room and fit any of the AGA RR tanks in here, although I'm purposely excluding the 210 and 150 because I'd rather not need a ladder to do maintenance.

I'm liking the 125 or the 180. I'm planning to use the 55 as a sump and partition it up for refuge duties.

I believe the weight of any of these would not be an issue since I've investigated the joists used here and found that they're plenty strong enough. (We have the silent floor system and our joists are rated for about 1200lbs each. The tank would be running perpendicular to the joists and would be against a load bearing wall. The joists are on sixteen inch centers so there would be more than a couple under the tank.

)

My real concern is that I had a filter fail earlier this year and several gallons leaked into the dining room below - all over our newly installed hardwood flooring. My long suffering wife was a saint about it and just about had the whole mess cleaned up by the time I got home. The floor ended up being ok, but that was a rough experience I cannot have repeat.

So - would you folks risk a larger tank in this location with the somewhat greater liklihood that a bulkhead or something might spring a leak and rain serious damage down on the place? I'm careful/anal when it comes to making sure things are connected safely and all, but I'm sure y'all are quite familiar with Murphy's Law.

There's also the matter of this room needing to be closed up during the day while we're gone and it gets far too warm during the summer.

Or should I give up on this location and do the big tank in the basement? I've got a couple of location choices in the unfinished area with room for anything up to an 8-12 foot honker and the bonus of nearby water supply and drains as well. There's also adjacent space under the stairwell that I could convert into a sump room. Hmmmm.....

Maybe I just answered my own question?

I'd appreciate any comments and pointers.

Dan

P.S. I should mention that I'm big into DIY and will going the budget route wherever possible. For example, I'm overdriving hagen NO's on the 29 in a homemade canopy. I've got maybe $60 for all the parts when the LFS wanted a hundred more for just a canopy.

kwl1763 · 12-11-2005, 04:24 PM

Well I'm more worried about the heat honestly. I've had decent sized tanks (120 and 135) on a second story before with no issues. Having said that you'r absolutly correct about Murphy so if it would be a huge huge issue then leave it in the basement. Are you going to run halides on the bigger tank? If so there is no way I would put it in a room that is already hot. You'll either need a chiller or you'll be evaporating so much water via fan that humidity could also become an issue.

I'd leave it where you have no worries!

Loverotties · 12-11-2005, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwl1763

Well I'm more worried about the heat honestly. I've had decent sized tanks (120 and 135) on a second story before with no issues. Having said that you'r absolutly correct about Murphy so if it would be a huge huge issue then leave it in the basement. Are you going to run halides on the bigger tank? If so there is no way I would put it in a room that is already hot. You'll either need a chiller or you'll be evaporating so much water via fan that humidity could also become an issue.

I'd leave it where you have no worries!

I agree with KWL.The Heat issue,unless you run the sump downstairs ,which will help on less chance of spills and maybe keep from using a chiller if the area the sump can go in the basement kept very cold!

Blorton · 12-11-2005, 06:29 PM

Thanks for the feedback. The heat issue I can resolve via hvac changes that I've been meaning to do anyway to deal with computer heat in that room.

Simply put, there isn't a return for the AC in that room, so adding one would solve things nicely. I need to put a fresh air exchanger on the upstairs unit anyway for allergy relief, so would do those at the same time. No humidity issues after that.

(I worked HVAC with my dad for years, so I've got a little experience with that.

KWL - my offer still stands to help you with your tank move, and I'd be happy to help with the hvac changes too.)

The more I think about it, the basement really does make the most sense. I've been resisting that option simply because I didn't want to move my part of the office down there. However, I could take the laptop down and just do a little lounge area there.

Waffling Dan

Blorton · 12-11-2005, 06:41 PM

Btw - that 300 tall from glasscages looks pretty good.

Dan

Schwaggs · 12-11-2005, 07:41 PM

I agree with the basement. No mater how careful you are, there will be another flood. Adding a Sump guarentees it...

I also agree that it is much easier to control the temp in the basement as long as it is air conditioned.

kwl1763 · 12-12-2005, 11:37 AM

Well you know my route I debated for quite a while on putting my display on the main level and all the sumps in the basement. Bottom line was in the basement I have a clean slate that I can do anything I want so I decided to build it all down there. I'll definitly PM you to at least pick your brain on the HVAC stuff.

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=640757

Any Opinions?