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 It starts
with the room
Keeping with my 2 guiding principles, I planned carefully to avoid
any water ending up outside the aquarium. Then I plan that the floor will
somehow, someday, get flooded - thus the floor is concrete, with a slight slope
to a drain in the floor. This ensures when the water hits the floor, it goes
down the drain, not downstairs! You can see the plumbing
for the sink and hole for a drain in this early picture.
When dealing with a tank this size, you have to consider the
structural support in the house. All considered the thing weighs more than
2.5 tons. The firm that did the engineering for our house took the
aquarium into consideration in the house plans. The floor joists are a bit
stronger than would otherwise be necessary. The floor joists run
perpendicular to the tank, so there are a number of them carrying the
weight, so we didn't have to do anything extreme, such as steel beams. Also, a reinforced
load-bearing wall below ensures that the weight is carried directly below the
tank, rather than having the tank in the middle of a floor span.
The aquarium itself rests on a steel-frame stand and a short wall that is flush
with the front of the aquarium, which is the family room wall. In the picture you see
the framing that will bear the weight on the front. At this point, the steel
frame was not yet built. The tank was custom built to
sit exactly on top of the short wall to be flush in the front -  with a 45 degree
bend. But Murphy's law struck again, and the tank was constructed at only a 44 degree
bend, requiring us to move the short wall about 3 inches over (by the door) once
the tank arrived and we realized the problem. This could have been a disaster -
fortunately we had the tank in a local warehouse and were able to measure and
make an exact shape template before we did the sheetrock, painting, etc. so
moving the wall was only a couple hours work.
There are a few design issues worth noting in these pictures:
- The short wall isn't just your normal framing; it is carefully constructed to
be perfectly level across the length of the short wall. The tank must be level or
the water will spill out one side!
- The room is entirely insulated to keep the noise from pumps, fans,
overflows, etc. from escaping the room.
- There is a large stainless-steel sink in the room, which comes in useful
all the time. (Not shown at the early construction stage in the picture)
- The walls are constructed with greenboard, which is a moisture-resistant
sheetrock used in areas such as bathrooms.
- The room is wired with 4 separate 20 amp circuits not shared with anything
outside the room, to ensure there is plenty of power, and that nothing
outside the room will trip the breakers or GFCI. All circuits are GFCI
protected for the safety of myself and my reef life. Outlets are available
in the short wall under the aquarium where pumps and heaters will need them, as
well as the ceiling for the lights, and the walls for normal usage and
incidentals.
- There is a window, just in case I need to get a lot of fresh air fast, run a
power cord through from a generator outside in case of prolonged power
failure, or run a hose in from outside (which I did since they didn't get
the in-room plumbing done in time!)
- There is a high volume vent fan in the ceiling, which pulls the hot, humid
air from the room to the outside. It also ensures that any strange smells
(yes, you know those smells) go
outside, instead of wafting into the rest of the house!
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