Jim's 300 Gallon Reef Build Thread-Landlocked so bringing the ocean to me!

[jlnielsen13]

Hello fellow Reefers,

Living in Illinois and loving coral reefs is a tough combo to swallow sometimes. Because of this, I have attempted to bring the ocean to me on a daily basis. Teaching Biology I discuss with my students all the time how our reefs might be gone by 2050 and how important it is to make sustainable choices when purchasing seafood or even choosing a coral to buy for your tank. Currently, I have a 140 gallon mixed reef seen below:



I really like this tank but as you can see I have run out of room!

I also have this tank set up currently:



As you can see in the picture it houses a really large queen angel and a large Sohal Tang. I feel bad for the fish as they need a bigger home (currently a 135) and the tank is constantly dirty. Because of this and my desire to have a larger reef tank I purchased this:



It is a 300 gallon, 8 foot long glass aquarium. Wow was this thing heavy, we had 6 guys attempt to pick this thing up and the best we could do was slide it on moving blankets! ( NO idea how I will eventually get this up on the stand.)

I started this build thread because I will be leaning on the community for a couple of questions as I slowly make the switch over from 135-300. Things like:

Plumbing the sump
reinforcing the floor
cabinetry/stand and canopy work/stain/water proofing come to mind.

Can't wait for the journey and appreciate all the help in advance- questions to come!

Thanks,

Jim

[MacDime]

thats a nice looking reef tank! And jesus that things gotta be close to 2 tons when filled up and stocked! awesome though itl look great

[swclown]

Wow. I can imagine how heavy that is. I bought a 240 gallon all glass last spring. I had 7 guys and we could barely get it in the house, but it needed to go into the basement. I hired a moving company to get it down the steps and on the stand. It was too risky to have friends possibly get hurt or the tank get damaged so the piece of mind was worth the 300 dollars. Even the moving company had to come twice as the first time they didn't realize or believe me when I told how big it was and the weight. If your stand is some distance from the where the tank is currently it might be worth looking into.

Or get the glass suction cup holders. The biggest problem with glass is there isn't anything to hold onto so you have to grab it from the bottom which leaves fingers in the way when you need to rest it on the stand. The moving company was more logical to me as I would never use the suction cups again and the cost to buy them negated that route.

Stefan

[vitodog]

+1 on the moving company. My 125 was no where near as heavy your 300, but was still very heavy and did not want to risk injury to friends. For the most part, these guys (movers) are professionals and know all the little nuances of moving heavy objects.

[jlnielsen13]

Might have to think about the moving company! You don't think about all the hidden costs just to get the thing in the house:

Uhaul truck: 195$ + gas

8 x gift cards for your friends who helped you lift "slide" in the tank (it's the holidays)

Moving company 300$ ??

Geez, that's not even including equipment, salt, etc!

Plus I just spent more for the trim-work on the stand than the stand cost from the company!


Maybe my wife was right! As soon as she saw us slide the tank in the house she said, " Geez Jim, that thing is huge- I would have never agreed to this if I new how big it was!" "What were you thinking!" "Nobody else has to have a tank this big... only you!"

Just started on the stand so it looks more like a piece of furniture and less like a box.

Thanks,
Jim

[Joe0813]

when i brought my 180 six foot glass tank in my house and down my basement stairs it was just my friend and me with no suction cups. guess im superman ... on a serious note if you do choice to move it get the suction cups because when we went to put it in the stand i got my finger stuck and it hurt a REAL lot

[swclown]

Originally Posted by jlnielsen13

Might have to think about the moving company! You don't think about all the hidden costs just to get the thing in the house:

Uhaul truck: 195$ + gas

8 x gift cards for your friends who helped you lift "slide" in the tank (it's the holidays)

Moving company 300$ ??

Geez, that's not even including equipment, salt, etc!

Plus I just spent more for the trim-work on the stand than the stand cost from the company!


Maybe my wife was right! As soon as she saw us slide the tank in the house she said, " Geez Jim, that thing is huge- I would have never agreed to this if I new how big it was!" "What were you thinking!" "Nobody else has to have a tank this big... only you!"

Just started on the stand so it looks more like a piece of furniture and less like a box.

Thanks,
Jim

I can relate X 100. When I got the tank in the Spring the idea was to have it up and running by Fall. It still hasn't seen a drop of water yet. When I initially wanted to upgrade I was planning on a 180 coming from a 155 but decided I would get the biggest tank that would fit in my house without removing molding etc. so 240 was it. Then it hit me that everything would need to be bigger and brighter and I wanted to take my time and do it right. I still need one more LED @ 700.00. powerheads or something for water movement, APEX unit @ 700.00, sand, misc stuff, electric, etc. And then there is still a wish list of stuff that will just have to wait. At least my main pump and LED tank mounts come today. Hopefully I can start on plumbing this week ( : Good luck!!

[ChrisKirkland]

Welcome to the world of Large Tanks. I have a 300 DD though not as long as yours I know it has to weigh just as much. Took 6 of us to lift it 6 inches on to the stand, needed 2 more.

[jlnielsen13]

Hello,

I was able to get some stand work done this week. I think I am done with the stand as far as adding trim... just need to work on the canopy now, then start filling in the nails and stain! I am a little nervous about the stability of the stand because of how thin the support seems to be. There are very few 2x4's in the whole construction and no framing, just oak panels basically.

Some pics:

Here is how it came originally:







Thanks,

JIM

[traumajeff]

Contact your lfs. They may have suction cups that you could borrow/rent. That's how I moved my old 225. They may even have other equipment or the ability to move it cheap for you, as many stores also do service and builds.

[Vapour1ze]

Nice work, Jim.

Following along!

[Shawn O]

Subscribed.

[DONT PANIC]

Hi Jim,

GL with the build. Can I ask where you got your tank? Was it a custom build?

[smoothdog]

Originally Posted by traumajeff

Contact your lfs. They may have suction cups that you could borrow/rent. That's how I moved my old 225. They may even have other equipment or the ability to move it cheap for you, as many stores also do service and builds.

This^^^
Or you could try your local tool rental center. Our club has purchased select items like this that are essential but don't get a lot of use and has 2 sets to loan to members for tank moves.

[jlnielsen13]

Great ideas,

I will check both for those cups! Something about them makes me nervous like if they gave out- that could spell disaster and serious injuries!

Just brought home my skimmer- It's a monster (both literally and by size)!!
Biggest one Skimz makes - monzter 302.. Just hope it fits inside my stand since it is huge!

Pics to follow!

[mayjong]

" I was able to get some stand work done this week. I think I am done with the stand as far as adding trim... just need to work on the canopy now, then start filling in the nails and stain! I am a little nervous about the stability of the stand because of how thin the support seems to be. There are very few 2x4's in the whole construction and no framing, just oak panels basically."

that's scary!

nice tank!

[jlnielsen13]

Here are some Skimz skimmer pics:



I put the giraffe next to it for scale!



May have gone to big, this thing has four pumps attached to it and barely fits in the stand:



Should keep the tank clean though rated from 396-1057 gallons according to BRS....

Going to attack the canopy this weekend.

JIM

[jlnielsen13]

So one of my biggest question marks right now is if my floor is strong enough to hold this beast. I plan on it being there for many years to come and I also want to sleep well during those years so I am considering opening up my walls and adding some more structure.

Here are two very scientific pictures to give you an idea and to help me with my questions:



This first pic shows if you could see through the tank from above. The tank unfortunately runs parallel with one joist. Underneath it I placed a 20,000lb rated metal floor jack. Later I finished the basement and in order to hide the jack, ran the wall and studs along this entire floor joist pictured below:



This is what it looked like before I finished my basement ( I actually was smart enough to take a pic)



The joist that is supported is 12 inches off concrete and running about 10 inches from the front of the tank.

I am thinking the floor jack along with 8 - 2x4's with a header and footer ram-set into that I-beam going along that beam should be enough. Plus, it is on an outside wall of my house. Floor joists are engineered Ibeams 16" apart. I think it really only hits one.

To be safe I am thinking about opening up the wall and putting 4x4's on top of the concrete basement wall up to the subfloor above that would carry the load all the way down the concrete.

Any thoughts?

JIM

[jlnielsen13]

Well,

I finished the stand as far as all the wood working and have it sanded and ready for stain.

To get a break from the wood working I did a little plumbing and made this manifold to run up to 3 canisters.

Here's a pic and would like feedback if it needs any changes.... Thanks

[Ncfishguy]

Wow this is one amazing build following

[e55driver]

Where in the Chicago area is this build?

[ultimatemj]

I would encourage you to have someone experienced with structural math run the numbers for you (lb/sqft and such). Shouldn't be to find, nor do, but getting this wrong could cost you a lot of money. Better safe than sorry!

[aagp]

wow

[aagp]

i want a 300 g

[RobinsonFam1]

Originally Posted by jlnielsen13

So one of my biggest question marks right now is if my floor is strong enough to hold this beast. I plan on it being there for many years to come and I also want to sleep well during those years so I am considering opening up my walls and adding some more structure.

Here are two very scientific pictures to give you an idea and to help me with my questions:



This first pic shows if you could see through the tank from above. The tank unfortunately runs parallel with one joist. Underneath it I placed a 20,000lb rated metal floor jack. Later I finished the basement and in order to hide the jack, ran the wall and studs along this entire floor joist pictured below:



This is what it looked like before I finished my basement ( I actually was smart enough to take a pic)



The joist that is supported is 12 inches off concrete and running about 10 inches from the front of the tank.

I am thinking the floor jack along with 8 - 2x4's with a header and footer ram-set into that I-beam going along that beam should be enough. Plus, it is on an outside wall of my house. Floor joists are engineered Ibeams 16" apart. I think it really only hits one.

To be safe I am thinking about opening up the wall and putting 4x4's on top of the concrete basement wall up to the subfloor above that would carry the load all the way down the concrete.

Any thoughts?

JIM

the fact that the tank runs along an exterior wall is insignificant in this scenario due to the fact your tank and joists are parallel. if it were opposite then yes it would be helpful.

since the basement wall is already built and finished im assuming then moving it and making changes is out of the question.

the needed info now is how finished is it? can you add joists/beams in or do you need to remove some sheet rock?

yes you will need to take the info to your local lumber yard that sells/specs those joists for a load calculation to be done. ask them the best routes with options to support the tank and still maintain as close to zero deflection as possible (preferable).

i joists and engineered lumber is awesome to work with because it offers so many possibilities.