Project Great Wall o' Tanks

[YoFishboy]

Maybe you can buy a few inches if you use a system of all 4X4's and Simpson strong ties, With more 4 X4 's under the tanks and tying everything into the wall studs. Or, if possible, "stair step" the tanks so you need less clearance for the bottom tanks.

 

[Shagmaster]

COOOOOL

 

[Sploke]

Ok, updates. First off, I talked to my cousin, who is an archtect, who made me up some fancy schmancy drawings. He's convinced the weight isn't going to be a problem, which is comforting. The layout still might change a bit, but the design will remain the same.

Obviously the front-to-back will need to be adjusted accordingly but you get the idea.

Next - sub-project part 1 - moving the door for access from behind. The existing doorway is on the right side of the pic. It needs to be all the way back in the corner. As a side note - that corner was until recently teh residence of my workbench, the contents of which are now scattered in piles all over the basement floor, which is making this project even more exciting.

From the tank side. The edge of the doorway right now is about where thefish wall is going to meet the room wall.

Oh you want to put a door here? Of course there's a wire in the way. I ended up putting in a pass-through box and deleting the outlet, as it sits pretty much right where the walls are going to join. As another adventure, I found I have mice in my walls. Fun fun.

Sheetrock down and door mounted. Wow am I glad I just hung the sheetrock and skipped the tape/mud...that would have made substantially more mess. More to come...

 

[Sploke]

Sub project part 2...cleaning up the old 150, so i can put the fish from the other 150 into it, and move it out of the way. I need to move it before I can move the turtle tank over there anyway.

I've had this tank for about a year. I got it for free with a couple crappy hoods that don't fit. The glass was a mess and there was more broken plastic in the frames than good.

I had thrown together some wood frames, I kept a hatching turtle in it over the winter. It only had about 6" of water in it so I wasn't too concerned. This is what I started with.

First, I scraped out allll the old silicone, cleaned the inside really well and resealed the entire tank.

Next step was to come up with some sort of temporary bracing. Its only going to have water in it like this for a few months. Before it moves to its final home, I'm going to weld up some angle aluminum full frames, top and bottom, with center braces. For now, its cable and turnbuckles to hold pressure on the corners, and a riveted aluminum brace for a center support.

I test filled it on Sunday and its leak free so far. I'm planning on switching the fish over this weekend, moving the other 150 and getting the turtle tank in the corner where it belongs.

Just so you can see where its going, and the mess I'll be cleaning up...I have too many tanks. Blasphemy!! The plywood tank is going on the floor, where the deck and kiddie pool currently are.

Updates as they come, its a slow process.

 

[mudskippers]

WOW! what a great idea! I hope everything works out for you! id stay safe with the big tanks on bottom, but do your math and you'll get it figured out!

Everything looks good, you seem to be a very very very busy man thease days.. lol.. hope you get a majority of thease projects done before you baby comes!! Cant be hammering and sawing when the babys napping... GOOD LUCK!

 

[rwilliams254]

To cool for words

 

[Mgamer20o0]

lol looks like its starting to come along..... keep us updated with many pics.

 

[Sploke]

Well the first big part is done. I've relocated the fish in the 150 to the other 150, and gotten the turtle tank in place. Next is wiring and painting.

You can see the build thread for the plywood tank here.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

keep up with the pics.... love to see the step by step.

 

[johnlarson66]

Just a question, why can't the two 150's be on the same row?

I think it would look good.

Either way, it is going to look great.