SW Tank Price Advice

Will my floor support the weight? 180 gallons of fresh water is 1440 pounds. so...once you account for salt...and a sump (not sure I would go for the full 180 gallons as a sump) I would be looking at what....4000 pounds? Not to mention the cabinet and equipment weight.
 
Worst case.. buy it, keep just the equipment you want (there are many items worth over $250, so that alone makes it worth the deal) and re-sell the rest of the items and look for a little smaller tank like a 120 if you think a 180 is too big.

Ya, a 180G sump is huge.. nothing at all wrong with that, but you normally don't see a tank/sump size matched. I would probably go with a 75G for a sump for that tank.

I really can't answer the weight thing because I have no idea where it will be located in your home or how the building your in is built. If your in the second floor of an apartment complex, then no, it probably won't support the weight.. but if your ground floor in a house.. sure.
 
I have a 2 story house built in 1982 (if the age of the house matters). It has a full basement. So I would be putting it on the Main (1st) floor...but I have a full basement below that. Still not sure how I would get this thing home though...Luckily it is in the same suburb of Denver as me.
 
At that price I would go out and rent a uhaul for the day if I didn't have friends with trucks to help me. I am still going over that ad.. I can't believe how cheap that is.. that really has to be one of the absolute best deals I have ever seen.

If it is possible to drill a small hole (2") through your floor to the basement, a lot of people put their sumps all the way in the basement under the tank above and run a pipe up the hole to the tank. Many benefits to doing it this way if it is possible. You just need a strong pump to push the water up that high. He may have just that pump though if he has all that other nice equipment.
 
$20 plus miles for uhaul...probably about the same for a truck from Home Depot.

Glad to hear you agree it is a good deal. I figured I was missing something and it would be crappy stuff again. :)
 
I think I might pass on SW completely now that I think about it a bit more. I have done well with 2 FW tanks (25 and 30g) for 1.5 years, but saltwater seems to be more labor intensive both in the start up and maintaining. I do 25% water changes with treated tap water every 2-3 weeks with fresh water (testing ammonia, nitrites and nitrates once a week), but it sounds like "normal" maintenence for saltwater is more, so I am not 100% sure I am ready for that. Thanks again to everyone who assisted me with information. :)

provided you have the space to mix up some salt water its really not anything more then your doing already if you dont keep corals.life is on easy mode. then it seems to be differnt when corals get involved.
 
OK...so now I have a question about moving it. I work in I.T....so muscles are in short demand and I believe an empty 180g is around 250-300 pounds. Can I use an appliance dolly, and put it on its end? So basically it would be on a dolly with a 24"x24" side on the bottom supporting the weight, standing 6' tall on it.
 
ewww.. I don't think I would do that myself unless the dolly is bigger than the side of the tank (use a piece of plywood on top of the dolly to support the entire side of the tank if that is your only option). If you can support the top and bottom bracing on the dolly, and not the glass, it may be possible, but I definately wouldn't use a small dolly that is only big enough for the side glass without the bracing. Disaster waiting to happen. It is still very "iffy" and I really wouldn't recommend doing that on that size of a tank. I would rather get 2 dollies on each end of the tank and roll it that way vs up on end.

I am in IT as well.... so I know what you mean. ;)
 
Crap...now I need to figure out where to put it. With the Tank, Stand, and Side cabinet..I am looking at 9.3 feet wide, 2.5-3 feet deep, and 7 feet or so tall. Holy crap! On the plus side...stuff looked better then I expected...he is holding it until the weekend for me...assuming I can find a wall big enough to put in along. :)

Edit: By the way...he says it is $10k worth of stuff...and I might have to believe it. And he had the storage tank and ro/di unit in his basement, and a pump that fed it upstairs to where the tank/sump where. Even the storage tank is probably worth $250. :)
 
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