Prove me wrong!

[shady-vector]

Did the title get your attention? I think just about everyone likes to tell someone why they are wrong or why something won't work. Especially if they asked for it!

I currently have a 75G and a 150G that are happily cruising along, but..... I live in this really cool mid-century classic home that is built like a tank. There are lots of neat features and built-ins throughout the house, but since the day we moved in I have wanted to put a long tank on this brick wall that we have in the main entry way. I think it could be the signature piece of the entire house. I wanted to make a post where folks could comment on any potential problems that I may not have thought about or say why they think it couldn't work or even why they wouldn't do it.

I live in NC and this part of the house is built on a crawl space. I will attach a photo from the crawlspace, but the brick wall is built directly on top of a cinder block wall on the foundation. There is a large coat closet next to the wall where I would put the sump and all associated equipment. Power is not an issue as I can run new electric into the closet and could even make dual runs from separate circuit breakers to give me redundancy on return pumps and power heads/wave makers.

The plan is to custom build a metal square tube frame (friend is a welding instructor) that would sit on top of the wall and have a few legs that would support the section that overhangs the wall. This would allow me to have a wider tank (wall width is only 17 inches).

 

[JZ199]

How wide is the wall? From the picture it looks like it's extremely narrow

Also, the window may be an issue if it's as close as it looks with sunlight shining directly into your tank (blinds can easily fix lol)

And is the wall totally level? I know my older home, a lot of things look level to the eye but in reality they're off.

Last, for the sump set up, is the closet connected to the wall where you could go from the side of the tank into the wall? I'm having trouble visualizing how you could discretely run your drain and feed lines down into a sump into a neighboring room.

 

[JZ199]

And I just realized I didn't see originally that its 17" wide! So that answers one of my other questions already

 

[Reef Psychology]

With stuff like this, get a professional's opinion. One of my properties was built in the 60's and there are a million things that can factor in. I really don't like that they hammered through the sub-floor either. That does things to wood foundations.

 

[KrisReef]

Well, I have a wife and in reading your post I don't get the feeling that she is the one who is in support of this project.
The subfloor is ok, I do wonder if those perpendicular cantiliver top caps are going to ride out one of those earthquakes you have in NC. You had 59 fault slips in the last year, one of those massive ~2.0 shakers could push the tank off the stand and accellerate the whole set up straight through to China! Also, where are you going to run the plumbing for the remote sump. You will need some kind of box to hide that to keep her happy?

So there you have it. My best go at stopping your project. Otherwise,

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Glad you have joined us, and I'm not just blowing smoke.

 

[shady-vector]

All good questions so far.

The wall is surprisingly level, but wouldn't be a factor because the intent is to have the tank sit on a square tube frame that could be leveled.

Hiding the plumbing is a bit of a problem, but I would basically have a false box covering that. Even exposed it wouldn't bother me. I don't mind cutting holes in the wall to the closet to pass plumbing through. I actually built that wall so I could do it again if needed.

The windows normally are covered with curtains. Even without it is all indirect light. The sun shines in the opposite side of the house.

The hole in the wall in the crawlspace is certainly a concern as well. It seems it would still be plenty strong though.

 

[shady-vector]

Well, I have a wife and in reading your post I don't get the feeling that she is the one who is in support of this project.
The subfloor is ok, I do wonder if those perpendicular cantiliver top caps are going to ride out one of those earthquakes you have in NC. You had 59 fault slips in the last year, one of those massive ~2.0 shakers could push the tank off the stand and accellerate the whole set up straight through to China! Also, where are you going to run the plumbing for the remote sump. You will need some kind of box to hide that to keep her happy?

So there you have it. My best go at stopping your project. Otherwise,

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Glad you have joined us, and I'm not just blowing smoke.

Haha, I could certainly see how you could think that, but she's totally onboard. She hates the plants on the wall and can't think of anything better to do with the space.

 

[snorklr]

the first thing i'd want to know is whether this is actually a masonary wall or just built for looks with a brick facade...that would make a big difference on how much weight the wall would be able to help support VS having to design a stand that would support the full weight of the tank and bridge the wall...it might be safer to remove the wall completely and start from scratch

 

[shady-vector]

the first thing i'd want to know is whether this is actually a masonary wall or just built for looks with a brick facade...that would make a big difference on how much weight the wall would be able to help support VS having to design a stand that would support the full weight of the tank and bridge the wall...it might be safer to remove the wall completely and start from scratch

I like your username. It's a brick wall. Two actually. But directly on top of the cinder blocks in the crawlspace. Probably didn't take the best pictures, but there are actually two parallel rows of cinder blocks supporting each side of the wall. Your idea of scraping the wall and starting over isn't the weirdest idea in the world though.

 

[dstockwell]

Welcome to the Reef

 

[Reefahholic]

I’d have a structural engineer take a look at it and give recommendations as to what you will need to beef up for a safe long lasting tank that the whole family can enjoy w/o worrying about a failure.

 

[shady-vector]

I’d have a structural engineer take a look at it and give recommendations as to what you will need to beef up for a safe long lasting tank that the whole family can enjoy w/o worrying about a failure.

That's two votes for having an engineer look at it. Looks like that's the direction I'm headed.

 

[Jeeperz]

That block wall lost most of it's load bearing capacity when someone knocked holes in it, the center has zero left with bricks floating. Looks like renovation work was done to the house at some point. At the very least I'd float the steel stand over the wall and use pier blocks and post Jack's under all the stands supporting legs in the crawl. You don't see old growth lumber like that much anymore, way better than the dumpster wood available today, nice tight growth rings

 

[shady-vector]

That block wall lost most of it's load bearing capacity when someone knocked holes in it, the center has zero left with bricks floating. Looks like renovation work was done to the house at some point. At the very least I'd float the steel stand over the wall and use pier blocks and post Jack's under all the stands supporting legs in the crawl. You don't see old growth lumber like that much anymore, way better than the dumpster wood available today, nice tight growth rings

The lumber in this house is amazing. We've pulled a few walls out to open the space up a bit. Real 2x4's and the wood is so dense you can barely drive a nail through it.

 

[dennis romano]

Here is my 2 cents. Take the brick wall down. Have your friend build the steel stand. Attach concrete backer board to the stand. Cement the bricks to the backer board. That way, you have the strength of the stand and the look of the brick.

 

[Timfish]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Looks like it could be a cool setup! The one issue I see based on the pictures posted is the gaps in the mortar between the bricks. But that may not be much of an issue with a steel frame grabing the top levels.

Not sure how you feel about acrylic and a curved tank but using a steel frame you could do a "wave" tank that's has an overall width of 24" -26" that alternates hanging over the brick wall about 6" - 8". Kinda like this one but obviosuly a lot longer with maybe 2 or 3 "waves" on iehter side.

 

[shady-vector]

I actually toyed with the idea of doing an acrylic tank that would overhang the wall somehow. I think it would look amazing.

 

[Timfish]

I actually toyed with the idea of doing an acrylic tank that would overhang the wall somehow. I think it would look amazing.

Here's another tank that might help see how a curved tank might look.

Show & Tell Me About Your In-Wall Tank Build

I'm still looking into building a 125g in-wall reef in the living room, with a backed up bedroom that's never used, so 'it'll be great as the reef room. Show me photo's and how you built yours.

www.reef2reef.com