Piper February 19, 2013 Share February 19, 2013 Perhaps a dumb question, but seems like it should be possible. I'd like to find a shallow, acrylic frag tank and suspend it from I-beams in the ceiling over my sump.Yes, i realize it could sway a little if pushed, It could be hung such that it would lean into a corner and I don't think it would move, ever. Anyone ever done anything like this? Am I talking foolishness? Might be what, 200-300lbs with water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad February 19, 2013 Share February 19, 2013 Sure, it's possible.. there are a couple of examples of hanging tanks floating around on the net. It's an interesting engineering problem that really only requires a thoughtful approach, some analyses, and likely a bucketload of cash. For acrylic, I suspect the key problem that will need to be overcome will be support of the acrylic, which tends to creep over time under a consistent load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad February 19, 2013 Share February 19, 2013 I think I posted a thread on this tank a while back: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef February 20, 2013 Share February 20, 2013 I think if you had the tank sitting on top of a piece of plywood it wouldn't have as big of an issue...and I would personally love it! I would not have the sump underneath...more of a hidden behind another wall or something... but ya gotta work with the space you got... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper February 20, 2013 Author Share February 20, 2013 I think if you had the tank sitting on top of a piece of plywood it wouldn't have as big of an issue...and I would personally love it! I would not have the sump underneath...more of a hidden behind another wall or something... but ya gotta work with the space you got... I have overkill for skimming and reactor on my existing sump for my 220 and want to feed off the same sump.I'm limited on where i could easily take a feed of that sump, since I went under stairs through crawl space and the wall to get to the garage. To put the frag tank in the house, i'd have to do the same thing again, or leave it in the garage. I actually want a show refugium in the room above the garage as well, so maybe I bite the bullet, plumb to that room and do them both there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjamaya February 20, 2013 Share February 20, 2013 Can you add a shelf to the wall then add the hangers to make it appear that it is hanging? Magic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper February 20, 2013 Author Share February 20, 2013 I think I'm sneaking up on a better alternative. I actually do want two tanks, a show refugium and the frag tank, and I want them in the room directly above the main tank. I have a 90gal with drilled, top/back overflows that would be pretty good for the show refugium, could run a pipe up the exterior wall feeding water from my SPS tank to the frag tank on a stand above the refugium, overflow from the frag tank to the refugium, overflow from the refugium back down to the SPS tank. Would be a great way to get copopods going. Love dragonets but have never been able to keep them for long, so I don't buy them. If I well establish this setup, shouldn't be a problem. Sneaking up on it, I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef February 20, 2013 Share February 20, 2013 That's sounding like a fun idea..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper February 20, 2013 Author Share February 20, 2013 Talked to the wife and explained it. Her desk would have to move and I'd do well to tile that bit of floor upstairs, baseboard and tile to spread the weight across a couple of ibeams and she immediately agreed. Cool. Guess it's a project. Need to rearrange the room first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef February 21, 2013 Share February 21, 2013 Wow....I like your wife! Wish my husband was so agree-able for interesting projects like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad February 21, 2013 Share February 21, 2013 Cool, I love challenging and unique projects and am looking forward to seeing this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper February 21, 2013 Author Share February 21, 2013 Have Rob (Zygote2k) coming by this weekend to talk it through, measure, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper February 21, 2013 Author Share February 21, 2013 Anybody see any reason why Going from the 90gal refugium to the frag tank and then to the main tank would be an issue? Seems the best way to do this is to put the frag tank inside the refugium stand. I don't see why the copepods would mind floating through an SPS garden on their way to the reef. Anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 21, 2013 Share February 21, 2013 Sounds fine. My macro is upstream of my frag tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper February 21, 2013 Author Share February 21, 2013 Thanks. Didn't occur to me, but obviously much more stable than what I was thinking. I'd rather have the frag tank up high, but much more difficult. So now there are two more questions. I've heard some pretty rough things about glasscages. All I'm looking to them for is a stand that's modified to hold the frag tank, and the frag tank itself, 36x18x12. Not exactly dims that are going to take a lot of stress from the water column. Any naysayers, should I avoid them? Other question, and Rob will I'm sure have a thing or two to say when he's over, but can I take a typical 90 gallon tank and make a decent refugium? I know most times they're baffled to make minimal movement. The tank I have sitting around is drilled top rear, and I'm thinking to reduce the piping to 1", bring maybe 50-100gph through it? Do I still need baffles? The thing is 24" deep, can't imagine the environment would be disturbed too much by this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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