New to brooklyn
 

Hi everyone! My name is Jason and I moved to Brooklyn back in April from Georgia. I have had several aquariums over the years and am looking to start it up again. Currently, I could get a 55 gal aquarium for next to nothing from someone I know. It does have a wrought iron stand, but I think I would prefer a cabinet to hide the filter equipment (and it won't stick out from the wall as much). My question is, I live in a pre-war apartment building(4th floor) and the floor is not even. How do I make sure the tank won't twist and crack once it is filled with water? I guess I am wondering just how stable the floors are-if it is level before I add water, will it stay that way?

first off you have to level the stand and should do so on all tanks to prevenr stress on the seams.
You should try to find out which way your floor joist run and place the tank perpendicular to them as to catch more then 1 joist. Joist usually run the short way in a building
make sure your floor is strong if not u may wany to put a 3/4 " plywood under to strenghten the floor.
One more trick is to put a 3/4 "strofoam board under the tank(between the tank and the stand) this will take up any imperfections in the floor. I do this with all my large tanks over 40 gal.

Hello Jason my name is john welcome to Brooklyn ; if u have a little skill and tools ;a drill and a power saw my friend had a wrought iron stand and here is what was done ; get a sheet of 1/2 or3/4 ply cut to wrap stand ; then take drill and make holes in stand and ply ;bolt to stand and laminate with paneling of your choice👍😎of course when you do the front you will cut out and use for ur doors so you will need two sets of hinges and two door knobs😜✌you will save money😎oh and you will need outside corner molding 😰good luck JOHN

Hey Steve doesn't that styrofoam crush under the weight😁😁😪

to save a step by screwing the plywood from the inside so u will not see the screws and can paint or stain the wood
of coarse use a cabinet crade plywood like birch, maple, oak any u prefer

I've done that before, it jus evens out the weight of the tank. And when I set the cabinet up I just use a level and then put shims underneath untill it's perfect. Haven't had a problem yet 3 years so far.

leveling tanks
 

you would be surprised on how many people do not level tanks and then when theyleak they want to know why

I don't know, it's just common sense to me.

I think I got lucky DIDN'T level and everything is equal so I guess they did a good job when they built this building AND it didnt settle.🏢🏢🌅

Last but not Least
 

Make sure your outlets are GFCI and grounded. A leading cause of fires and electrical shocks is water running down wires or a heater or other item releasing electricity into the water. Amazing how many people have multiple items plugged into age old outlets.(not even grounded outlets)

FYI using a powerstrip does not make it grounded outlet....

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...1#.USBtdh136So

The gfci noted only receives 3 outlets I need about 10 as I'm running 4 tanks in the same spot there is 5 heaters alone I have two power strips there now what chief 😛😜😎😎🐠🐠

gfci
 

u can use a power strip pluged into the gfci outlet as long as u do not exceed the max allowed wattage

And what if the watts r exceeded ?? Also I guess I have to add up each item that is pluged into the power strip to find the total watts ?

Watts /volts=amps

Buffer
 

If your wall outlets are not GFCI the corded version acts as a buffer between your equipment and the wall. Its not a outlet limit. The one time you hear of someones house catching fire you'll be glad you have one... I've heard that happen more than once.
My ADT system went off at 2am one day only to find that my hang on the back protein skimmer at the time dripped water which ran down the drip loop but slowly shorted something else setting off the smoke detector. The plug was actually black.

Now if anything happens it trips the GFCI and shuts off the power immediately. I sleep safe at night

wattage
 

first a gfci is not the same as a power strip or even a breaker
a power strip or a breaker should trip off if it is overloaded. I said should I have had breakers go bad and not kick off when even shorting
a gfci is for one thing only to kick off if u loose ground or an appliance is ground out
if you r touching a fixture or pump that is groundiing out and u hav eyour hand in water in will shut off and u will not die
i have had a light slip into my tank and as a reaction I reached for it, instead of me frying my gfci kicked off
the power strip will kick off if u overload the circuit instead of starting a fire.
add up you wattage and make sure the strip and your breaker can handle it if not split them up on another.

gfci
 

all water within 3 feet of an outlet must be hooked to a gfci in nyc according to code
that means tanks and pond
if u find the first outlet of the breaker and install a gfci it protect every outlet after that one
u do not need a gfci on every outlet
if u do not want to change outlet u can get a gfci that plugs into your excisting one

Thanks for the input everybody! The styrofoam idea seems to come up alot so I will incorporate that for sure, along with other suggestions. The electrical safety was something I had overlooked. I will keep it in mind when i finally get this thing set up.

it is amazing that the stro hold up tanks but it does
I have setup alot of tanks over the years for me, friends and even customers, and I would not leave the stryo out for anything larger then a 30 gal
u remove the tank at a later time and there is bearly a mark in the stryo