Equipment Review and Discussion :: People with monster tanks please read this!!

[jozzep]

I just went through this recently when I put in my new 300g tank. I built my own stand out of 1.5" square tubing and the base has 6 feet each with a 3x2 1/2" thick steel pad. Below that I glued very soft rubber. We ended up calculating that each pad is putting down less weight per sq ft then a normal person would just walking on the floor. My advice is make sure its level with adjustable feet that are wide. If you have that everything should work out.

I built a custom stand from a print i found on a website.it's made from 2x4's and 2x3's with a framed top and bottom.No legs so the weight is distributed along the whole base frame.
I will post some pics when it's all set-up

[theartbook35]

Not only would it cost a lot, but many landlords even say on the lease "no fish tanks". I can imagine, a 100+ gallon tank causing damage to the apartment would result in an eviction.

I knoe turtles have lousy hearing, but, won't the noise and flashing images from the TV bother them?

I'll just move out and pay rent for the turtles then.How about that?lol
The turtles are used to the TV.The tank is only 4ft away from it right now on the left wall.

I'm a bit concerned from the water evaporation and my TV above it on the wall, but if you think about it, the humidity in the WHOLE room goes up from water evaporation.Don't think the position would make a HUGE difference.
the only other spot would be the wall directly across from the TV,but it's a spot you would never turn to look at unless you really have to and i want to be able to admire my tank at a glance of the eye
I'll think about it within the next few days and then make a decision cause i really want to set this thing up!!

Okay, good to hear.

Don't get me wrong at all, I HATE landlords. In fact, I've never had a landlord that I liked. And I've lived in a lot of different places. Our landlord when we were in Georgia didn't like it when we left our xmas decorations up until July and threatened to charge us money for it(How they can do that I have no idea). All of the landlords from Derby, CT were just mean and nasty and stupid. All of the New Haven, CT landlords were overbaring and difficult to reason with. So far, the landlord from my current place is pretty much a no show, but so far, she's said rude things to us, and even tried to enter the apartment without knocking or calling. Way creepy.

[Caphits]

@ Theartbook: Sure, she owns the building, but you are "buying" it from her temporarily. She has no right to try to enter the apartment.

[jozzep]

Not only would it cost a lot, but many landlords even say on the lease "no fish tanks". I can imagine, a 100+ gallon tank causing damage to the apartment would result in an eviction.

I knoe turtles have lousy hearing, but, won't the noise and flashing images from the TV bother them?

I'll just move out and pay rent for the turtles then.How about that?lol
The turtles are used to the TV.The tank is only 4ft away from it right now on the left wall.

I'm a bit concerned from the water evaporation and my TV above it on the wall, but if you think about it, the humidity in the WHOLE room goes up from water evaporation.Don't think the position would make a HUGE difference.
the only other spot would be the wall directly across from the TV,but it's a spot you would never turn to look at unless you really have to and i want to be able to admire my tank at a glance of the eye
I'll think about it within the next few days and then make a decision cause i really want to set this thing up!!

Okay, good to hear.

Don't get me wrong at all, I HATE landlords. In fact, I've never had a landlord that I liked. And I've lived in a lot of different places. Our landlord when we were in Georgia didn't like it when we left our xmas decorations up until July and threatened to charge us money for it(How they can do that I have no idea). All of the landlords from Derby, CT were just mean and nasty and stupid. All of the New Haven, CT landlords were overbaring and difficult to reason with. So far, the landlord from my current place is pretty much a no show, but so far, she's said rude things to us, and even tried to enter the apartment without knocking or calling. Way creepy.

My lease does not mention anything about fish tanks, and the whole purpose of this thread was to "not" cause damage to the apartment.
After reading up and investigating the foundation beneath i'm confident that i won't have any problems in the 2 spots i mentioned

[mike hill]

Thea-35 - I have apartments and homes for rent and the lease spells out how and when I can enter the residence. The term, "reasonable notice" and the other is “at any time when maintaining the property“. I give them a call when I want to enter to maintain something. There are cases where you are paying a plumber $50.00 per hour and need to get in to check on a problem or up keep. I have some renters I never see as they pay their rent on time and keep the dwelling clean and are not a problem for the neighbor hood. m. -- Let's not get off on this tangent! m.

[theartbook35]

@ Theartbook: Sure, she owns the building, but you are "buying" it from her temporarily. She has no right to try to enter the apartment.

She's horrible. Yeah, my mother has a print out somewhere of a landlord's typical rights and responsibilities in our area. She just unlocked the door and tried to walk in. She didn't even knock. I was glad I had the bolt in place, because, I'm the type of gal where if somebody comes into my apartment like that, I'm coming after their @$$!

If she does it again I'm going to raise hell. I know she hasn't entered the apartment since this happened. If she had, I'd come home and find my cats hiding under the beds. They freak out severely when complete strangers come in.

Anyways, jozzep, good luck with the tank, I hope everything works out.

Edit: Mike, I don't know you personally, haven't lived in a house you own, but, you sound like a decent human being. But, that's you out of how many absentee landlords? That's the point I was trying to make. I know the good ones are out there, but, the bad tends to outway the good.

[TheComputerGremlin]

jozzep - I can tell you from experience that where we set up the turtle tank in my last place, it was right under a few picture frames my husband had up, and right next to a few book shelves of books. We found no indication that the evaporating water damaged any of the frames or photos or books or shelves, so I can't imagine it doing too much damage to a TV, though if it were me, I might put up a plexiglass screen over the tank (beyond the lights, of course) to see if anything was condensing on it. Or you could employ a dehumidifier.

theartbook - I've never had a bad landlord, though I've always rented through groups that own a bunch of properties. However, on both of my leases, it says that they can enter my apartment at any time without advance notice. I mean, sure, they have to have a reason, but that can be for inspections, maintenance, emergencies, etc.

[jozzep]

jozzep - I can tell you from experience that where we set up the turtle tank in my last place, it was right under a few picture frames my husband had up, and right next to a few book shelves of books. We found no indication that the evaporating water damaged any of the frames or photos or books or shelves, so I can't imagine it doing too much damage to a TV, though if it were me, I might put up a plexiglass screen over the tank (beyond the lights, of course) to see if anything was condensing on it. Or you could employ a dehumidifier.
.

Sounds good to me
I'm planning on building a canopy with above tank basking spot so the evaporation would come out only from the front opening.
Air conditioning is dehumidification in it's self.I'll consider it in the winter.
thanks for the feedback gremlin.

[theartbook35]

Gremlin- Yeah, in my area, our landlord is only allowed to enter the house unannounced for emergencies. Everything else must have notice. I'm not saying all landlords everywhere have to obey that rule/law, it's just where I live. My feeling is, you may own the house, but I am still giving you 800 dollars a month. If I pay to leave there, I will be allowed to feel comfortable and safe.

Jozzep- Considering how little water evaporates from a turtle tank, even the biggest imaginable, I personally wouldn't be worried about it. The only way I can see evaporation causing damage to anything would be if it gave off as much moisture as a humidifier, and your house was 90 to 100 degrees every single day.

[jozzep]

Jozzep- Considering how little water evaporates from a turtle tank, even the biggest imaginable, I personally wouldn't be worried about it. The only way I can see evaporation causing damage to anything would be if it gave off as much moisture as a humidifier, and your house was 90 to 100 degrees every single day.

You still have a little tank, so you're not really familiar with the amounts we're talking about here, no offense meant.
A 125 gallon will probably evaporate something in the 20-25 gallons every few weeks.I would say my 75 needs to be topped off with about 10 gallons every few weeks.
So you could call it a humidifier, just with turtles swimming in it.lol
A good way to keep the water evaporation low, is like i said to keep some kind of cover on it to lock in some moisture.

[theartbook35]

Jozzep- Considering how little water evaporates from a turtle tank, even the biggest imaginable, I personally wouldn't be worried about it. The only way I can see evaporation causing damage to anything would be if it gave off as much moisture as a humidifier, and your house was 90 to 100 degrees every single day.

You still have a little tank, so you're not really familiar with the amounts we're talking about here, no offense meant.
A 125 gallon will probably evaporate something in the 20-25 gallons every few weeks.I would say my 75 needs to be topped off with about 10 gallons every few weeks.
So you could call it a humidifier, just with turtles swimming in it.lol
A good way to keep the water evaporation low, is like i said to keep some kind of cover on it to lock in some moisture.

Can a heat bulb and water heater really evaporate that much water?

[TheComputerGremlin]

My 40 gallon breeder with 30 gallons in it and the filter running needs 2 gallons replaced per week. Fortunately I know that because I was using a gallon jug to replenish, and it took one gallon every 3-4 days.

So 125 gallons would be ~10 gallons per week. It's pretty crazy to think about! And if I got to the point that the filter was splashing into the water, rather than flowing out under the water, it evaporated twice as fast, so it would be around 4 gallons a week.