The project is underway! Took the better part of a day to remove almost 1000sq.ft. of engineered wood flooring even though it was installed as a floatijng floor system. The wheels I installed on the cabinet/stand, in order to enable me to move the current 50G system, worked very well. Had to drain about 5g of water to prevent the water from sloshing over the edge, but myself and a friend had no issues rolling the +600lb system. We used pieces of the engineered wood flooring that we removed in front of the tank as a path and to keep it at elevation. The travertine is 1/2" and the engineered wood flooring is 5/8". Once the tiles are set in the area where the new tank is going, I'll roll it onto the new floor until the breakdown occurs.
Then I wanted to see the relative size of the footprint of the new tank, so I taped it out on the floor. The framed wall behind the location of the new tank has about 14" of additional space behind it, as the house main waste line runs from right to left and approximately 20" above the subfloor. This will allow even more room behind the tank via a recess I plan on building in the fish room to provide space for the cabinets, counter, sink and RO/DI station.
The tank dimensions are now set at 66"L x 24"H and 28" front to back. It will have a 24" external scupper box utilizing a beananimal plumbing design, two returns fed by an Iwaki MD 70 and two Tunze 6105s fixed to Sea-Sweeps. Skimmer is an ETSS 800XR.
The 50G is doing pretty nicely now, so hopefully the transfer over to the larger tank won't be a stressful event for the inhabitants. I plan on ordering rock soon so I can place it in a container and link it to the established system for the month or so it will take me to get everything else done.
Just some pics of the state of the current tank.
