Where the heck do you put a 3,000 lb (1,332 kg) fish tank?! (house with basement)

[Besieged]

Initially, my comments focused on what I thought was your obsession.

Now I see that the whole family is obsessed in unison. That’s some nice looking systems.

You are wise to include your soul mate in decision making in her kitchen.

PS: “ I keep trying to wrap my head around the idea of flood mitigation, but I've never been able to come up with anything reasonable, functional, affordable, and that wasn't uglier than a stonefish.”

Use a liquid level monitor on base of aquarium stand thru smart house wifi network to send alarm to your phone.

The kids unfortunately don't take a whole lot of interest in the tank any more - I have a little hope a reef tank might change that, but I'm not holding my breath. Mainly, it's a shared interest between my wife and I, something we both find zen in. Obsessed? Close. Probably as close to it as I get. I've had fish almost as long as I can remember. Keeping a long story short, I had to give up my last reef tank in '08, and have been fantasizing about having another since.

And thank you I would like to have done things differently with the 29, but circumstances dictated it be what it is. My wife's tanks are all brand-new, set up in the last few weeks - my birthday present to her, with the promise I'll do all the maintenance. The 50g reef for my office will be the first tank that I didn't inherit as is or share with someone that I can remember.

I do have a smarthome setup, which has leak/flood monitors, I've already got a few in key places, I'll assuredly get some more, for both my 50 as well as the 220.

But I'm thinking more along the lines of actual flood mitigation... some way and place to send the water if the worst happens.

I'm not TOO stressed if the 50g lets loose in my office. The carpet will suck up a lot of it, and my wife's family does carpet cleaning and disaster restoration (they helped us through like, 4 floods in the basement at my last place). The only place the water would go from there (most likely), if any dripped down, would be reasonably inconsequential. It'd be a pain, for sure, but not an actual catastrophe.

I should probably get my power strips and UPS' off the floor, just in case.

A 220 though is a different affair. I'm already planning on cutting an opening through the wall to the outside from my office: I need to run a pair of cables outside, and I want to run an air line for my skimmer so I can pull in fresh air that isn't full of CO2. Maybe I should plan on putting in an additional emergency drain pipe connected to a pan in the bottom of the stand?

Probably overkill.

 

[Subsea]

The kids unfortunately don't take a whole lot of interest in the tank any more - I have a little hope a reef tank might change that, but I'm not holding my breath. Mainly, it's a shared interest between my wife and I, something we both find zen in. Obsessed? Close. Probably as close to it as I get. I've had fish almost as long as I can remember. Keeping a long story short, I had to give up my last reef tank in '08, and have been fantasizing about having another since.

And thank you I would like to have done things differently with the 29, but circumstances dictated it be what it is. My wife's tanks are all brand-new, set up in the last few weeks - my birthday present to her, with the promise I'll do all the maintenance. The 50g reef for my office will be the first tank that I didn't inherit as is or share with someone that I can remember.

I do have a smarthome setup, which has leak/flood monitors, I've already got a few in key places, I'll assuredly get some more, for both my 50 as well as the 220.

But I'm thinking more along the lines of actual flood mitigation... some way and place to send the water if the worst happens.

I'm not TOO stressed if the 50g lets loose in my office. The carpet will suck up a lot of it, and my wife's family does carpet cleaning and disaster restoration (they helped us through like, 4 floods in the basement at my last place). The only place the water would go from there (most likely), if any dripped down, would be reasonably inconsequential. It'd be a pain, for sure, but not an actual catastrophe.

I should probably get my power strips and UPS' off the floor, just in case.

A 220 though is a different affair. I'm already planning on cutting an opening through the wall to the outside from my office: I need to run a pair of cables outside, and I want to run an air line for my skimmer so I can pull in fresh air that isn't full of CO2. Maybe I should plan on putting in an additional emergency drain pipe connected to a pan in the bottom of the stand?

Probably overkill.

“Maybe I should plan on putting in an additional emergency drain pipe connected to a pan in the bottom of the stand? “

Eureka, you got it. And it will not be an ugly stonefish that only a mama could love. A catch pan bigger than sump tank inside your cabinet. Easily done and a new standard of excellence in aquarium safety along with GFI circuits.

 

[Reefering1]

If you're going that far, may as wellll consider putting the drain in the floor itself and out the side of house. A pan and sensors should be very effective for smaller leaks/big splashes, but if you're concerned about dropping all 200g(the tank broke)- I don't imagine that water going straight down and in the pan(unless it's like 12²). I would guess that the majority will hit the floor about 2-3' away from the tank...