46bfinGA and Snook65 - Thanks for your expertise on this subject, guys. I'm pretty sure it's genuine travertine tile, but I'll have to confirm that with the wife (she'll know). This setup will be on the ground floor of the house, and I'm fairly certain that whatever the floor material is, it's sitting on top of the concrete foundation, so it should be pretty stable underneath the flooring tile/stone or whatever it is. Let's see, I'm guessing with water, rock and equipment the entire setup will weigh about 2000 pounds, give or take a few hundred. If that weight is distributed to 8 feet, then the load at each point, assuming it's level, would be around 250 pounds. That doesn't sound so bad, eh?
bcordill - Glad you asked. Why yes, I am using Deltec equipment. Since the tank is en route and hasn't yet arrived, I haven't fully unpacked my Deltec family, but once I do I'll post pics.
GSMguy - I actually picked out the skimmer (but with the support of Kingfish
). I was considering a Bubble King but instead decided on the Deltec AP851. We went with this due to its proven track record of excellent performance, and our complete inexperience with Bubble Kings. Regarding the lights, yeah, it's a tough one. I truly hope I can hold out for the 10-bulb PowerModul.
cpreefguy - Thanks, and you're right, the depth is gonna be fantastic. I have so many ideas in my head on how I'd like to aquascape the tank, but as I'm sure you know, it's hard to reproduce your thoughts as an actual rock structure. The tank will be a mixed reef, with probably ~70% SPS and 30% LPS. The closed loop will direct flow from front to back, and the 'scape will hide the return nozzles. I'll probably have some separate rock formations in the tank to break up the view a bit.
LoneStarSA - Yep, you should definitely drop by, but give me some time to make this presentable.
naka - Thanks for chiming in, and for helping me make several decisions regarding this system. Please keep the comments coming. I hope this tank will look as good as even a fraction of what you have created.