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This should be fun. I was sitting around thinking all day about building a stand for my 65 gallon tank, considering my current stand doesn't have enough room as I would like for a sump underneath. I originally was thinking of doing a 20l underneath but now that I was looking at dimensions.. I think I am going to make it so it can hold a 40b underneath the tank. I know a 65 gallon tank might look a little funny on a larger stand.. But I have an evil master plan that I think will work.
After realizing that a 40b, 75g and 120 gallon are all fairly similar in size, I decided to make the stand large enough for the 40gallon sump, and then in the future, if and when I can be convincing enough to need an upgrade, it will literally be as simple as removing stuff from the tank into buckets, taking the tank off the stand and putting the new tank on top of it. So realistically it will just be a physically larger tank, rather than a larger footprint/setup in general.
I would like to make this stand out of 2x4s with some sort of plywood as the siding. I am thinking about leaving the siding as removable sides, or possibly adding some doors. But I think the removable sides will be best for maintenance and accessibility in the long run. I am not too handy at these sort of things, and actually this will be my very first time trying this out.. it doesn't look too difficult however and I feel it will be very rewarding to say that I built it myself.
I am envisioning a standard tank built by 2x4's with some sort of shelving right below the tank itself. As of now, I have this tank (http://www.petsmart.com/fish/suppli...aqueon-65-gallon-aquarium-ensemble-16714.html) and it is really nice to have a shelf to put stuff on. I just am unable to do much underneath the tank itself, and it would be really hard to fit a sump under here with a parts that need to be removed. I just need more space. I don't really have any sort of specific plans or requirements exactly, other than being sturdy enough to be able to withstand a larger tank, if I do decide to get one in the future.
Will a 40b be too much of an overkill underneath the tank? Is there such thing as too large of a sump? I guess we can turn this thread into one large thread with both the stand and sump all into one. I am thinking of having some filter socks in the sump, along with a refugium, protein skimming section and a return pump.. Possibly even a frag rack if it would be possible? I guess my tank is just an awkward size so I can't really get too much space out of it right now. I need an area to put my large live rocks and all other fun stuff. I guess I havent really learned much about reactors, so I don't really have a set requirement for that really. I would like to however create some sort of manifold as others have that will allow me to just attach a reactor right to that. Also today I learned about having a quick connect for a hose to allow an easy drainage of the sump for water changes. This would be great, I have a porch off the back of the tank basically which I usually drain the water anyways. A hose attachment would be amazing.
Sorry for all the words.. Just a lot on my mind as of now. I guess I just want to know what you guys think about my ideas, and what you can recommend for advice whilst building the stand. I would like to start as soon as I can as well. So technically I need a stand capable of holding a 120 gallon tank. That is the end goal.
After realizing that a 40b, 75g and 120 gallon are all fairly similar in size, I decided to make the stand large enough for the 40gallon sump, and then in the future, if and when I can be convincing enough to need an upgrade, it will literally be as simple as removing stuff from the tank into buckets, taking the tank off the stand and putting the new tank on top of it. So realistically it will just be a physically larger tank, rather than a larger footprint/setup in general.
I would like to make this stand out of 2x4s with some sort of plywood as the siding. I am thinking about leaving the siding as removable sides, or possibly adding some doors. But I think the removable sides will be best for maintenance and accessibility in the long run. I am not too handy at these sort of things, and actually this will be my very first time trying this out.. it doesn't look too difficult however and I feel it will be very rewarding to say that I built it myself.
I am envisioning a standard tank built by 2x4's with some sort of shelving right below the tank itself. As of now, I have this tank (http://www.petsmart.com/fish/suppli...aqueon-65-gallon-aquarium-ensemble-16714.html) and it is really nice to have a shelf to put stuff on. I just am unable to do much underneath the tank itself, and it would be really hard to fit a sump under here with a parts that need to be removed. I just need more space. I don't really have any sort of specific plans or requirements exactly, other than being sturdy enough to be able to withstand a larger tank, if I do decide to get one in the future.
Will a 40b be too much of an overkill underneath the tank? Is there such thing as too large of a sump? I guess we can turn this thread into one large thread with both the stand and sump all into one. I am thinking of having some filter socks in the sump, along with a refugium, protein skimming section and a return pump.. Possibly even a frag rack if it would be possible? I guess my tank is just an awkward size so I can't really get too much space out of it right now. I need an area to put my large live rocks and all other fun stuff. I guess I havent really learned much about reactors, so I don't really have a set requirement for that really. I would like to however create some sort of manifold as others have that will allow me to just attach a reactor right to that. Also today I learned about having a quick connect for a hose to allow an easy drainage of the sump for water changes. This would be great, I have a porch off the back of the tank basically which I usually drain the water anyways. A hose attachment would be amazing.
Sorry for all the words.. Just a lot on my mind as of now. I guess I just want to know what you guys think about my ideas, and what you can recommend for advice whilst building the stand. I would like to start as soon as I can as well. So technically I need a stand capable of holding a 120 gallon tank. That is the end goal.