How did you decide on the stand for your reef tank?

[Gumbies R Us]

Stands for reef tanks come in all different shapes and sizes. Some stands being retail, while others are DIY stands. I am wondering what made you choose the stand for your tank? Was it the brand of the stand? Did you just want to make your own stand and customize it how you wanted it? Curious to hear what everyone says!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I had very specific needs for my stand. I needed it to be supported only on the ends so that I have complete access to the middle.

Because of that, I had to make it myself. I chose wood and used a glue laminate to carry the load across 8' keeping in mind I only wanted 1/16" deflection across the span.

 

[PotatoPig]

DIY.

Specific aesthetic goals, specific utility goals (pop off front for maintenance), specific size requirements and top dimensions and tank positioning, personal requirement to build overflow basin for to reduce flood risk, and I like DIY.

Stand is based on RocketEngineer’s general design.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I had very specific needs for my stand. I needed it to be supported only on the ends so that I have complete access to the middle.

Because of that, I had to make it myself. I chose wood and used a glue laminate to carry the load across 8' keeping in mind I only wanted 1/16" deflection across the span.

Your stand looks good as well!

 

[o2manyfish]

In college for my 40g, 50g and 100g was easy -- It was cinderblocks and a couple of 2x6's.

When I went to a 125 I built a custom wood stand. Super built so there was no center brace in the stand. It was my first experience with formica and it turned out really well.

Then I got a 300g, This time I had a stand built by a local cabinet maker.

When I went to 400g a friend owed me a favor and built me a custom steel stand. I didn't want a standard stand so we built the stand so the entire right side of the tank was sitting on a recessed post. The equipment for this tank was outside and the only thing we needed under the tank was some storage and Apex junk. Rather than your typical rectangle we built a stand with a square on the left side and a big round pipe on the right side.

When we went to the 750g I didn't have any friends who owed me favors, so this time I hired a fabrication. The 750g was going to take up about 30% of the room it sits in and I didn't want it to look like a great big box in the room. So with the help of one friend I engineered a stand that was cantilevered. The tanks is 10x4x30" the stand base is 8x3x34" On top of the base sits what I refer to as the deck which is the 10x4 platform that the tank actually sits on.

For big tanks I think steel is the way to go. They take up alot less room, because they require alot less material to get alot more strength. The steel for my 750g stand was $900 delivered to my house. It was .25" walled steel in 2x6 3x3 and 4x4 sizes.

And then we had a cabinet maker skin the stand in white formica.

Dave B

 

[Gumbies R Us]

In college for my 40g, 50g and 100g was easy -- It was cinderblocks and a couple of 2x6's.

When I went to a 125 I built a custom wood stand. Super built so there was no center brace in the stand. It was my first experience with formica and it turned out really well.

Then I got a 300g, This time I had a stand built by a local cabinet maker.

When I went to 400g a friend owed me a favor and built me a custom steel stand. I didn't want a standard stand so we built the stand so the entire right side of the tank was sitting on a recessed post. The equipment for this tank was outside and the only thing we needed under the tank was some storage and Apex junk. Rather than your typical rectangle we built a stand with a square on the left side and a big round pipe on the right side.

When we went to the 750g I didn't have any friends who owed me favors, so this time I hired a fabrication. The 750g was going to take up about 30% of the room it sits in and I didn't want it to look like a great big box in the room. So with the help of one friend I engineered a stand that was cantilevered. The tanks is 10x4x30" the stand base is 8x3x34" On top of the base sits what I refer to as the deck which is the 10x4 platform that the tank actually sits on.

For big tanks I think steel is the way to go. They take up alot less room, because they require alot less material to get alot more strength. The steel for my 750g stand was $900 delivered to my house. It was .25" walled steel in 2x6 3x3 and 4x4 sizes.

And then we had a cabinet maker skin the stand in white formica.

Dave B

I have always loved your stand and how your tank looks! Has such a simple yet elegant design to it. Also, hearing about how you did your tank stand in college is quite funny to me haha

 

[PotatoPig]

For big tanks I think steel is the way to go. They take up alot less room, because they require alot less material to get alot more strength. The steel for my 750g stand was $900 delivered to my house. It was .25" walled steel in 2x6 3x3 and 4x4 sizes.

For anyone wondering how much stronger this is than timber, each HSS 4x4 post there can carry around 90,000 lbs

 

[JayM]

Easy. Mine came with the tank - no decision to be made.

But...............

If/when it needs to be broken down or moved, the stand is going in the trash and I will fab one up myself. There's simply no room for any sort of storage with the sump in there. The next one will have room for at least 10-20 gallons of RO/DI for the ATO and an enclosed area for power strips and such so that they aren't visible from the outside.

 

[thecitadel]

Custom made. Was originally made for a larger 300 gallon tank that unfortunately failed and put this 220 gallon in its place.

All 2x6 and some heavy duty top. Also has a canopy but looks funny since was also designed for the larger tank and hangs over this one.

I wanted 5 doors. 4 on front and 1 on the left side. If I could, I'd have done one on each side. No issues though, plenty of room for the 120 sump and backup solar system.

 

[Rtaylor]

Most commercial stands are either fiberboard/mdf crap or crazy expensive. I built mine because I didn’t want to spend several thousand dollars on a stand, but still wanted a nice looking wood stand. The frame is cheap 2X4’s and it’s wrapped with solid oak. It cost in the neighborhood of $250 to build…..probably would $350-$400 with lumber increases today.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

I have a 10x2x2 tank and I built my stand out of 2x4 and build cabinets around it. I'm going to hang the large canopy door above the tank in the next couple weeks.

 

[FoolishWizard]

Very specific area I wanted tank to sit back in to... Figured I would just build one: (Still need to make the detachable panels... Too hot in AZ to want to do anything in the garage, they can wait.)

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

My stand dictated my tank, well I should say tanks. My LFS had an extra RS170 stand that they had left over from a warranty, so I got that for cheap. It just so happens the IM 40g has the same footprint. You can look at that build in my tank thread. I then got a IM 25 lagoon for cheap and I wanted another RS170 stand to match. I found one on Offer up but ended up buying the whole system (it was super cheap). So that ended up being my new temperate tank. I still haven’t set up the IM 25 yet, but I have changed directions with that and am going to tear out the AIO part and making it a EXT. Just waiting for a another RS170 stand to come along.