Starting a salt water tank, need opinions on the tank stand

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Originally Posted by jason_ladouceur

i would say that the stand is plenty strong enough to support the weight of to tank. if i were you i would sheet the back and sides with something. you could even put doors on the front if you want to get fancy. the sheeting will not only make it look nice but will stop the frame from racking if some on bumps into it.

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We are definitely covering the sides and front with hardwood sheets. We haven't quite figured out how were are going to make the doors yet. We need big doors since the sump tank is pretty hard to get under there.

All of our supplies arrived today. Those 6 t5 lights hurt my eyes!!!! It literally lights up our front yard if we open the window... Yikes! I wasn't expecting them to be that dang bright!

lol that's okay, the brighter the better! i put a photo of our tank up in my gallery. not sure how to link to it on here. we just got the LED lights in the photo...now we have them raised on a metal stand the hubby made. Looks a lot better now.

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Originally Posted by Missy King

lol that's okay, the brighter the better! i put a photo of our tank up in my gallery. not sure how to link to it on here. we just got the LED lights in the photo...now we have them raised on a metal stand the hubby made. Looks a lot better now.

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here you go
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../2/img1435.jpg

nice tank btw. is that a puffer in the top left corner? i've always wanted a salt water tank.

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

Honesty that stand should be fine. Have you ever looked at the pre made stands... They are not nearly as well built...

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I agree! I had a 180 gal and the stand didn't look nearly as sound as yours.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

It's not built exactly like the ones I built for mine, but it looks sturdy enough for sure.

One trick I found handy was putting a sheet of styrofoam under the tank on top of the stand. It almost self-levels the tank even if your floor is slightly off. Worked a dream for me.

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I also agree. The way I used it also helped distribute the weight.

Thanks guys for all the help!

Now I have a stowaway :( We picked up about 15 pounds of live rock and their was a lawnmower blenny in one of the rocks! I don't know what to do about this problem. We got the rocks to start cycling our tank. The salinity is 1.023, temp is 77-78, we have two power heads, and sand...that's pretty much it. He was out of the water for at least 40 minutes and he has been in our tank for about 2 hours and is alive so far :(

Oh, and we would have taken him back already, but we live about 25 miles from the fish store and we don't have a fish net.

Update for anyone that read my last post, it's now Thursday night and the Blenny is still alive and kickin!!

You would be surprised at what you will find in live rock. I have found shrimp, fish, clams, starfish, ect.... Just keep an eye out for things that may cause problems.

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

You would be surprised at what you will find in live rock. I have found shrimp, fish, clams, starfish, ect.... Just keep an eye out for things that may cause problems.

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Yeah like spider psychos!!! Or what most people call mantis shrimp, I'm terrified of those getting in there!

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