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

This will be our first salt water tank and we are just starting to gather some of the supplies. When we went to get the tank we didn't feel comfortable with the press board cabinets stapled together to hold a 1000 pound tank, more or less. We have a friend with a 75 gallon that made his stand about like this, so that's what we did!

This is a 90 gallon pre-drilled tank, do you guys think the stand looks pretty stable or should we add more supports in the middle? There is one going across the middle of the tank as well. We can't put too much across the front as far as supports go since we are putting a fairly large sump tank underneath.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...20Tank/011.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...20Tank/012.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...20Tank/013.jpg

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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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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We looked at the one that came with it and I said no way. It was maybe 1/2inch thick pressboard. All I could think about was it getting wet/humid from the sump tank and falling into a billion pieces. I feel pretty confident with that stand as does my fiance-who built it, but we feel better if other people think it looks good too!

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It is built heavier than the stand that a buddy of mine and I built for his 150 gallon tank and that has held for 10 years...lol

I'd suggest just putting down a rubber mat underneath the tank to prevent potential splashing from your wet dry/sump and then get a piece of rubber/fabric to staple around the outside of your stand preferably rubber or some kinds of waterproof material. Building your own stand allows for a lot more room underneath the tank and allows you to add in a larger sump system.

from working at a fish store i can tell you that most pre-made stands are more flimsy then a well built home made one. Me and a friend just finished building a stand for his 65 gallon cube the same way i mentioned above and it came out pretty nice.

Good luck =]

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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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

It is built heavier than the stand that a buddy of mine and I built for his 150 gallon tank and that has held for 10 years...lol

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Lol, that's what I keep hearing from a lot of people!

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Originally Posted by ajpolicastro

I'd suggest just putting down a rubber mat underneath the tank to prevent potential splashing from your wet dry/sump and then get a piece of rubber/fabric to staple around the outside of your stand preferably rubber or some kinds of waterproof material. Building your own stand allows for a lot more room underneath the tank and allows you to add in a larger sump system.

from working at a fish store i can tell you that most pre-made stands are more flimsy then a well built home made one. Me and a friend just finished building a stand for his 65 gallon cube the same way i mentioned above and it came out pretty nice.

Good luck =]

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We are planning to get some rubber cut to put under there. As far as the outside of the stand goes were are putting hardwood on there, staining it and putting poly on it.

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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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Luckily our floors are just about perfectly level, so that was pretty nice for the fish tank. Our last place was a rental and everything was slanted in that house, I didn't even know a house could be this level, lol!

Blake put some more supports on the stand and it's pretty dang solid now. There are three posts now in the middle rather than just one, and 2 posts connecting the middle supports together at the top. It used to sway a little, but now it doesn't budge.

I'm pretty excited that the tank is coming along! It's taking forever, and a lot of money... but it's coming! We have just about all 90 gallons of water in the tank and roughly 80 pounds of sand. And on it's way is a 6 bulb light fixture with lights, a 700 gallon pump, and a tank heater! I'm so excited! I can't wait just to put the dang live rock in at this point!

if it's real wood (not particle board) with supports, you should be good to go. My only real adivce, is make sure you have plenty of room to get behind it, get to the sump, get to the protien skimmer if you're using one, etc. We have an 85 gallon, and a 29 gallon sump, with a wooden stand from petsmart. Stand has been fine, but sometimes it's annoying to make sure there's room for cords, plugs, any revamps we have done with lighting and pumps, fans, etc. It's hard to know that you're going to need in the future. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Missy King

if it's real wood (not particle board) with supports, you should be good to go. My only real adivce, is make sure you have plenty of room to get behind it, get to the sump, get to the protien skimmer if you're using one, etc. We have an 85 gallon, and a 29 gallon sump, with a wooden stand from petsmart. Stand has been fine, but sometimes it's annoying to make sure there's room for cords, plugs, any revamps we have done with lighting and pumps, fans, etc. It's hard to know that you're going to need in the future. Good luck!

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Yep, it's all real wood (2x4s). We have some room behind it. We will be leaving the back open to make it easier on us. Our tank is predrilled underneath so the pvc pipes will go straight down to the sump tank (more or less). We are going to hardline them to the sump tank. As far as getting to the sump, we're planning to do two big doors on the front. I just picked up a 29 gallon tank to put inside the stand to use as a sump tank, we just have to get some glass cut and turn it into a refugium. We will hopefully have everything put together and start cycling the tank by this weekend!

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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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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