40B DIY Stand

[BullSnapper]

I am about to make one and was planning on doing it so the stand would have room for my 20L sump at the very bottom, followed by a 10Gal QT above it on a shelf, than the DT above that with the two lower tanks being covered by a door possibly.

Do you think this will end up being a bit too big of a stand?

I measure it out to be nearly 38" high i think due to leaving about 9" of space between my 20 and the 10 gal because of the 17" skimmer.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

A stand is never too big, you always need more room. Why don't you post a diagram of what you are about to build so people can understand better what you are doing.

 

[dsmhero]

This is my 40B design...

Has room for a 29g sump and an ATO container...I have almost finished building this stand. It is extremely sturdy and higher than most stands.

 

[BullSnapper]

What app did u use to maje that? Looks like a great stand

 

[wysiwyg]

like frankenstein said your stand can never be to big i wish my stand was a little bigger than it is know as i have no room underneath anymore and started making cabinets on the sides and drilling to get to my sump to add more stuff

 

[Loki]

Here is a picture of my stand just after I sat my tank on it. It has a 1' shelf all the way around it.

I love all of the extra room!

 

[Loki]

I have two 40 breeders under it :)

 

[BullSnapper]

holy cow! what do you do with all that lmaoo

here is a question, my stand will be closed with a small lamp light u told me about for my fuge...so may be dark may not be, if i have to turn that light off at night to sleep is it okay?

and main question, is it okay to have a QT with a fish in there or it needs lots of light or the lamp light is fine or if the lamp light never goes off bc of the fuge is that fine?

honestly, i'm scared of adding a QT because when i had one, none of the fishes survived coming out, but when i bought my fish and just put them in the tank they had a higher success of living for at least 1 month. (my tank was infested iwht ich, took 2 days to wipe out new fish)

and my QT never looked clear water wise looked very muggy not sure why.

 

[dsmhero]

What app did u use to maje that? Looks like a great stand

Thank you! I used Google Sketchup.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I made on similar for my 40b. I LOVE having my tank up where I can see it, instead of having to bend over. Top of the stand is about 48" high.

 

[Loki]

The qt could be fine in the stand. If you do that it would be a good idea to not have the fuge light (while using the qt) run for 24 hrs a day.

You have to do water changes on a qt.

This is something I have never figured out. We set up an empty tank for qt with fresh saltwater and then drop a fish in. There is nowhere for the bacteria to go so best case is that it takes a week or two to start a cycle. If you don't change the water out the ammonia will get worse and kill the fish. I try to change out a few gallons every three-four days using water from my main system.

I have gone as far as putting a clean kitchen sponge into my fuge and when I start setting up my qt I throw it into the job filter, and then throw it away afterwards. I am unsure if it helps or not but it couldn't hurt to have some of all the bacteria in there to kick start everything.

 

[BullSnapper]

Thank you! I used Google Sketchup.

is that an open source where anyone can use it?

 

[BullSnapper]

Drookie, is that a fuge than a sump below it? WHy not just have them all in 1?

Your stand is 48" high? WOW! loll thats huge no? I am thinking of making mine about 36".

Love the tank! Are you running 1 drain 1 return?

 

[BullSnapper]

The qt could be fine in the stand. If you do that it would be a good idea to not have the fuge light (while using the qt) run for 24 hrs a day.

You have to do water changes on a qt.

This is something I have never figured out. We set up an empty tank for qt with fresh saltwater and then drop a fish in. There is nowhere for the bacteria to go so best case is that it takes a week or two to start a cycle. If you don't change the water out the ammonia will get worse and kill the fish. I try to change out a few gallons every three-four days using water from my main system.

I have gone as far as putting a clean kitchen sponge into my fuge and when I start setting up my qt I throw it into the job filter, and then throw it away afterwards. I am unsure if it helps or not but it couldn't hurt to have some of all the bacteria in there to kick start everything.

I dont understand which part you don't understand lol I'm not sure it reached the point of what confused u.

Well from what i have read a QT should have a cycled tank so when you put fish its ready to go. Than when you add the fish you won't have ammonia spikes etc.

My concern is this, how to get a cycle to start in a tank with just a heater, thermometer.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, I have a glass-holes 700gph overflow and a mag 7 return. The overflow is split with a wye, going out to the refugium off one side, a ball valve down to the sump from the other. The refugium is drilled and flows down to the sump as well. Honestly, I just wanted to use a 20l refugium because I had an extra 30" T5HO fixture laying around, and went from about 55g to about 70g total volume. Also makes a good place to keep the hermits when they start acting like they want to eat coral. Don't know how many exactly, but there are tons of bristle worms and tiny brittle stars in my refugium as well as a bunch of rock.

I'm 6'4", so the 4' height makes it perfect to just look down at the sand bed, but I can still reach down in the tank (it's just over 64" tall IIRC) and do things.

 

[dsmhero]

is that an open source where anyone can use it?

It isn't open source by definition but it has a free version...

Trimble SketchUp

 

[BullSnapper]

Another thing i just realized, how would i be able to get the fish in and out of my QT if it has about 5" head space between the QT and the top of where the DT would sit.

Hmm...any input on how to make this work?