any carpenters out there or advice on stand

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 12, 2013

i was wondering if i would be able to make a stand like this. heres a crappy drawing of it dont have a computer program. basically i want to try and slip a 30g breeder in between the display and the sump. i know the display tank will be up pretty high but i like it at eye level where the cube was me bending over and looking thru the glass. the skimmer is 22" so the first level will be at 26", the 30g breeder is 12" high and need about 12" for the light to sit 6-8" off the water. this would be putting the stand at 50". is this possible? thanks for y'all help.

Jenaleigh1 · Jul 12, 2013

Well... Hmmm, you can build anything. That's the awesome part about building. The only thing to really think about here that comes to my mind is bracing in the structure of the stand to handle the weight of the water. The other thought is that you may want to consider the clearance you have between the top of the skimmer and the next shelf. You won't have much room to get in there and do any maintenance if needed. There are several online programs you can use for free to design what you need. I think maybe google draw is one of them. I think it might look pretty cool to build out of 1 inch tubing. Then you can finish out the metal and only need braces in the corners. Because you will have the tank so high, this would give almost like a true cube effect. You could see into the tank from all directions. Each tank would basically end up being display, but each with it's own function. If you build out of wood, make sure you have enough room to slide the tanks in from the front. They are really heavy to lift that high and then drop down, so you run a very good risk of scratching or breakage if it slips/drops.

Xingu · Jul 12, 2013

See if this shot of my old fishroom helps. Just adjust the heights and widths to what you need. You can make it prettier than what I did.

Lilmatty5dimes · Jul 13, 2013

Xingu said:
See if this shot of my old fishroom helps. Just adjust the heights and widths to what you need. You can make it prettier than what I did.

how did you have the boards? any more pics? this will help a ton. thanks

Xingu · Jul 13, 2013

There were inner uprights with full length boards on the outside. There were short supports at every tank edge (going short dimension, you can see the bolts). There were pieces cut to fit between the long boards that were scabbed in to help support the weight (you can see where these were not needed on the top level, only had lights and PVC pipe to support so no real weight). This photo shows some of it a bit better. This was after I redid the layout of the room.