Should I keep my tank off the wall?

[Jakepen]

Tank is 72x24x24. Planned on having the stand 72x30, so I have some extra depth to work with inside the stand. Would set the stand flush against the wall, and run plumbing from my overflow thru a few holes in the stand. Only thing is I wouldn't be able to access the back of the tank completely, as the left side will be flush against a wall
(Could maybe move it two feet off the wall if necessary). Or do I need to be able to completely access the back of the tank, in which case I would make the stand only 24" deep, and keep it two foot off the back wall (least preferred). Thanks in advance guys

 

[chefjpaul]

I left enough room for my hand / arm to reach

 

[Jakepen]

I left enough room for my hand / arm to reach

Well with the (72x30) stand flush against the wall, I'll have enough room to get back there, but only on the right side of the tank. Unless I leave it two foot off the wall on the left side.

 

[ksfulk]

Leave yourself room to access everything. That said, you can be creative about it.

If your stand is against two walls, and its larger than the tank, the stand could easily sit flush against the wall and the tank flush against the front of the stand. Then you have ~6" to work with. If you can access it from underneath the stand, by leaving the "top" open, then you could get away with it. I did this on my 180 gallon tank. I could sit underneath the stand and reach up to access plumbing unions, magnets, etc.

That said, its not a great option if you have a sump underneath. My situation, the stand only held the plumbing to the remote sump, so I could sit under my tank without issue. Might not be ideal if there is a ton of equipment in the way.

Another thing you could do, depending on the stand set up, is pull the stand another 6" from the wall and build a filler piece, so it appears that the stand is flush against the wall, when its really just a piece of plywood that matches the stand. This can also extend above the stand to the area behind the tank, so you dont have that back view of all the wires and such snaking behind the tank.

Lots of options... really its just going to come down to aesthetics and how you can access everything.