Large Scale Central

Fish Tank Stand

I am making a fish tank stand for our new to us 100 gallon aquarium. It will be a saltwater reef tank to replace our current 45 gallon. The stand is made from that blue stained pine I showed off earlier. The panels are aromatic cedar. Still need to make the doors and the light canopy.

Nice wood work, does the tank go on top of the cabinet or in the cabinet?

Rick Marty said:

Nice wood work, does the tank go on top of the cabinet or in the cabinet?

The main tank will go on top and the filtration goes underneath. The pull out tray is to allow me to pull the filter out for maintenance.

I assume there will be a bridge over the aquarium to allow trains to pass (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)I love the joinery. Great work.

I had a saltwater tank for about 5 years, loved it hated the maintenance involved to keep the fishes happy and alive. Probably spent a ton on Yellow Tangs before giving up and just having some easier fish

Devon Sinsley said:

Rick Marty said:

Nice wood work, does the tank go on top of the cabinet or in the cabinet?

The main tank will go on top and the filtration goes underneath. The pull out tray is to allow me to pull the filter out for maintenance.

That is what I was thinking but wanted to know for sure. Is the light canopy going to sit on the tank or be suspended from the back of the cabinet?

What creatures are you contemplating, Dungeness crab and lobster(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

The bottom part is ready for clear varithane. The light will be mounted using black iron pipe. I will use some flanges to support it from the back and the rise up to height and then mount the lighting canopy. That way its neither hanging or sitting on the top but rigidely mounted over the top.

Rick, we already have a small reef with corals and fish. Nothing real exotic. The coolest thing we have in there is a snowflake eel. He gets hand fed. As Pete mentioned saltwater is expensive and difficult to maintain. So we keep it simple.

Pete, we also have a 100 gallon freshwater and soon will have a 110 gallon freshwater. The inhabitants of the freshwater are getting to big for their home so we are going to divide them up. One for more aggressive brutish fish and then one that will have live plants with angelfish and discus.

Nice work! Ought to look really beautiful when it’s finished.

Our family doctor used to have a huge aquarium in her waiting room. One night after everyone was gone the tank broke. In the morning the place was drenched and there were dead fish everywhere.

Devon,

That should look gorgeous. We have 6-8 freshwater tanks running at any given time, ranging in size from 5-55 gallons. Once folks know you can keep fish alive, new tanks and equipment just sort of start showing up (Were that true with trains!). I thought about setting up a Fish-Only-With-Live-Rock set-up, but it was cheaper to invest in SCUBA gear!

Looking forward to the finished product…and the finished mini reef in due time!

Eric

Yes Eric I would much rather visit them in the wild. I dived, dove (what’s the proper past tense) for years. Nothing better. But N Idaho is void of good coral reefs (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

So the stand for the tank is nearly done. Its not a 100 gallon like I thought. Its shorter than my other tank that I thought was the same size. Turns out this one is 75 gallon which is still a major upgrade from the 45. The light box will be mounted on black iron pipe attached to the back of the stand so that it sits above the tank without sitting ON the tank. I also made the 29 gallon sump for the filter and tried out the slide out on the bottom for maintenance and works like a charm.

Light enclosure

Sump on the slide out

Devon,

The sump is a great idea. It really adds bio-carrying capacity with little extra space. Are you going to use the sump as a refugium, too, with the lights on the reverse cycle of the main tank? I understand it can do your corals wonders and enable the keeping of mandarin fish and other copepod eating critters.

Oh, not much diving with all the shops close right now, so I have to get my fish fix via you, I guess

Eric