Robb in Austin Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 As I understand it, GC will not warranty a tank not placed on commercially made stand. That said, your steel stand will be better as you surmised. I would not use any water from the old setup. Just my two inputs. Looking forward to the rest of this build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 Since we are a manufacturer I assume that it is a commercially made Finished my welds today and added the bracing. Next step is to prep the metal and paint. We decided to use a commercial grade paint instead of the powder coating. After asking 5 times I finally was told my tank would ship in 2 weeks, I should have everything ready by then. This will be interesting getting the 1100 lb tank off the delivery truck, in to the office, and then lifted up and on to the stand. Luckily we have a loading dock and piano dollies so I'm not worried to much about getting it up to the stand, my challenge will be to lift it about 2 feet up on to the stand...only from one side. I will have to use 3 jacks to do it, going to be a pain in the a**. and then how do I slide it from the jack on to the stand which will have styrofoam on it....like I said it will be interesting AND stressful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmelhiser Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Where are the sumps going? If under the main display, how many will there be and what sizes? Looks like you could actually have room for 3 different chained sumps. Depending on the size of the sump in the middle, it might be tricky to get it in there. -t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 The sump will be custom made so that it fits exactly inside of the vertical supports, which will be 32" wide x 25" deep x 20" tall which is about 70 gallons. There is no cross bracing in the center and that is where the sump will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmelhiser Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Nice! It sure seems like you could have 2 propagation tanks as well, one on each side with ugly 6700k lighting that no one would really see. And as they grew, you could bring them up top. I really look forward to this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 I think that I'm going to make a sump/frag tank, probably put a 2x2 VHO T5 or a 250 watt MH over it. I really wanted to do what you mentioned but I have so much equipment that has to fit under there I don't think that I can spare the room. I hope there is room for a minifridge in the stand to keep the fish food in, but I doubt it. Is there any reason anyone not to make a custom sump/frag tank? Lots of water flowing and with the proper lighting it seems like a way to kill 2 birds with one stone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 Daily update! Got the stand to my warehouse and painted most of it this afternoon, just needs touch up with a brush in a few places. Tomorrow I will install the plywood top and back which I will first stain and poly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmelhiser Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 Bad to the bone! If/When I can convince my better half (aka: the sane one) into the 210g display, I would love to enlist your help and a little shop time. When it comes time to do the moving and setup, I would love to offer a hand. -t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 Looks great...I am looking forward to seeing both of our tanks as soon as they come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dena Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 makes perfect sense...mine will probably end up being on an inside wall, but we can under the house so we'll more than likely drain under there. Flooding "shouldn't" happen often...at least not with the tank. Now filling up from our RO system...that's another story. We've flooded the living twice in the past month and a half filling up a barrel. We are putting a solid piece of steel in the bottom of the stand (on top of the cross pieces in the photo) which will be welded in place. We will be attaching a 4" tall strip of sheet metal all the way around the bottom inside of stand, basically making a sidewall around the piece on the bottom (hope that makes sense). The bottom piece of steel and the sidewalls will be sealed together using silicone caulk. I'm going to install a 1" bulkhead fitting in the side wall piece of sheetmetal that connects to a PVC pipe that will be routed outside which is easy since my tank is on an outside wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 makes perfect sense...mine will probably end up being on an inside wall, but we can under the house so we'll more than likely drain under there. Flooding "shouldn't" happen often...at least not with the tank. Now filling up from our RO system...that's another story. We've flooded the living twice in the past month and a half filling up a barrel. lol...I woke up at 4 am last night to my water alarm going off (worth every penny BTW), water all over the floor. I did a water change earlier that day, I use my freshwater top off to mix my salt water in. I have a bypass around my float for the top off so after the salt is mixed in the 30 gallon reservoir I can turn a valve and it will dump all the water in the sump...well if I don't turn that back off after the water change when my RO refills the res it just runs right in to the sump unregulated overflowing the sump. Anyways long story short after cleaning about 10 gallons of water off of the floor I couldn't go back to sleep. If I just had my drain pan on this tank I could have slept like a baby. I have noticed that things only go wrong with our tank while we are sleeping or out of town...or both. Another tip about the RO....get a sprinkler timer from Home Depot. Its $30 and made by DIY. Its digital and you can set a single on/off time that you can adjust from 1 min to 12 hrs. It takes my RO exactly 11 1/2 hrs to fill my 30 gallon res. Just hit the "on" button and it will automatically save you from flooding your house You know you may not need to put a drain outside, I added it up and my drain pan will hold 55 gallons of water. The only way I would exceed that is if there was a leak in the tank itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 Bad to the bone! If/When I can convince my better half (aka: the sane one) into the 210g display, I would love to enlist your help and a little shop time. When it comes time to do the moving and setup, I would love to offer a hand. -t Thanks I can use all the help I can get! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 18, 2010 Author Share Posted April 18, 2010 I have to figure out a way to cram all of this underneath the new aquarium, currently this is in my garage but I will not have that option at my office. Sometimes I look at that mess of equipment and wonder if I need help.....I think maybe I'm addicted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmelhiser Posted April 18, 2010 Share Posted April 18, 2010 Welcome to Starbucks, can I get you a cranberry double nut muffin with your coffee? That is one BAD A$$ Cappuccino Maker! -t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 19, 2010 Author Share Posted April 19, 2010 So I got the top and back panels cut, stained, and one coat of polyurethane. I also caulked all of the seams in my drain pan to make it watertight, tomorrow after work I will fill it up to make sure there are no leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 19, 2010 Share Posted April 19, 2010 +1 on what Gabe said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbird123 Posted April 19, 2010 Share Posted April 19, 2010 DSB or BB? I would not use the old sand. When I set-up my 280g, I tried to rinse my sand...it is incredibly hard to rinse 300# of sand and we never got the stench out, so we used new sand and just seeded it. I would use as much old water as possible and do as much move at one time as humanly possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 19, 2010 Author Share Posted April 19, 2010 We are going to have 2-3 inch sand bed using new sand. I have tried to clean sand before but it stinks worse than the protein skimmer. Should I buy dry sand or live sand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 20, 2010 Author Share Posted April 20, 2010 Today I was able to attach the hardwood plywood to the top and back. First I used liquid nails to glue the wood to the metal frame, then I recessed holes in the plywood for the self tapping screws to fit down inside. After getting the plywood completely installed I went back and sealed all of those areas with silicone caulking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 We are going to have 2-3 inch sand bed using new sand. I have tried to clean sand before but it stinks worse than the protein skimmer. Should I buy dry sand or live sand? buy it dry and seed it with a couple of cups of live sand from one of your tanks. I think prof has some sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Nice wood! (That's what she said!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Nice wood! (That's what she said!) haha! (I hope I don't get an infraction for that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prof Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 I have lots of great sand, $1 per lb. PM me if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 21, 2010 Author Share Posted April 21, 2010 I am interested, I will contact you closer to needing it, thanks. The stand is finished and I was able to leak test the drain pan today. There was one small leak in the corner that was easily fixed. Tomorrow I will put the stand in the office where it will stay. I bought all of the metal today to build the canopy and I will get started on that tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted April 23, 2010 Author Share Posted April 23, 2010 I built the canopy today, here are some pics (it's upside down) The legs of the canopy will mount on top of the stand using bolts so that it can be taken down if necessary. The panels that cover the canopy will be cabinet doors that will attach with magnets for easy access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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