New Tank Design

cool i didnt get them as i bought an xbox 360 instead lol, ive been given some prices on live rock what do you people think and what should i go for obviously its along way off yet as the stand isnt even finished but i need to start saving. fiji live rock £7.42 a kilo £185 for a 25 kilo box or indonesian live rock £6.20 a kilo or £173 for a 28kg box ill add some photos of the stand so far aswell

here it is seems massive but all that space underneath means i can get a good size sump and a top up system



Spot the difference?

and here it is again not very exciting but the dog thinks its great fun and hes learnt the best trick ever... running into the garden with the pot of screws just when you need it

that sounds a little high to me, but then again, I dont live in the UK

The only comments i'd make is that you'll need a load bearing center support on that front, yes it will get in the way but there's a hell of a lot of weight in a SW tank, especially if you go reef. Also, you'll need to coat all the wood with a sealant to stop warping and rot, PVA glue mixed with a little water is ideal. Apart from that, looking good

whoa, thats a big stand...

If I were you, I'd add more bracing along that long center span. From an engineering standpoint, you're talking a 55 gallon aquarium or there abouts for most 4 footers. The water weight alone is about 600lbs. Add to that the weight of the tank at probably another 75lbs and the weight of sand/rock at probably another 150lbs and youre talkin upwards of 800lbs to be supported. Thats a LOT of weight for a couple long 4 foot spans to support. There's all kinds of fancy ways to do it from a carpentry standpoint but probably the easiest is just a pillar in the middle of really high strenth wood. your bracing ultimately needs to support the weight and still allow relatively easy access to the sump so design any cross braces or vertical braces with that in mind. what size are those support beams btw?

some designs to consider are vertical braces, or variations of an upsideown V. Kind of like that brace you have in the rear, only one coming up from each corner in the bottom and meeting somewhere on the horizontal beam

oh shoot, also... your buddy is going to hate you, but I reccomend you put a brace inside the base for the sump if you haven't allready. That plywod will warp in no time without some horizontal braces (kind of like a wall) underneath there if your sump is of any siginificant volume (10gal or more)

thanks for the replys, we relised we would need some kind of support in the middle to support the middle shelf bit just working out where to put it with out making things tight for the sump im guessing the best place would be at the front? or could i add another brace accross the back to form an x shape or even both?, and ski dnt worry the bottom shelf is supported all the way across the bottom with vertical lengths of wood the same as under the middle shelf would these not help to take the weight?,i dont know if you can see it in the pics but next to the up rights on the sides we added support beams to take the load off of the screws and lap joints they are just horizontal do you think i would still need to add a cross brace at the sides?,aquascaper i do painting an decorating at college so its all sorted and will be done as soon as its finished and ive been to college to borrow the things i need, the doors still need to go on and some wood along the top to hold the roof and some kind of lift up or maybe slide door to allow access to the top of the tank and lighting, anything else im missing? what do you think of the prices for the live rock? and can you go wrong with sump sizes is it better to have as much survace area as possible or would a high think tank work just aswell, cheers for the help people

Here, enjoy my paint skills



If you guys have the skills to double mitre the base ends of those cross beams you'll be in great shape. Do that for both front and back long spans and you should be in some pretty good shape overall. For the most strength possible, have the V near the center.

Definitely need more bracing, although a 55 gallon tank will probably come out to about 575 lbs rather than 800 (55 gallon tanks are in US gallons at 8 lbs per gallon FW and just slightly more than than SW 8.2) with 50 lbs of sand and 75 lbs of porous live rock then you are looking at about 45 gallons of water thats 494 lbs, then you add to that the wieght of the hood and lights and filtration.