Does this make sense (stand design)?

[cookiemn]

I am having a 90 gallon tank built for me. I am now looking at stand designs. I am pretty solid on how I want the canopy to be constructed, but I have a thought on the stand. I blame Nikki for giving me this idea, since she described her set-up. The stand will hold a 40 gallon custom sump. The stand will rest on new oak floors. I am having additional support posts be installed under the floor joists where the tank will eventually sit. Here is my design. The stand will not have a center brace. The stand will also not have a bottom panel that will sit onthe floor. Instead when you open the stand, you will see the hardwood floors underneath. I was thinking of having a custom acrylic pan that will fit in the stand. I got this idea from Nikki. The sump and any other equipment will sit in the pan. That way if the sump overflows the water can be contained in the pan. If the tank overflows onto the wooden floors and the underneath the stand, I can remove the pan and dry the wooden floors underneath the stand.

Erwin

 

[Scooterman]

Yep, I'd install a pan end to end, & as deep as you can go reasonably. Now center brace, as long as you compensate in the structure you should be ok, but at least use a center brace on top where the tank sits & the back side, leaving the front open, maybe adding two side braces? Just some thoughts!

 

[wanareef]

Just add another cross member across the top of the stand to carry the load that the center brace would have taken.

hth

 

[cookiemn]

An update on my stand. Hopefully, my tank will be finished sometime next week. My stand is being made and should be ready a little after the tank is done. Bigdave is making the stand for me and I got to see his workshop in Port Angeles. I designed it with Dave to account for any problems.

 

[cookiemn]

I asked Dave to make the stand without a middle brace.

 

[cookiemn]

The last think I asked Dave to do was to seal the bottom of the stand, but make it possible to remove the bottom floor of the stand in case I hade to mop under the stand. Just in case, IAP is also making me an acrylic pan that will sit in the stand. The sump will sit in the pan. That way if the sump overflow, I estimate that the pan will hold about 5 gallons. If the tank overflows, I can remove the floor of the stand and dry it out. Dave was real patient with me on the design. Although, I think he thought I was planning too much for a disaster. It must be the systems architect coming out in me.

I can't wait for Dave to start on the canopy. We had a fun time designing that as well!

 

[bigdave]

Hey cookieman tried to pm you but it says you box is full. check your email more pics for you

 

[cookiemn]

More pics of the doors.

 

[NaH2O]

Very nice!! I wanted to add about my acrylic pan. It really saved my butt yesterday. I've been having issues with a leaky union on my skimmer cup (Euro-reef is sending a replacement), so water drips out constantly. Well, I had changed the skimmer cup, and I had moved the skimmer body towards the outside of the sump. Needless to say, the leak was dripping water out of the sump.....all day long. When I finally realized it, there was about a 1/2 gallon in my pan. WHEW! I scooped it into a bucket (determining how much water leaked out) and dried the rest with a towel. I was so pleased I had this pan in there - we weren't home most of the morning yesterday, so that would have been a real mess had the pan not been there.

Can't wait to see more of your progress!

 

[Scooterman]

Pans are good, I don't have one but I will install one on my next sump cleaning. I can't say how many times I soaked the bottom of my stand, lucky so far I was able to catch most of it quickly.

 

[cookiemn]

I decided to get the acrylic pan after Nikki mentioned it. It sounded like a good idea so the stand is a little bigger than the 48x18 tank footprint to accomodate the pan.

Nikki, how high is your pan? I was thinking of going 4-5 inches. I figure with the displacement of the sump and some other pieces of equipment I should be able to handle 4-5 gallons in the pan.

Erwin

 

[NaH2O]

Erwin, it is 6 inches. I really love it - I'm always getting splashes in it, too.

 

[wooddood]

:razz: it all looks great so far good job. justa coment on the pan though. i would make it as deep as possible because if it overflows onto the hardwood your gonna have a bigger problem then you know. when hardwood gets soaked it swells and trust it probablly wont ever go back to its original posisition it will most likely have to be replaced.if it were me before the stand is done i would cut out some of the hardwood flooring and install ceramic tile under the stand along with the catch pan. better to be safe then sorry. i'm just mentioning this to you becayse i have replaced many hardwood floors because of a water leak. good luck on the new setup.:razz:



dave:razz:

 

[Scooterman]

Fiberglass? Anyone ever thought of making a fiberglass pan, you could actually attach it to the wood inside, thus getting the most room available, plus waterproofing everything.

 

[cookiemn]

Dave,
don't get me started on how paranoid I am about this. This is our first new house and I am glad that my wife doesn't read these posts. Good idea on the tiles, but if you get a large enough spill it will eventually hit some of the wooden floors, don't you think? Either way, if I proposed that idea she wouldn't let me bring the tank in the house. Eventually when we build our dream house, I am going to do the same thing as mojo and build a room behind the tank with a sloping floor that leads to a drain.

Scooterman, I thought of that, but I wanted the flexibility of removing the entire stand floor in case water got underneath. The pan will be as long as the fron door opening so that I can remove it easily. As for the height, the stand is 30 inches tall and I should be able to fit a 6 inch pan in there easily. I think Joh from IAP should have some extra pieces laying aroung to do it. I forgopt to mention that I an going to place mouse pads underneath the pan as well as placing them under the tank on top. BigDave helped me design the stand to meet my paranioa. He sent me some new pics and I will post them as soon as possible.

Erwin

 

[cookiemn]

New pics.

 

[cookiemn]

Another picture.

 

[cookiemn]

The canopy.

 

[cookiemn]

Another pic of the canopy. The sanding is being done tonight and the stain goes on tomorrow.

 

[NaH2O]

WOW! Looks Great!!