Upgrade to 180 from 75 on a budget. :)

[thatguy559]

wheres my quote for what i asked you about the tat? lol

 

[tat2z_21]

Hey I have not forgot about you, and I thought I told you 100 dollars for either, for you my friend, (said with a heavy turkish accent) you get the good price.

 

[thatguy559]

haha nope havent heard from you on that....let me know when you are free i wanted to get started on that....back to your tank

 

[tat2z_21]

Dude so the stand is finally in my garage. Attempting to restain it as we speak, then it will be the mock up and the plumbing. Have a few more unions to get then it is off to the races. I can not wait until this is done.

 

[thatguy559]

Sweet!!!!!! Let me know when you need help putting that tank on

 

[tat2z_21]

Hey I still got those bulkeheads if you need them. Let me know.

Ryan, if you are still out there I have that skimmer for you as well. You just need to stop by, unless you need me to drop it off.

 

[thatguy559]

yeah i still need them sorry been busy with the car...

 

[tat2z_21]

So started to do the mock up of all of the stand equipment and found that I was a little short on all of my measurements. Alright maybe really shortbut I managed to make it work. Started on the plumbing today and right now just doing the rough draft so to say.

 

[tat2z_21]

So the plumbing was nearly done when I went to hook up the pump after of course first mocking it up then gluing, and I did not make sure to slide the fitting all the way back on the gate valve that was connected to the pump union. So needless to say back to the drawing board. I was off a quarter of an inch. I now am the proud owner of a 50 multi device. It is a paper weight, a horn with adjustable flow rate thanks to the gate valve, or it could be a hearing device. It really amplifies the kids volume, and with that being said it is up for sale. You can be the proud owner of the very first multi thing-a-ma-bobber.

 

[thatguy559]

So I remember telling you that to add at least a 1/4" after dry fitting every thing. Lol lesson learned

 

[NWDiver]

Ohhhhh, how much?!!
So you just added a pair of couplers and are now finished right?

 

[tat2z_21]

Hmmm, well being that it was causing the pump to sit a 1/4" out side of the stand I can not use it. So I had to order a pump union again and now I have to wait for it to come in. So an expensive lesson, but a lesson it is.

 

[NWDiver]

Ugh, sorry to hear that.
Got new pictures?

 

[tat2z_21]

I will post them tonight. I still have not gotten the tank on to the stand yet, for the finalized plumbing. I am replacing the seal and the impeller on the dolphin pump I have so that there is no reason to get back in there for a little bit.

 

[mcoomer]

NWDiver: Sweet I will probably give a big call out to all that will hear. Thank you for the offer.

UPDATE: So I had my stand frame built and found out the hard way that the garage is not level. Everything leveled out fine in the garage and then I got it into the house to look at it and........ It was not even close to level. So I precut all of the pieces. And leveled and assembled in the house. I know what everyone is going to say. No house is level either. However I leveled it to the house so it should be good. (I HOPE) But I will get pictures up here shortly. So the only thing left is to skin it and little bit of trim work and the stand will be done.

So, do I understand that you have a different stand coming for your tank? I was a bit concerned that the one you were building wasn't going to be up to par for supporting your tank and ensuring that it stayed upright. If it were me I would have put another 2X4 stud running up the outside of the ones that you have so that that stud was supporting most of the weight. Also, I would run another stud across the top and bottom at each end between your two uprights. Finally, I would put another set of 2X4's in the middle on the back of the stand. In your picture above, the weight of the tank isn't being supported by the 2X4. It's all being supported by the screws or nails that you used. That's not a good situation.

Take a look at my attachment. Your current upright 2X4's are green in the drawing. I recommend adding the purple 2X4's and then adding a green and purple one in the middle on the back of the stand. 2X4 studs are cheap; 180 gallon tanks and cleanup expense isn't. You can easily add the studs to your existing stand with no dis-assembly required. I'm jes sayin...

Mike

 

[tat2z_21]

I was originally going to go with the DIY stand. During the construction phase of the evolution I found out that my basic carpentry skills needed to be improved on. So I cheated and went down and bought a stand. I did actually add the extra supports, however the better half agreed that since I will be going over sea's and she will be the one taking care of the tank, minimizing any sort of risk is a better idea, plus the pet store told her that the tank will only be under warranty if it is put on their stand, so she was bought by a new warranty sticker. Plus it gives me a little bit of breathing room.

 

[mcoomer]

OK...cool because that crashing sound in the middle of the night is something none of us want to hear.

Mike

 

[tat2z_21]

Yeah crashing and the sound of a flash flood roaring through the living room would be bad. So got everything done and ready to go. I had to make a few changes to the plans but all in all it is going to be alright. I am now plumbing the the sump into my garage and pumping it back to the tank. My pump blew up on me. I mean literally blew up. So I am in the process of getting a new pump for the return. I will keep you guys updated.

 

[tat2z_21]

here is a pic of my exploded pump. It seems that the welds holding it together gave out, and it is all corroded inside.

And here is the stand after finishing it.

 

[ac7av]

That looks like a sweet setup.
How old do you think that pump is and how many years of use in salt has it gotten? Just wondering, it looks like its seen some action.