My Stand SUCKS.

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good11s

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
48
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
My stand sucks. Don’t get me wrong; it looks pretty good, it holds up my 75g SW tank, but it still sucks. The internal dimensions or the storage capacity of the stand is horrible; nothing will fit underneath. The top and the bottom are offset by the sides, and the center braces are equally offset.

I want to add a sump/fuge filter underneath my stand and I am very interested in some of the DIY designs I have seen on this site. Such as:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53046&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
or,
http://www.melevsreef.com/

I have also been searching several LFS; looking at prefab units that I could purchase but none of them would fit under my sucky stand since most of the basic ones are at least 10” deep and the maximum depth of my sucky stand is 9 13/16”.

Now you see my dilemma.

My dilemma continues since I don’t want to drain my tank, bag the fishes, corals, inverts, mushrooms, anemones; or remove my LR. Especially since getting the damn LR in that configuration may be difficult to duplicate. All just to switch stands.

Any ideas?

I have been shopping my LFS and I have found a couple of stands that are a bit more spacious and rectangular, and provide better capacity underneath the tank. Additionally, they are affordable enough to fit my already reduced (wife found out how much I have already spent on this “hobby”) budget.

Here is my proposal, tell me if I am insane.

I will remove 15-20% of the water; which I would replace with fresh SW during a planned PWC. Then I would remove an additional 20% (15g) of the water; saving it to replace back into the tank after it was moved. That would leave me with about 40g of water (estimate 8.3lb per gallon); 30lb of LS (1-2”); 100-120lb of LR; livestock (neglible weight); and the tank itself 20lbs. That would be 332lb+30lb+120lb+20lb=502lbs roughly.

Then I would place the new stand directly in front of the old stand (fortunately there is no lip on the old stand); and offer beer and pizza to two or three of my largest mates to help me slide the tank from the old stand to the new stand.

One item I failed to mention was my old sucky stand was not deep enough for the tank; it was short about 1.5”. So I cut ½” plywood to fit the bottom of the tank and support the weight evenly. This may aid in keeping the tank stable when I “we” slide the tank onto the new stand; then the plywood could be slid out or even left underneath the tank if necessary.

I have tried to attach a picture of my current tank as reference. Any advise or comments would be appreciated.
 

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That's a nice tank!
I haven't moved my tank. I think you might be ab;e to do that, if the new stand is the same height as your current one. I tend to think, any slight bending may cause stress fractures. So be very careful. I would wait for some other's personal experiences first.
Is it a glass tank?
 
Moving tanks with water (or anything weighty)in them is a tricky thing and one I wouldn't recommend doing. You're moving it twice. First from the current position to "right next to it", then having to move the new tank and stand back to the old spot.

I think you'd be asking for trouble with that plan. Get you a few new rubbermaid containers, enuf to hold the water, rocks, and livestock. Take everything down and put it back together again.

BTW, you're gonna need a bigger tank to house those 3 tangs. Get ready for your 30 lashes with a wet noodle. :wink:
 
Moving tanks with water (or anything weighty)in them is a tricky thing and one I wouldn't recommend doing.

I agree. I really would not try that. It would have to be perfectely executed to not cause stress on the tank and with that much weight it is hard to do. I wouldn't move any tank even half full.
 
I have to agree with not moving it with anything in it. I have a 55gal FW that I moved with the rock and enough water in it to cover the rock and keep my live plants wet, and that was total hell! Trust me you do not want to try that! Best case it will work. Worst case you will be picking up your fish and coral off the floor amongst the glass remains! Good luck!
 
Well, there is at least one other engineer who has posted here I would agree with. Don't attempt it. Even if you were able to move it you'll stress the corner joints and set yourself up for a future leak. Use plastic tubs, drain all the water, leave sand in the bottom and then move.
 
aside from agreeing with the caution against moving with anything in it, I'll say that this sounds like a perfect time for an upgrade to a larger tank ;)

Unless you want the new tank in the same spot as the current one, upgrading rather than swapping is significantly easier. Set up and cycle your new tank (just water and substrate). Move your rocks and acclimate your live stock. Tear down the old tank and you're all done! You also don't have to worry about trying to "slide" 400 pounds of Glass-Box with a couple of friends.
 
Your 75 gal tank is standard size right? (48 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 21 3/8 ) With 18” in width to play with I’m at a loss for why it’s so hard to get a sump under there. Do you just not like the “look” of the stand? Is it that you can’t get it under the stand because of the way the doors are setup?

As with the others I would say you’re crazy to try to move a tank with anything but just the sand in it. Also the weight of most 75 gal glass tanks is 140 lbs, not 20 ;)

I’ve moved a 55 gal with 8” of water in it off the wall to get my sump under but removed all the lr. Thing was still over 400 lbs and was done with dollies and kept on the stand the whole time.

I also think that if your going to go to that much trouble it’s time to upgrade (y)
 
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