Modify AGA Pine Stand to get sump in and out?

[bjbass]

Has anybody ever modified an All Glass Aquarium (Aqueon) stand in pine to get a sump in and out. I had to rip out a lateral brace, put my sump in, and replace the brace to get the sump in. Now my tank is setup already (210 gallon) and I need to replace the sump. I want to avoid ripping this thing all the way apart to get it out, which will require moving my fish for awhile.

Are all of the boards load bearing? I thought about installing a door on the one side, but I figure that all the boards are load bearing.

 

[reefdiver]

try posting a pic.

 

[reefdiver]

you may be able to cut some 1X4 an place it under the top and screw it.

 

[bjbass]

That is a great idea. I may screw another board further down while I remove the front board temporarily.

I will post some pictures.

 

[reefdiver]

how long is your tank stand? You can even put 3 or 4 depending on the lent as long as you put them with the edge up they will not bow. You can even try one across the front if needed be. I have one of those pocket jig things kind of help me when I need to change things up..

 

[Dary421]

Yep,..just did it on my aqueon 75 gallon tank and stand,....I could not imagine that my stand from the factory would ever support the weight of the tank with water so I went down to home depot and bought about $70 worth of 1"x4" and 3/4 inch plywood and rebuilt the hole thing from the inside out,..it would now support a small buick ,....so after filling up the tank I decided to add a sump,..and of course it would not fit in the stand because of the center brace( if you wanna call it that) between the two doors. So I temporally decided to add two 1x4 braces near the two sets of hinges on either side ,said a couple of prayers ,crossed my fingers,drank a beer and cut out that center brace ,...I then slide in the sump and made a new center support that I could remove if I ever wanted to remove the sump again,....luckily everything went very very smoothly,..but I don't think I would have ever tried it on the " stock" aquarium stand,...built way too cheaply in my opinion. Good luck , Dary
Ng

 

[bjbass]

I think I am going to add 2 two by fours on either side of one of the middle braces further down on either side for some added temporary stability. I am going to drain all of the water out, but I think this thing weighed about 400 pounds empty and I have 200 pounds of sand in it. I will remove the sump and replace it with the new one. Then I can put the old center brace back in.

 

[bjbass]

By the way. How did you make the one board removable for later use? I was thinking about doing that too, in case I needed to replace the sump ever again.

 

[Dary421]

By the way. How did you make the one board removable for later use? I was thinking about doing that too, in case I needed to replace the sump ever again.[/QUOTE
Kinda hard to explain but,..the removalable board ( a 1x4 in my case ) is tapped in from the inside so it is wedged between the plywood in which the tank itself sits on and the plywood which the sump sits on,...and then it is screwed into from the outer facial board both from the top and from the bottom....this 1x4 also is the door stop when closing the two doors,.....it works great as long as you measure correctly.....Like I said before, I would never had attempted this if I had not shored up the stand first,....I think whoever designed the stand in the first place had a saw ,a stapler and a bottle of Jack Daniels

 

[bjbass]

Here are some pictures of the board that I want to remove.

 

[bjbass]

I ended up removing this board that I have circled above and we had some supports set up to take the load while it was removed. They weren't even need, but the tank did sag a little bit when the board was out. I removed over 3/4 of the water.

I replaced the board with some wood screws and everything is good now. Thanks for all of your help!