Features You Would Add To a Stand

[john.m.cole3]

I've been doing some brainstorming about this lately and am curious what features others have built or would want to build unto a stand. I'm planning a stand for a 150 peninsula build. I want the frame welded steel then powdercoated white and finished in something (need more ideas). So far the only thing I can think of is having adjustable feet for leveling and making the stand wider than the tank all around so I can add a 6 to 8 inch granite counteretop all around. What else might be cool?

 

[Diesel]

Backsplash and a granite ledge around the tank, hey wait a minute...............

 

[john.m.cole3]

Backsplash and a granite ledge around the tank, hey wait a minute...............

How wide of a ledge did you go with?

 

[Diesel]

How wide of a ledge did you go with?

6" in the front and 10" on the side.

Btw, awesome topic for a thread.
Show your finished edge around the tank!
You can place a lot of stuff on it while working on the tank, testing, maintenance, fragging corals, taking pics and place your beer or moonshine on it while you enjoy your tank.

 

[Larry L]

The frame of my stand is black powder coated steel, although no overhang - just built to the footprint of the tank. It is skinned with detachable wood panels on the front and sides (built by a woodworker friend of mine):

There are adjustable feet on all four corners of the frame for leveling. The top edges of the panels are beveled a bit. The front panel is wide enough to overlap the edges of the side panels to hide them:

There are metal tabs welded onto the frame in the corners, with holes drilled into them. Knobs with bolts go through those holes and into threaded fittings on the backs of the side panels to hold them onto the stand, and make them easy to remove when needed:

A couple other useful things that you can't see from the pictures:

- There are small strips of wood that overlap the door openings from the inside by about a quarter inch, including a small strip that runs up the back of the left-hand door which overlaps the gap between the two doors - this keeps the fuge light from leaking out through any of the gaps.

- There is an acrylic drip pan with two-inch high walls that is the exact size of the inside of the frame, and sits on the bottom bars. All the equipment sits on that. It's really nice that it is watertight since I don't have to worry about small splashes or drips or leaks. I have a leak detector sitting in the pan in case of bigger leaks - if that happens the pan will hold a few gallons of water which will at least give me a little time to do something about it.

 

[Makers Marc]

I've been doing some brainstorming about this lately and am curious what features others have built or would want to build unto a stand. I'm planning a stand for a 150 peninsula build. I want the frame welded steel then powdercoated white and finished in something (need more ideas). So far the only thing I can think of is having adjustable feet for leveling and making the stand wider than the tank all around so I can add a 6 to 8 inch granite counteretop all around. What else might be cool?

Here's my newly welded stand, upside down. I asked my guy to weld a long 16" tab along the top middle support that goes front to back. I plan on mounting my reactors on it so it's not taking up any sumo space.

Most ppl ask for a few 1 inch tabs with holes, but I wanted the flexibility to shift my reactors anywhere along that 16" span and not be restricted.

 

[Larry L]

Show your finished edge around the tank!
You can place a lot of stuff on it while working on the tank, testing, maintenance, fragging corals, taking pics and place your beer or moonshine on it while you enjoy your tank.

Definitely a good idea, I would have added an overhang like that if I had the room for it.

 

[Makers Marc]

The frame of my stand is black powder coated steel, although no overhang - just built to the footprint of the tank. It is skinned with detachable wood panels on the front and sides (built by a woodworker friend of mine):

There are adjustable feet on all four corners of the frame for leveling. The top edges of the panels are beveled a bit. The front panel is wide enough to overlap the edges of the side panels to hide them:

There are metal tabs welded onto the frame in the corners, with holes drilled into them. Knobs with bolts go through those holes and into threaded fittings on the backs of the side panels to hold them onto the stand, and make them easy to remove when needed:

A couple other useful things that you can't see from the pictures:

- There are small strips of wood that overlap the door openings from the inside by about a quarter inch, including a small strip that runs up the back of the left-hand door which overlaps the gap between the two doors - this keeps the fuge light from leaking out through any of the gaps.

- There is an acrylic drip pan with two-inch high walls that is the exact size of the inside of the frame, and sits on the bottom bars. All the equipment sits on that. It's really nice that it is watertight since I don't have to worry about small splashes or drips or leaks. I have a leak detector sitting in the pan in case of bigger leaks - if that happens the pan will hold a few gallons of water which will at least give me a little time to do something about it.

I'd love to see pics of the acrylic drip pan.

 

[Larry L]

I asked my guy to weld a long 16" tab along the top middle support that goes front to back. I plan on mounting my reactors on it so it's not taking up any sump space.

Very cool idea! That's another thing I would definitely do if I was doing it over - have an easy way to hang stuff from the underside of the top surface. Even if it was just something you could wrap zip ties through to suspend stuff.

I'd love to see pics of the acrylic drip pan.

Can't really see much of it, because of all the stuff in there. There's not much to see anyway - it's literally just a sheet of black acrylic the size of the inside of the stand, with two-inch side walls glued on.

 

[Makers Marc]

Very cool idea! That's another thing I would definitely do if I was doing it over - have an easy way to hang stuff from the underside of the top surface. Even if it was just something you could wrap zip ties through to suspend stuff.




Can't really see much of it, because of all the stuff in there. There's not much to see anyway - it's literally just a sheet of black acrylic the size of the inside of the stand, with two-inch side walls glued on.

Don't you have a bottom middle brace going front to back? Or did you put this pan on top of ur plywood. Whered u buy the pieces?

 

[Mandelstam]

What I plan on doing on my stand is to have like a double side panel on one side, like a shallow cabinet. Just deep enough to have all the power strips, controllers, etc. Splash protected and easily accessible. I don't have a wall next to the stand to mount it or a separate tech room so this solution is going to work great for me I think. It's going to be my first stand so maybe this is like old news to all of you guys lol!

 

[Ryane7]

I'm Building mine now very similar to yours I'm attaching wood work to frame with neodymium magnets.

 

[Mandelstam]

Marc has a pretty cool walkboard for his big reef.

 

[Larry L]

Don't you have a bottom middle brace going front to back? Or did you put this pan on top of ur plywood.

No, my stand only has a 24" by 36" footprint, so no middle braces. The acrylic pan sits on top of a sheet of plywood that sits on the metal tubing.

Whered u buy the pieces?

A friend at a local fish store built it for me.

 

[don_chuwish]

So much depends on the tank location. A stand/tank against a wall is very different from a peninsula or in-wall tank. "Easy access to do maintenance" is the overall most important 'feature' beyond the bare minimums of strength & appearance. How that easy access can be done depends on the location.
Leveling feet are all well and good, but what happens when (not if) you spill a large amount of water and it goes under the stand? There be sure there is enough clearance to get under it! Also be aware of the pressure points they create.

 

[bblumberg]

I like leveling feet, but make sure the pads are large enough. +5 on having space to get under the stand to dry out spills, etc. For a 150g, I would want 2". A door on the end of the stand would be good, or the ability to remove the wood wrap also good. A tray to catch water under sump would be helpful as splashes and spills will happen.

 

[vertigo01]

I have 10 leveling feet under my 150. I used 5/8's grade 8 bolts mounted into a machined and threaded insert. under the bolt heads I used some 1" King Starboard with a machined pocket so that the bolt heads would not rest directly on the floor, they also help with spreading the load.

The bottom of the sump is raised 4" above the floor to allow for cleanup of whatever may find it's way under there.

I will retro the stand and incorporate a waterproof electronics compartment. To keep all plug's, controllers and what not protected as much as possible.

 

[Makers Marc]

I have 10 leveling feet under my 150. I used 5/8's grade 8 bolts mounted into a machined and threaded insert. under the bolt heads I used some 1" King Starboard with a machined pocket so that the bolt heads would not rest directly on the floor, they also help with spreading the load.

The bottom of the sump is raised 4" above the floor to allow for cleanup of whatever may find it's way under there.

I will retro the stand and incorporate a waterproof electronics compartment. To keep all plug's, controllers and what not protected as much as possible.

So leveling feet really are helpful if the floor you're putting it on is clearly unlevel and your tank is brand new, which I get.

But once your tank is up and running, there's no way one can adjust the leveling feet ever again until the tank is broken down right?

 

[vertigo01]

So leveling feet really are helpful if the floor you're putting it on is clearly unlevel and your tank is brand new, which I get.

But once your tank is up and running, there's no way one can adjust the leveling feet ever again until the tank is broken down right?

It can be leveled.
All you would need to do is turn the bolts that are screwed into the threaded inserts.
This was a solution that me and a very good machinest friend came up with.

That said, I wouldn't use them to level a fully set up tank that is over more than. 1/2 or so out.
However I dont know of any tank that after it has been set up that was out of level that much.

 

[trbstang]

I really use the drawer I added to my current stand, right below the tank. Great for storing dry food and all the tools I need for cleaning and such. It also works as a handy extra 10"x24" surface to put things on when working on the tank. I will have one or two drawers in my next stand also.

The new one will also have a separate electrical "room" section in the back corner- accessible through a side door- that is isolated from the rest of the sump section except for the holes to fish the plugs through. Hopefully that will keep the electronics dry. My current stand has an acrylic tray also that works well catching spills, so I will make another for the new stand.

And I plan to have a removable upper trim around the bottom of the tank and at the bottom of the stand so I can remove them to clean. The upper one will allow my magfloat to reach down lower on the glass for cleaning when the trim is removed. So many ideas, but so little time!