Stand Modification Ideas

A4goulet · May 24, 2017

I am in the process of finishing up my stand build but I am wondering if there are any stand modifications I can add before I start painting and staining.

I’m talking about shelves, drawers, power strips/wire management, mounts for controllers or dosing pumps, tool holders, lighting, beer holders, etc. I am also all about making daily/weekly maintenance easier so any stand mods that incorporate water changes , ATO reservoir top offs, and acclimatization process.

Please share your ideas. And as always, a pic is worth a thousand words.

Idoc · May 24, 2017

I'm in the same boat you are...just finally finishing up my stand build. I don't have any pics on this computer to post, but maybe when I get home I can upload one. I added a small cabinet on to the side of my main stand in order to be able to house my controller and ATO additional water. I've seen this in other threads and liked the cleanliness it gave...and the extra room in the sump compartment. I also am using a 40g breeder as a sump, which was the same width as the 75g aquarium on top of the stand...this didn't give any extra room under the stand, so I extended the depth of the stand 6 inches so the sump glass isn't pushed right up against the front cabinet doors! Good luck...post some pics of what you have created so far!

A4goulet · May 24, 2017

Idoc said:
I'm in the same boat you are...just finally finishing up my stand build. I don't have any pics on this computer to post, but maybe when I get home I can upload one. I added a small cabinet on to the side of my main stand in order to be able to house my controller and ATO additional water. I've seen this in other threads and liked the cleanliness it gave...and the extra room in the sump compartment. I also am using a 40g breeder as a sump, which was the same width as the 75g aquarium on top of the stand...this didn't give any extra room under the stand, so I extended the depth of the stand 6 inches so the sump glass isn't pushed right up against the front cabinet doors! Good luck...post some pics of what you have created so far!

Idoc, I know what you mean. My stand is for a standard 120g (48x24x24) and my sump is a standard 75g (48x18x20). Both 48" in length and only gave me 6" of storage from my sump To my doors. To give me additional room under my tank i built the stand an extra 5" or so wide. I installed a low profile overflow which has an external box so my tank has to sit 5 or so inches from the wall anyways. I decided to utilize this space by building the stand so I will be able to push the sump back to the wall giving me 5 plus inches of extra storage space in front of my sump. I don't have a good picture at the moment to help explain this. But here is the only pic I currently have of my build so far.

Currently I plan on having a pull out drawer for storage and the width of the rim around the tank was designed specifically to hold a beer can

Idoc · May 24, 2017

Space for a beer can is definitely important! If no ledge, you would have to place the can on top of the tank and risk spillage into the tank!

Manny'sReef · May 16, 2018

Idoc said:
I'm in the same boat you are...just finally finishing up my stand build. I don't have any pics on this computer to post, but maybe when I get home I can upload one. I added a small cabinet on to the side of my main stand in order to be able to house my controller and ATO additional water. I've seen this in other threads and liked the cleanliness it gave...and the extra room in the sump compartment. I also am using a 40g breeder as a sump, which was the same width as the 75g aquarium on top of the stand...this didn't give any extra room under the stand, so I extended the depth of the stand 6 inches so the sump glass isn't pushed right up against the front cabinet doors! Good luck...post some pics of what you have created so far!

Can you show the extra cabinet? I have a 60 gal cube and have no room other than for the sump and a few dosing containers. I'm ready to build something next to it to keep an ATO, Apex, etc. and would love to see some samples. Also, I haven't found any other threads regarding this and any links to them would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks.

Idoc · May 16, 2018

Manny'sReef said:
Can you show the extra cabinet? I have a 60 gal cube and have no room other than for the sump and a few dosing containers. I'm ready to build something next to it to keep an ATO, Apex, etc. and would love to see some samples. Also, I haven't found any other threads regarding this and any links to them would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks.

Check out my build thread. It has several pictures of the system from the cabinet build to almost recent...its been awhile since I updated the thread, though. I need to get to doing that!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/idocs-first-reef-tank-build-75g.317135/