120-Gal: Ideal Stand Dimensions?

[ZOKU]

Welp. Took the plunge (again) and ended up getting myself a 120-Gal. AGA Reef-Ready tank - the "megaflow" design. It's 48"L x 24"W x 24"H.

I'm going to attempt to be brave and construct the stand myself... but am sorta at a loss as to where I should even begin...?

I guess the main concern is having enough interior room within the stand to not only fit a fair sized sump/refugium... but also have enough space for other miscellaneous equipment and room for other items. I hate the standard all-glass aquarium stand on my previous 90-Gal. because there was hardly enough room for anything. It was completely inadequate, IMO.

The first thing that coms to mind is the size of the sump. What would be optimum for my newly acquired 120-Gal.? Are there individuals in the club that do acrylic work for sump/refugiums? I know I'd like the standard 3-part sump system (i.e., drain/skimmer section, refugium, and then return section)

I'm not even really sure what I'm asking at this point... except should I simply make the interior volume of the stand as large as I can? I was thinking at the bare minimum: 52" L x 30" D x 30"-36" H... this would basically be the interior footprint of the stand. And since the tank height is already at 24"H... I'd like to keep the stand height at a minimum.

Can anyone clue me in as to what would work best?

[mtfatwork]

for acrylic work you actually have quite a few options, spazz, hfg, and jg24 would be great places to start.

[Tutmos]

I'm pretty happy with my tall stand. Once foam and board is factored in the bottom of my AGA 120 is at 41", meaning you can view the tank from a full standing position instead of hunching over to look in. The top of the tank is at 66.5". The added benefit is I have lots of room in the stand to work on stuff in the sump and if I really wanted to could make a multi level sump or a shelf level above the sump. With a 40 breeder as a sump I have 20" of clear space above the top of the sump tank.

Food for thought. I think you'd be much happier with a tall tank you can look into from a normal standing position, but the downside is you'll have more head pressure from a return pump and need a step ladder any time you want to put your hands in the tank.

[ZOKU]

Tutmos:

Anyway you could post pics of the interior of your stand?

[spazz]

you might what to have a sump only big enough to hold the excess water when the pumps are off and a little extra. that way you can save room for your other stuff like skimmer and reacotrs and such. i run a 120 and have a super small sump. 29g total volume. it works great because everything is outside the sump. but if your looking at an internal skimmer then go with a bigger sump.

[hatty324]

Glad to see you are building ur own stand like me Scott. Its a lot of work, but the payoff is great and you get things done the way you want it.

A few things to note from things I've learned so far:

- Figure out how much the tank will weigh first. My 75G tank will weigh about 1000lbs when finished. Guessing your 120G will weigh about 1300lbs at least. This means you need a strong stand to hold that weight.

- I built my stand so that you could view the tank without hunching over, but if I built it any higher, it would become top heavy and the tank would tip (no good). The top of my "stand" is 40" off the ground. Probably best to keep the max height of your "stand" below 45".

- Make sure to buy the right type of screws. Do as much of the building using screws rather than nails. Nails just dont hold as well.

As for the area on the inside, that sounds about right. With the area you are looking at, that should be plenty of room for you. You could possibly go a little bigger.

I wish you the best of luck, and if you have questions or need help, let me know.

[David Grigor]

The narrower your tank the less height you can have because of the wobble factor because so top heavy. However a 24" width you can easily get by with 36-40" high which makes it nice not to have to been bend over or sit to view all the time. Plus depending on how big your doors are make it easy to fit oversized skimmers and such in there.

[Tutmos]

A 120 with rock is in the 1600lbs range +- depending on how much and type of rock.

I'm not sure if I'd want to put a tall unit like this on carpet though. I have mine on tile that is directly on a concrete floor. I posted a bunch of pics in another thread. I'll link to it after I find it.

[Tutmos]

Here's a link to all of it.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ht=metal+stand

[ZOKU]

Tutmos:

Your tank looks awesome!! My wife was the one who suggested I explore the possibility of a metal stand a couple of nights ago.

Just wondering what you ended up constructing your stand out of... when I think about the immense weight this thing is going to need to hold... it boggles my mind. Haha.

[Tutmos]

I used 1 1/2" square steel tubing with 1/8" thick wall. I got all the pieces precut with the 45's on each end from a member, I forget his screen name, he works at a metal fab and supply place near Wilmar I believe. Think I paid around $95 to $100 for it all and then $70 or so to have it welded and squared up. If I had it to do over again I'd probably cough up the extra $100 or $200 and make it out of stainless steel. I'm sure I'll get scrapes and dings that will rust over time. I think I also might put some gussets in the upper corners just to cure my paranoia about unlikely things if I did it again.

This thing could support 6000lbs reliably in mine and my welders opinion. If you have doubts look at how thin the material is on car ramps. With an average car/truck of 3500 to 4000lbs on four of them it's close to 1000lbs on each ramp and those things are nowhere near the material of 1/8" wall square tubing.

[ZOKU]

Thanks for the info...

I checked out Home Depot this evening and will probably go with 1.5" stainless steel piping. I had no idea the amount of weight this can support. Simply phenomenal... I'm gonna have the stand look really industrial. Should be cool... I was initially thinking of 2.0" piping but the guy at Home Depot said that was overkill unless I wanted it to support a Mack Semi-truck... hahaha. I shall post pics when I get it completed. They are going to cut the piping for me for free if I buy the coupling from them...

[Tutmos]

I'd strongly suggest you go with the steel supply person I got mine from. It was pre cut including perfect 45's. Round would also be kind of annoying to fit together right I would think. Square tubing is the way to go.