I will do a whole setup thread but I thought since everyone loves pics i'd share a few shots of my stand that's being built. Not by me because the wife wanted to match my cabinets exactly and didn't think I could...maybe shes right but since its a gift to me and i'm fairly lazy I sent the job to my cabinet company lol. I wont tell how much it cost because I know I could have done it for 1/2 the price...but it ain't my $ so whatever lol
A few things to mention...the ledge will be topped with this granite tile to match my kitchen cabinets since its in the same area. The finish will be like a bone color paint with a coconut glaze.
The front with out the doors yet.
Side view of the stand....I will have doors on the side for more access...canopy too. The side doors on the stand were supposed to be bigger (more on that later). Also you can see the floor of the stand drops down about 4" creating a basin to catch any water that may leak for any reason. They are going to seal the inside of the stand so it holds water. If you do the math it can hold quite a bit of water down there....just in case.
This is a good shot of how the ledge is...tank will be recessed so the trim on the tank will not show above the surface of the granite. I will also run some black caulk on the granite/glass seam to prevent water/food/junk from getting down in that space. There is going to be a bull nose like piece to cover the front of the ledge and granite to make it look nice.
Then this is a side shot....this is where it went wrong. You can see the surface where the tank is going to sit sticks out 2" further than the back of the stand. I wanted the back of the stand to go out those 2 more inches. I wanted those extra 2 inches behind the tank so I could drill holes for the hose of my canister filter to run through and into the stand so I can put the stand flush on the wall. They didn't really know that and they wanted it like it is so the tank would sit directly on the 4x4's that are the upright supports. This also makes me not able to use a 75gal tank for the sump like I was going to because between the 2 middle 4x4's its only 15". I could use a 55 gal but i have a old 58gal (36x18x20) that will fit and I think I can make work. I might have to switch from my dual xp3's to a single fx5 now too since I might not have the room to put an xp3 on each end like I wanted (reason for the doors on the side). Stinks...but not the end of the world...and cant really be fixed easy...so...it is what it is.
A few things to mention...the ledge will be topped with this granite tile to match my kitchen cabinets since its in the same area. The finish will be like a bone color paint with a coconut glaze.
The front with out the doors yet.
Side view of the stand....I will have doors on the side for more access...canopy too. The side doors on the stand were supposed to be bigger (more on that later). Also you can see the floor of the stand drops down about 4" creating a basin to catch any water that may leak for any reason. They are going to seal the inside of the stand so it holds water. If you do the math it can hold quite a bit of water down there....just in case.
This is a good shot of how the ledge is...tank will be recessed so the trim on the tank will not show above the surface of the granite. I will also run some black caulk on the granite/glass seam to prevent water/food/junk from getting down in that space. There is going to be a bull nose like piece to cover the front of the ledge and granite to make it look nice.
Then this is a side shot....this is where it went wrong. You can see the surface where the tank is going to sit sticks out 2" further than the back of the stand. I wanted the back of the stand to go out those 2 more inches. I wanted those extra 2 inches behind the tank so I could drill holes for the hose of my canister filter to run through and into the stand so I can put the stand flush on the wall. They didn't really know that and they wanted it like it is so the tank would sit directly on the 4x4's that are the upright supports. This also makes me not able to use a 75gal tank for the sump like I was going to because between the 2 middle 4x4's its only 15". I could use a 55 gal but i have a old 58gal (36x18x20) that will fit and I think I can make work. I might have to switch from my dual xp3's to a single fx5 now too since I might not have the room to put an xp3 on each end like I wanted (reason for the doors on the side). Stinks...but not the end of the world...and cant really be fixed easy...so...it is what it is.
