any reason not to do something like this?

[hmt321]

I am currently setting up a 125 gal North American Native tank at my office (my 1st time do set up a sump) It seems to me that the over flow and power heads eat up a lot of room. I am going to build a house soon and I will set up a 180 gal or so tank in my home office/man room and i have been thinking about building a setup like this

If you wanted you could run a background across it and house overflow, heaters, power heads, whatever. in my 125 it seemed a shame that so much of the potential swimming space had to be given up of equipment, also a "t" shaped stand would be more stable.

would it be structurally sound?

I would think that you could build a plywood tank or a glass one if it had supports in the right place it would be OK.

any thoughts?

 

[Oddball]

That design is definitely doable. However, the reason you don't see it often is that it forces the tank to stand further away from the wall, the bio-chamber would be too small for the amount of media needed for a 180 (2.2gal of 1.5" bioballs per 100gal of tank volume), and maintenance on the filter is difficult if forced to reach 2 feet over the tank.
I did something similar with a 900 gal I built years ago. The only difference is I made the tank a room divider with the W/D chamber on the end that sat by the wall. The bio-chamber was 36" deep but manageable from both the front and back of the tank.

 

[eh1421]

That design is definitely doable. However, the reason you don't see it often is that it forces the tank to stand further away from the wall, the bio-chamber would be too small for the amount of media needed for a 180 (2.2gal of 1.5" bioballs per 100gal of tank volume), and maintenance on the filter is difficult if forced to reach 2 feet over the tank.
I did something similar with a 900 gal I built years ago. The only difference is I made the tank a room divider with the W/D chamber on the end that sat by the wall. The bio-chamber was 36" deep but manageable from both the front and back of the tank.

well said my friend
yes anything is possible
mike

 

[hmt321]

yeah I've been thinking about that, I was always planning on having a sump under it. check out this revised plan,

I moved the offset into a filter room (the House will be built on concrete piers so i have ample space under it.)

this would fix the problem with access to the offset, and having the tank to far off the wall. to me it would really be nice to only see my aqua scape. in the tanks i have now i have to use drift wood and plants to hide power heads, heaters, return plumbing etc. also there is the convenience factor of a filter room, no body contortions under the tank stand etc

 

[eh1421]

that would be nice
good call bro

mike

 

[Dr Joe]

I am currently setting up a 125 gal North American Native tank at my office (my 1st time do set up a sump) It seems to me that the over flow and power heads eat up a lot of room. I am going to build a house soon and I will set up a 180 gal or so tank in my home office/man room and i have been thinking about building a setup like this

If you wanted you could run a background across it and house overflow, heaters, power heads, whatever. in my 125 it seemed a shame that so much of the potential swimming space had to be given up of equipment, also a "t" shaped stand would be more stable.

would it be structurally sound?

I would think that you could build a plywood tank or a glass one if it had supports in the right place it would be OK.

any thoughts?

How about making the tank 6" deeper and install a full length divider, water overflow at one end, bio tank and return at the other with filter materials in-between. Paint the glass or plexy from the filter side and you won't see anything.

 

[CHOMPERS]

How about making the tank 6" deeper and install a full length divider, water overflow at one end, bio tank and return at the other with filter materials in-between. Paint the glass or plexy from the filter side and you won't see anything.

Great idea Joe. And plexy comes in black too.

Also, since the tank can have its own filter room, why not just have the tank drilled with holes for plumbing and have everything else in the filter room. Don't use power heads, use external pumps. That will open up a whole new world of things that you can do, such as water features or a water fall above your tank. Instead of having a tank hood, place a shower door or sliding glass door sideways over the tank to encase the water fall (to cut down on noise and humidity).