I've been wanting to set up a good sized aquarium, and was planning on doing it this spring, however I saw a 75 gallon tank on sale at a good price so I moved up my time table. It wouldn't do any good to get a tank with no place to put it, so I built my stand first. All materials and supplies for the stand, with enough left to build a nice canopy once I get the tank cost me about $120. The finished stand looked like this.
I started considering filtration options, originally planning on a canister, but as I read more about DIY wet/dry filters I really liked the idea, especially using the sterilite drawers because it makes changing and cleaning mechanical media so easy. I was going to use a 20 long as a sump because it was about the only suitable thing that would fit under my stand. In the picture below you can see that I set 2 2x4's to support the middle brace and they narrowed down my space.
Today I found a 90 quart sterilite container that would work even better for a sump, and is cheaper than the 20 long. The only problem is that it's an inch and 3/4 wider than the space between the cross member supports. I knew I didn't really need the cross member there, in fact, the stand I copied didn't have one, I had just added it because I'm all about overkill. So to accomodate the sterilite sump I did a little demo work on the stand
It ended up like this
The span is still going to be a quarter inch tight to the container, but I can notch the rim of the sump.
I used euro hinges on the stand doors to keep them hidden
I used Iron on veneer strips on the top edge of the plywood to keep it looking neat
Since I'm a cheap bastage, I saw Hobby Lobby had 50% off plastic greenery so I made a haul today.
Tomorrow I pick up the tank, and I suppose I'll get the sump tomorrow too. It will be a lot easier to put in without the tank on top of the stand. For my trickle, I'm going to use a sterilite drawer set with 2 full sized drawers and 2 small drawers. The top small drawer will just act as my splash plate, the second small drawer will be for a filter pad and the 2 large drawers scrubbies for bio media. The bottom large drawer will be submerged with holes drilled out for flow, but I'm going to load it with air wands to keep the bac growing on the scrubbies. I'm going to build an overflow with 1 1/4" PVC which should give me around 900 GPH. I'll have to wait a few weeks before I have the cash to order a pump, get gravel, and lights, but I'll post progress as it goes.
Thanks for all the great info guys.
I started considering filtration options, originally planning on a canister, but as I read more about DIY wet/dry filters I really liked the idea, especially using the sterilite drawers because it makes changing and cleaning mechanical media so easy. I was going to use a 20 long as a sump because it was about the only suitable thing that would fit under my stand. In the picture below you can see that I set 2 2x4's to support the middle brace and they narrowed down my space.
Today I found a 90 quart sterilite container that would work even better for a sump, and is cheaper than the 20 long. The only problem is that it's an inch and 3/4 wider than the space between the cross member supports. I knew I didn't really need the cross member there, in fact, the stand I copied didn't have one, I had just added it because I'm all about overkill. So to accomodate the sterilite sump I did a little demo work on the stand
It ended up like this
The span is still going to be a quarter inch tight to the container, but I can notch the rim of the sump.
I used euro hinges on the stand doors to keep them hidden
I used Iron on veneer strips on the top edge of the plywood to keep it looking neat
Since I'm a cheap bastage, I saw Hobby Lobby had 50% off plastic greenery so I made a haul today.
Tomorrow I pick up the tank, and I suppose I'll get the sump tomorrow too. It will be a lot easier to put in without the tank on top of the stand. For my trickle, I'm going to use a sterilite drawer set with 2 full sized drawers and 2 small drawers. The top small drawer will just act as my splash plate, the second small drawer will be for a filter pad and the 2 large drawers scrubbies for bio media. The bottom large drawer will be submerged with holes drilled out for flow, but I'm going to load it with air wands to keep the bac growing on the scrubbies. I'm going to build an overflow with 1 1/4" PVC which should give me around 900 GPH. I'll have to wait a few weeks before I have the cash to order a pump, get gravel, and lights, but I'll post progress as it goes.
Thanks for all the great info guys.
We just want pix of this great project 
! (you could get your DW to draw us pix till the camera is fixed 
)