Building the "tank mahal"

[SDMike]

Here's the story. I bought this 80gal tank, right... It needs a hood/stand. No worries, I can DO that.

Then I got to dreaming.

What about a refugium mounted high, next to the right side of the tank?
What about a surge tank on the left?

Yeah, sounds good! Its just a LITTLE more wood...

Then, well, what if I extended the front of the 80 out to 24" and kept the sides at 12"? Hmmm, that'd look pretty good...

Then I called my "friend." PLEASE talk me out of this! Nope. That b@stard egged me on! I got to talking with another "friend" that egged me on too! He even suggested making BOTH tanks surge tanks/refugia. Hmmm, that don't sound too bad either...

So off to HD I went.

Here's the results as of this AM when I had to leave the house.

Mike

 

[SDMike]

Let's see if this uploads...

Here's the vision or what it is supposed to look like when done.

Mike

 

[tangir1]

There is only one feet below the main tank? I feel you are asking for trouble here.... how about a 40 gal sump below the main tank, and make the stand say, 3 feet tall... etc....

Seriously, for a multi tank setup, I usually test the tank with plain water on a adjustible stand before making all the height determination... can be trickly when you need to get the flow just right for all tanks... good luck, and have fun.

 

[Anonymous]

if you think we're gonna tell you to stop, you've gotta be smoking something. Meybe later (if I can find time) I'll cad that up for you in 3-d! bwaa-hahahahahahahah!

B

 

[SDMike]

MS Paint ain't the easiest thing to get proportions right... The bottom of the main tank's 30" off the ground. I've figured out that 30" is a good "sitting on the couch, watching the reef" height.

There'll be two 20gal tanks up top, and a 40L underneath for a sump.

Now all I gotta do is upgrade to that 120 I've been lusting after... After all, the stand's already built!

Mike

 

[SDMike]

I about goofed BIG TIME on the smaller tanks' supports. I had them started with some funky butt joints figuring that they're going to be stabilized by the 1/2" plywood I'm about to wrap this thing with... Then I got to thinking about the 200 or so pounds on the tops of each of these guys and changed my mind to what you see.

I'm stumped on how to turn the inner corners without using LOTS of wood (read: too heavy to move). Maybe one of y'all can suggest something?

I'm still stumped on the hoods too. Trying to figure out how to get the weight down far enough... I'm hoping to NOT have the hood resting on the tops of the tanks. I don't think I know how to do that, so I'll probably end up framing this out in 1x2 using the tanks' tops as horizontal supports.

Talk to you soon,

M

 

[SDMike]

More day 2

 

[SCMurphy]

How are you going to get it into the house?

 

[SDMike]

How are you going to get it into the house?

THAT is a question! Good thing I have friends!

"HEY! Whatcha doing later??..."

I made it 78" tall specifically so it'd fit thru the doors. (my front door's 79.25" high at the shortest)

Mike

 

[cdeakle]

That is a monster!

It will be so damned cool when your done! Please keep the pics coming....

 

[SDMike]

Well, I had to re-design a small part of the stand today. Went down to one of the LFS-s to pick up some 20H tanks. Got them home and test fit one.

$@%#@^!

The tank's bigger than the stand! The side supports are 24"L x 12"W. The tanks I bought were 24Lx13"W.

So I got to pull things apart and re-do them a little wider.

Its a good thing I caught this now, it'd be a BEAR to re-do it with the plywood on.

No pics as of last night. I was out working away, not paying attention to the time. I looked at my clock: 7:01PM. Holy cow! Its time to go mtn biking! So I ran inside and hustled over to meet the guys for a little mtn night ride.

I'll see what I can do about pics this afternoon.

M

 

[Anonymous]

How are you going to plumb the thing? If I were you, I would drill and add bulkheads to each of the 20's (ie, a "drilled" overflow desing) so that water pumped into these tanks will automatically overflow into the main tank. In other words, I would not rely on overflow syphons if you can avoid it. You may even be able to convert one or both of these tanks into surge tanks. A LFS in the area (Splash Of Life in Elburn, IL) is making something like this - a combination refugium & surge tank. I have not studied the design so I can't be specific, but they have a web site and you may be able to figure it out from there.

 

[SDMike]

How are you going to plumb the thing? If I were you, I would drill and add bulkheads to each of the 20's (ie, a "drilled" overflow desing) so that water pumped into these tanks will automatically overflow into the main tank. In other words, I would not rely on overflow syphons if you can avoid it. You may even be able to convert one or both of these tanks into surge tanks. A LFS in the area (Splash Of Life in Elburn, IL) is making something like this - a combination refugium & surge tank. I have not studied the design so I can't be specific, but they have a web site and you may be able to figure it out from there.

The plan for both the 20H tanks it to make them combo surge/refugia. I'm going to glue a baffle down either the middle lengthwise, or widthwise with only a portion of the tank being a surge. I'm guessing each 20H is going to surge 5-6gal.

I'm planning on drilling holes in one end of the 20H tanks... While I haven't had any problems with overflow boxes, I've heard stories...

Mike

 

[SDMike]

How are you going to plumb the thing? If I were you, I would drill and add bulkheads to each of the 20's (ie, a "drilled" overflow desing) so that water pumped into these tanks will automatically overflow into the main tank. In other words, I would not rely on overflow syphons if you can avoid it. You may even be able to convert one or both of these tanks into surge tanks. A LFS in the area (Splash Of Life in Elburn, IL) is making something like this - a combination refugium & surge tank. I have not studied the design so I can't be specific, but they have a web site and you may be able to figure it out from there.

You're talking about this. Right?

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, that is it. It looks like you are all over it. Good luck.

 

[SDMike]

I hate painting!

This stand has so many different sides to remember to paint! Lots of fronts and backs, tops and bottoms, and side to sides. I KNOW I've forgotten a few, but I'm tired of painting the darn thing. I put one coat on all of it, and two coats of part.

I've hit a stopping point. I traded my truck in on a BMW. Its turned out to be one of the bigger mistakes I've made in my life... I don't have any way to haul large qty-s of Scripps water around, plywood for the Tank Mahal, or 80gal tanks.

The up side is the almost 27mpg I've been getting in all-round driving.

I'll post more pics when I have something more interesting to look at. I'm hoping to get help from a carpenter friend in the next few days... I'm having fits trying to figure out the canopy/light supports.

Mike

 

[SDMike]

We made made some progress today!

I've got 4/5 of the canopy support built. The rest is coming soon.

Basically I duplicated the bottom of the stand, just in 1x2. There are a few things that now that they're built, I'm not so sure about... I'll go take some pics tomorrow and post so y'all can see too.

Mike

 

[SDMike]

Well, got the canopy/supports finished and primered today.

You can really see what its going to look like just from the framework. I took the tanks off to paint. You should see it with them in there!

I can't wait to get this thing up and running.

M

 

[SDMike]

more

 

[Arch01]

Looks good so far, can't wait to see the finished product.
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