DIY Aquarium stand for 75 gallon.
 

I am in the process of planning an aquarium stand to hold my 75 gallon marine setup. I want to keep it pretty simple, safe and sturdy. The problem I see is having enough room for a sump underneath. The footprint of the tank is the standard 75 gallon at 48 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 21 3/8. The main question is do I use 2x4's or 4x4's?

The problem I am finding is that I need room under the tank for a sump. There will not be ample room to slide the sump in through the sides unless it is undersized and I want at least a 29 gallon sump.

If I were to build without cross braces I could easily put the sump in through the front. Is it safe to build a stand without cross braces? I could put one on the back but for full access up front I would like to avoid one. Above all though, I need the stand to be secure and safe and the cross brace seems fairly critical to me but I am no engineer. I have attached a few plans and pictures for stands similar to what I am thinking.


http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...tos-first.html

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1169964

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You can look at my build (red house above). I used 3/4" plywood instead of 2x2 or 2x4. Supposedly the design is good up to 90 gallons but all glass is also using it on larger stands with a couple center braces.

Makes for plenty of room underneath.

Reefer, I just made a stand for my 90, smae footprint, and made it so a sump could fit underneath. I used 4x4s notched out to accept 2x4s for the horizontal surfaces. This gives you a lip on three sides of about 6 inches, which allows you to use it as a shelf during feeding and maintenance. I will try and post pics later. Also if you are looking to do cross braces on the sides, for control of torqueing the stand I assume, then do one from corner to corner on one side and do an X style cross brace halfway up on the other. This will give you enough room to slide the sump in and out one side. I finished mine up with 3/4 skin. It is heavy and overbuilt, but I live on a one story so that was not a problem for me.

Thanks for the replies. Your setup is unreal Runningstix. Extremely impressive. If my stand looks half as good as that I will be proud. I need something very simple and sturdy. Your work is great though.

Chknwing - some pics would be awesome. Hard for me to visualize the notching and what not.

Thanks!