What are some considerations for a oversized stand?

So I did plenty of searching. Seems all DIY stands are pretty simple.

My problem is that I have a 90g on a All Glass stand. I want to add a fuge, but don't really have much room. Tried to figure out how to do it till I thought about a new stand. My tank just sits in a room. Doing a remote setup is not feasible.

What I would like is a 55g sump/fuge under my tank. Since the inside dimensions need to hold a 55g, the stand will have to be bigger than my tank. I don't have a problem with that. Are there any problems with a stand bigger than the tank as long as the supports are still holding the tank???

I would really like to have more room for storage and the sump. So some little selves on the end maybe. Also I want 36" height inside to have room for skimmer and such. It would make tank maintenance a little harder, but sump maintenance much easier. More room to mount stuff. I don't think 6" more on 3 sides would be excessive. Can anyone think of any problems with that???

The only other question.... is sealing up the inside a big deal. Figured make a little tub with 2x4s, seal everything up real good, and give a little protection in case of any potential overflow. Does it matter???

Thanks for any input you might have.

 

here is a picture of my stand... I made it intentionally bigger than it needed to be with the Idea of possible tanks
upgrades in the future. Mine is big enough to put a 36" x 96" tank on it. I don't think it matters much how big your
stand is all you have to do is make sure it is stout enough to hold what ever you put on it. Don't know if making a
tub under it is such a good idea, all you have to do is account for the volume of water that is going to drain out of
the tank if the pump starts. thats why my 50 gallon sump is only about 1/2 full, my pumps can go off and tank
drain and I still have 3 inches before any would overflow.

Under construction


Under showing Steel I-beam I used to get clear span of 8"


Underneath showing my sumps and Fuge (just water testing plumbing)


My current tank on the stand, a 56 cube and 75 gallon std tank.

 

gazog beautiful tanks, so sweet

 

Regarding the stand, I dont think it matters that its going to be bigger than the tank as long as the stand is constructed well. What are your tank/stand dimensions? Maybe you can fit a nice sized sump in there without modifying anything.

For sump designs, check out melevsreef. There are some nice designs on there.

As for sealing everything up; just make sure that you have a fail proof design that will not flood. In most cases you can avoid floods by having backup systems as redundancy, such as instead of having one overflow install two, etc..

 

Thanks gazog. Really nice.

I have just a standard 90g with a standard stand. The inside dimensions are 44x16x30 for the stand.

I can't fit a 55g, and 30g are too tall. Just to get those in I would have break down the tank and load from top. The only thing that will fit next to my w/d sump is a 10g
or something custom. Afraid if I make custom I might not be able to get in the door.

I realize I don't need a 30g fuge, but the extra room would be nice. A lot of added water volume, ability to go taller, extra storage space...ect.

I have been to Meleves and have e-mail off to him now.

I can see a tub is not needed. I did overflow my sump once. Not because it was over filled, but because of a weird setup I was trying and forgot something. Long story, but that was why I thought of it.

 

Thanks you,

Do what i did, build it in place. If you already have a stand you could possibly modify yours to give you additional space.

I raised my tank higher than a normal stand because I like to be able to look at my tanks without bending over.
I sometimes have to be creative when working on them though. But it also doing this gave me about 38 inches
of head room under the tanks which my wife loves because now my frag tank is under there and not in the middle
of the room, LOL, got to keep'em happy!

IBM is correct, redundancy is the key. I wish no that I had put another overflow in my tank and still may.

 

what I have, I went with a custom acrylic sump that has a fuge in the same tank as well there is pics on my build thread


I agree with the above though if you have space for a bigger stand then go for it, just remember no weight should be bearing on screws/nails all weight needs to be supported via wood or steel and I would seal the entire stand inside and out just to be safe

 

check out this site for custom sizes. Glasscages.com - Home I think if you give them dim. they will build it for you but not positive on that.

 

Nice work, looks awesome.