Remove brace to insert sump?

you might want to drain half the water or something to reduce weight...

 

We took not quite half the rock out of mine, and drained almost all of the water, but we have no livestock yet. Weight will be an issue not only for the support, but to move it away from the wall to get behind it to put the sump in (I'm assuming it's against a wall & you're putting it in from the back).

 

Its going in from the front. I could drain some water our but I don't know about half the tank. Tanks pretty well stocked and established I don't think I could even take apart some of the rock because some sps has grown between em.

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There isn't much that can't be out of water for a little while... The coralline might die off if it doesn't stay wet (but it probably would stay wet if it's less than an hour or two). Maybe some sponge or gorgonians if you have that... but pretty much everything else should be fine to drain the tank.

But your call of course. Good luck and I hope it goes smooth!!!

 

See thata why I'm nervous about taking the water out cuz every project that I've said oh it should only take...always took a lot longer lol

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hehe, i know what you mean

 

Hrmm...anyone know a good place to buy acyclic so I can build my own sump that I can fit under the tank without taking out the brace?

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Lowe's and home depot sells it, but you could just get a plastic bin for much cheaper. Just keep in mind the sides will expand a bit so you will have to get one that's a little skinnier than what you measure.

 

That's what I am using now and would prefer something more sturdy and that fits under my aquarium. Lowes and home depot only has like 1/8 and 1/4 would prefer 3/8.

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Hard to tell from the pics.....appears the horizontal cross members are bolted to the vertical members and held in shear.... that is not very good. However, it seems the edge of the tank is is as big as the vertical members.... meaning they are holding up the tank.

My point was that that is a nice beefy 2x4 stand and it should not be a problem, however with the way it is built I'm not so sure. That top cross member frame should be sitting on top of the vertical members as columns transferring all the weight to the floor. It would still probably be good with the end columns. Need more pics.

I saw a guy take out the center brace of a flimsy stand without draining anything..... He put a stands in the back of the tank.... he used 2x4s held by those stands, going through his stand and then held up by stands on the front with a jack. He jacked up the supports to bear the weight, then removed the center piece, installed the sump and installed the center piece. Does that make sense?

I was in a similar place as you.... I read all about it... but in the end, honestly, I don't have the balls for it. If I'm going to drain half the water and take out half the rock... then I'm half way to tearing down my tank and top loading a sump which is what I wanted to avoid. I solved my problem by knocking a hole in the wall and turning the next door closet into a equipment room.;D