You stated Particle Board for the surface the tank will sit upon, and out of all the replies, no-one questioned this. So I will. You do realize that when it gets wet, and it will, it does swell and disintegrate. I have to imagine with a tank this size, it will only be installed once and never move again.
I'd almost like to see you spend the money on "marine" board, as it is designed for wet applications and will last a long time. I have plywood under my tank, and it was painted numerous times to seal it from water damage.
I never even considered particle board for a second.
The rest of your comments, ideas, and posts sound great. As you know, I have a window a/c unit in my fishroom to maintain the temperature at 78 all summer, and the tank never got over 82. No fans were used, but if if there was a need, I could add them.
Cooling the room is nicer than just the tank, so it isn't warm when you have to work in there for a while.
My only mistake was not buying a second window unit for when this one breaks. And all summer I kept saying I'd get one, and then suddenly it was too late and none are on the shelves.
So if this one breaks, I'll get it fixed, but next spring I'm definitely buying a backup.
