Altering a stand, need advice, duhhh moment!

[Ludwigia73]

Firstly, I love woodworking, I've done tons of projects including stands for almost every tank I've ever owned.
That being said, I just had a duhhhhh moment, and a spark of revelation hit me!

I'm about to plunk down good money on a honey oak stand at AllPets Emporium (good price, good construction, and I get my military discount there)

I've been trying to figure out how the heck to fit a 40 gallon long tank (48" x 13 x 13 roughly), underneath. Getting it INTO the stand was the problem. The bottom is marine grade plywood.

What's to keep me from cutting a perfect sized hole in the BOTTOM of this stand to get the sump in? I could set the stand over the sump, raise it up on some 1x2's to get it off the bottom, and put the piece I cut out back in the hole, and put another piece of ply slightly bigger under the tank for support.

I think the hole I'll have to cut will leave plenty under the stand for structural support, plus I'll reinforce it when I'm done (I'll already be adding a couple of vertical supports, I never trust commercially made stands!)

 

[mrx66699]

Does it have double doors if so then remove the center brace.......if not then why not save yourself the trouble and instead of cutting out the bottom to get something in cut out a slot big enough to slide it in through the back and using the already cut doors hole to help adjust it getting it in then with a little tacking and some wood putty you can put the cut out back in place on the back and this would be easier than replacing a flooring while holding up a tank at the same time to put replacement flooring back in which will then have a ton of weight sitting directly on it from the new sump......

 

[Ludwigia73]

Didn't want to remove any bracing... That's the main reason. Barrier reef has an okay price on an unfinished pine stand with an opening door on the end of the stand, big enough to get the tank inside. For $50 more, I can get a really nice stand in honey oak, but no end door.

 

[dadummy]

what size is the stand?

I slid a 40L into the stand from the top and then put display on stand. Make a long story short I ended up building a stand. I have a 40L with some baffles silicone in if you already didn't pick one up. I also have a 72x18 mahogany stand and canopy that I am not using

 

[Ludwigia73]

Pm sent

 

[dadummy]

pm replied