Bad idea? Smaller tanks and overhanging stands.

[Fitz19d]

For the dangerous idea skip to A, but otherwise bear with me Ok, so I'm a reefer on a budget. I had a 55g over solid core door slabs on a 72 inch long stand. The contents of 55 going into a 125 which is all contained.

I'm now trying to figure out what to do w/ my remaining tanks and make best use. Broker than broke so unless there's a freebie craigslist, this is what I have to work with.

What's affecting my choices is some of what the tanks would be used for. One tank is for my Peacock mantis full grown, I could maybe do the 30g, but the 40b would be ideal and is why I bought it mostly. The other thing I'd like to do I think is an anemone propagation and/or frag tank. (Only other choices would be non coral friendly fish or a pred tank but 55 is too small for most of those I'd want.)


72x20 Tank stand
30g stand (30x11 of 12?)

55gLong (48x16x21ish)
30g 30x11 or 12
40gB (36x16x18h) Brand new never seen water.

A: I'd like to make most of this, One thought I had was if I moved the 55g to one end of the stand. I could make a T with the 40g where the full width supported and the center 20 inches length on stand with 8 inches on either end free hanging. (I could potentially get a thinner sheet of plywood to make the 2 and provide minor support to the ends? (or 30g same thing and only 5 inches overhanging) 55 would plumb into 40b then the sump.

B: Forget 55g and 30gstand, place 40B and 30g on stand w/ plenty of spare room and plumb toghether w/ the sump.

C: Forget the 40b and sell it for profit or unused. 30 w/ 30 and 55 stays with 55 (and maybe put my 9g nano on end if I don't take it to work.)

 

[Twistofer]

I'm confused. What are you trying to do/make?

 

[Dmorty217]

Put both the 30 and 40g Plummed in line with the 55g on the bottom of the stand side by side that way you can use one as a sump and the other for the mantis and the 55 for whatever

 

[planedoc]

Since you are using a door for stand obviously looks are not important. I wood scrounge up some scrap would and make stand support the 40 and 55 length wise. 48 +36 -=84 so you only need about 12 more inches of stand to make it right. Even if you have to buy a 2x4 they are like 2 bucks for an 8 footer. Hardest part would be finding something same thickness as door.

 

[Fitz19d]

@ Twist, Trying to fit multiple tanks on a stand that was for a 125 or something. 55 orientated as normal say on left end, and on right end the 40 running perpendicular making the aforementioned T to fit on the stand. (But would have the overhand.)

@Dmorty, Too Narrow and short on the underside space to put those tanks under. I have a 20l sump that I actually had to saw up and remove one set of doors to get in.

@ Plane, combined with @ Dmorty, so to clarify, it's a normal long/low stand though with problematic spacing on supports/doors. The openings at top of stand have cross beams but to provide better support for not correctly sized 55 I had put the solid core door halves across that fit perfect and made it one solid surface.

I suppose I could do that, find enough freeby wood to try and extend the thing to run 55/40 side by side. Would make the overflow from one to other easier. Tricky part now would be getting it crafted in a timely matter as once I move 55 into 125, the rest will all need to be shuffled around/transferred w/ in a few days probably. (Another idea I had for one of the tanks was a filefish tank to put rock w/ aiptasia in and limit any coral munching.)

 

[BlindZide]

Tricky part now would be getting it crafted in a timely matter as once I move 55 into 125, the rest will all need to be shuffled around/transferred w/ in a few days probably.

I keep getting confused. Is there a 125 or is the stand for a 125? You have mentioned the 125 a few times. If there is a 125, then the 125 would be DT and id make the 55 a sump. Then the 30g a QT and the 40b a frag tank. If that is not the case, I would not make an extension of the current stand. If you over lap a stand onto a stand, the weight distribution would be awkward for the stand thus causing issues.

The corners of the stands are meant to hold the weight and evenly distribute. If you overload one side of the stand with more weight than the other you would risk it collapsing. Think of it like this, if you have a tight rope, and put 6 people on the left and 2 on the right, where is the weight going? Now if you evenly distribute those, the rope would level out. See what I am saying?

I would build a separate stand solely for the 2nd tank side by side. I wouldn't risk jeopardizing the structure of the stand and ending with a flood and dead livestock.