Design for 29g Bowfront stand, need your input (PICS)

[Coffman34]

Hokay guys, Got my sump tank today. It's longer than my main tank, bummer. O well, just have to devise a clever stand. I'm looking into a new stand n e way. I have a design. Please take a loot at it.

As you can see. It's not really tall, it's 65". It's also about 44" wide. The front is made to look like a 17th century ship, with the panel wood. As you can tell when in the cutout pictures. Those are how the doors will open. One door on the left side for all of my storage. One big door that is 1/3 of the unit on the right side that will house the sump, pluming, and lighting. One good thing I think is this makes me able to open the whole thing up like a wardrobe. Just hope there's not Narnia in there. Lol. N e way, As you can see the middle sections are all bowed the same as the tank, and the the sides are just flat. I think it kinda gives it the entertainment center look/feel. Def. make it awsome to sit and watch.

Tell me what you think, and any improvements that could be made.

Coffman

 

[Bergovoy]

I love the graphics. Way cool. I like the detail of the ship plank type look.

I would suggest a way to install a heavy duty support under the front section ofthe tank, that way you could eliminate the uprights at the front corners of the tank.

This designe would be catostrophic if you had to replace your sump.

But if you had like a mini beam under the front of the tank, and spread your supports out, you could get your sump in and out.

bill

 

[TropTrea]

This is one of those things where personal taste becomes a big issue. What looks good to Sam might not look so good to Sue.Now for my unbiased opinion. ha ha

1. If you have enough room for a stand 44" wide can you streach out the extra 4" and go with a tank that is 48" long. One thing I learned is always go as big on the tank as youe space and budget will allow.

2. For plumbing purposes if your going to run a sump or any other plumbing to the bottom either now or in the future leave as much of the ack open as possible. This will make future maintance or changes much much more easy.

3 The vertical planking I think looks neat. My son built a stand for a 78 gallon bow using the vertical planking system and from my original thougthts on how it would look to the final product was a complete shock to me. Dependent upon the type of wood and finish you use will determine if it comes out good or great.

 

[TheGrog]

WAY cool graphics, what did you use for that???

Stand looks good to me. I do agree with the wider tank though. Also, I like being able to look in the sides of my tanks. Something to think about.

 

[Coffman34]

Thanks for all of the input guys. To design it, I used a really really simple 3d cad program called Google UpSketch. You can get it for free. It would be really neat if we got alot of people to start using it. Because we could share the cad files and everyone could download them and get a good 3d look of the design for the sump/stand/whateva.

While it would be ideal for me to go to a bigger tank. I have a few problems with it. #1 is I don't really have the room for a 48" tank.
#2 I really really like the 29g bowfront I already have. #3 I can't really afford a bigger tank at this time.

It would not be that big of a deal if I used a different sump. Because I made the cut out on the bottom a little larger than the sump tank I have at this time. In fact, I believe I could fit about 24" of tank depth in that hole. The reason it is cut out is to provide support for the front of the main tank. There really is no way to provide support, but still use the sump I have. One good way would be to make it so that the shelf under the tank goes all the way across. That way it just kind of sits on the shelf, and if I open the doors, I still have about 12" on either side to peek my head in and check out the sides and back.

One great idea I just thought of would be to put metal bands on the front of the unit, that way it kind of had that wooden keg/treasure chest look to it. I think that would be really neat.

Once again, thanks for all of the input guys.

Coffman