Planning to upgrade my 120 to a 280. Looking for input.

[gotfrogs]

I have a ~7 year old 120 gallon in wall tank that I would like to upgrade. I am limited by space in the fish room behind the tank but am thinking a 280 gallon (6"x30"x30") would be a nice fit and a worth wild upgrade. I have just started planning things and put together a CAD of the new tank and stand installed and would like feedback from other large reef tank owners. Some of my top concerns are the stand. I am thinking of purchasing a metal stand. I would like to get away with not having a front center brace but am not sure how feasible that will be with a 72" long span. I also want the stand to be cantilevered by ~4" on the front side to keep the tank flush with the outside wall and keep the sheet rock and 2x4s in place. The other areas of concern area the overflow and return and what to do with my livestock during the upgrade. I am leaning twards having an external overflow on the left side of the tank but am not sure what is the best way to set up the returns with and external overflow. I will add some more details as thing progress.

Here are some old pictures of the area where the tank will go. These were taken prior to the 120 gallon being installed:

120 gallon up and running. Photo taken in the fish room.

Drawing of the new setup:

 

[SPotter]

I have a very similar size tank 72x36x28 and I went with a steel stand. Im curious about your overflow position. with a 30" wide tank your overflow will be maybe 24" at best. why wouldn't you put it on tge back panel where you will be able to get a tremendous amount of surface draw. my overflow is 42" and the returns are on each side of the overflow.

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[gotfrogs]

I am limited in space/access behind the tank and did not want the overflows to consume any additional space behind the tank. I have some unused space on the left side of the tank that is available for the overflow.

 

[gotfrogs]

Any more input on my plans?