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My half fish room project :D

6K views 35 replies 12 participants last post by  nate_mcnasty 
#1 ·
As promised here are some pics of my "work in progress" looks quite simple but it took me nearly 4 hours to do this because of the small work space i had. I'll be adding more pics after i paint it and after i find some time to put the tanks in.





I know it took way too long to get that little bit done but my floor is uneven so i spent a whole lot of time doing math in my head trying to adjust all the measurements so that everything would be even. also spent a really long time getting the pieces in and out of that small space. as you can see i made the whole thing a perfect fit on top and bottom and all 4 legs are different sizes so putting everything in was a nightmare. but after a couple of bruises and lots of scratched off paint everything worked out fine and i'll be ready to sand and paint tonight and i'll be putting in my tanks the next few days :fish:
 
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#4 ·
gonna be at least 7. i'm going to try to fit in more if i can but i'll have to see what kind of tanks will work. if its' not too expensive i might have some place special order tanks for me. what you are seeing is going to fit 3 60 gallons but i'm thinking of putting 2 20 gallons on top so i can get more fish :D
 
#7 ·
what's plum? as for the question of how to set it up...

what you see if going to hold 2 60s and 2 20s. one 60 will be on the floor and the other will go in the middle. the 2 20s will be on top. then i'm going to have another stand come off of it on the side. on that side i'm planning to put a 30 gallon on top and then 20s in the middle and bottom. i might end up buying 2 more 30s and put them in the middle and bottom but depends on how my filters will fit for the 2 60s. since the 20s and 30s will be small fish/shrimp only i'm planning on buying one big pump and have all of them run on sponge filters. 1 for every 20 gallon and 2 for every 30 gallon.
the support that is already there is there for the 60 gallon tank. i dind't need it but wanted some extra comfort. i sat on it and tried bouncing on it and it didnt' move so i'm pretty sure it's sturdy since i'm over 220 lbs. the support for the top shelf makes me a bit worried so i'm planning on putting anohter plank of wood in the middle of the whole thing so there will be 3 peices of wood as opposed to just two.i plan on finishing this side up and setting up the tanks before i start on the extra "wing" because the family wants my tanks out of the living room :p

gonna paint it a greyish green tomorrow night (after work and after the laker game) then buy some colorquartz and wash it and let it sit for a day. then start breaking down my tank and put everything together on sunday hopefully.

jphan
don't worry u'll be seeing it in all its glory soon. i just hope it looks half as good as it looks in my head and half as efficient as it does in my head.
 
#14 ·
the 60 with a definite wet dry won't be a planted. it's for my L114 plecos. gonna see if i can get them to lay eggs again. i have a general idea of where it's going to go but i might end up changing it to a pond filter and have the filter go somewhere on top of the tank. the other 60 will be a planted tank but i don't know how the filtration is going to work yet. i might end up just buying a new canister because i dont' really like the one i have right now. i have an aquaclear but i dont' want to use that for hte planted tank...might end up just putting that on the pleco tank too :p just finished painting the stand so i'll be taking/posting pics tomorrow sometime after work.
 
#19 ·
just a quick update for u guys. moved my 60 gallon planted because i didn't have the wood to make the pleco tank mini stand for the bottom. currently the planted tank is running on it's old canister filter and will probably be like that for another week or so (40 hour work week plus tests and essays coming up this week).



i repeat filtration is not permanent. i have that canister there for 2 reasons...1 because i was tired and didn't want to try anything else out and 2 because i pretty much did a 90% water change removed all substrate so i needed some used media to have my tank decent.

as far as the wet dries are concerned i have one that's not DIY and that one is rated for up to 150 gallons (currently running on my 60 gallon pleco tank) and i have one that's DIY and that is probably good enough for a 40-60 gallon tank. that one is currently not in use. due to lack of time and part lazyness i'll probably move the 20 gallons in soon and put them up top. then then final 60 gallon will be moved into the bottom of that stand quite soon and then i'll start working on the "wing" on the right side of the stand :D
 
#21 ·
Its looking good. Shouldn't you have a plank at the bottom of your tank? The way it looks right now, it seems like you have all the weight of the tank being supported by only the 2 horizontal wooden beams? In that case you are creating a lot of pressure at local points on the base of your tank. Could lead to a lot of trouble in the long run...
 
#22 ·
i thought about that too but i think it'll be ok. when i first did it i didnt' have those two supports you see underneath it and i noticed it was a bit flimsy so i added those two supports and afterwards it wouldn't move. i tried bouncing on it and all that did was hurt my butt because it didnt' budge. i figured that would be good enough since i weigh over 220lbs along with the force me of bouncing we're talking around 300-400 lbs on each bounce and nothing budged or made a sound. also having the empty spot underneath the tank will let me put in some heating pads later. the heating pads will create a warmer bottom will make the warm water rise while pulling down colder water and with it nutrients promoting root growth. does anyone else think the stand needs another plank in the middle?

my top shelf will have another plank in the middle because i dont' want to put in support underneath the tank and mess with my view of the plant tank. also the top will be holding 2 20 gallons so the pressure wont' be as high.
 
#23 ·
Hey aznkonner. Sorry, perhaps I should have expressed myself better. I am worried more for the tank's structural integrity than the shelf. I do believe you in that the beams should easily be able to take the weight of the tank. However for every action, an equal and opposite reaction...so there will be a Normal Reaction force on the tank exerted by the beams. However this Force which is equal to the weight of the tank is going to be exerted at the base of the tank at very localized regions and the contact area with the beam is very low compared to the total base area of the tank. This will lead to very high pressure points at the base of the tank. Most of these tanks are designed to withstand the Normal force, but with the assumption that they are on a flat surface so that it is dispersed over the entire base of the tank. Lowering this area to just the regions where the beams contact the base of the tank will significantly increase the pressure and can cause your tank to fail.

It's kind of like comparing the case of standing on flat ground, and then on a bed of nails. Same weight in both cases, but in the latter, the lower surface area leads to significantly higher pressures.

Just thought I'd give you a heads up. It would be terrible to have your tank fail in that setup...heck in any setup!

I do like what you're doing though. I wish I was good at woodwork/DIY stuff.
 
#24 ·
o ok i think i know what ur talking about now. u bring up a good point. i'll make a quick assessment tomorrow and see how it turns out. if anything i'll just throw a 2x4 in the middle and be done with it that way :p or i'll wait until i get my substrate and move all my fish out again and while i'm at it i'll put down another plank. i guess its' better to be safe then sorry. thanks for the heads up. i forgot about small stuff like that when building this stand.
 
#25 ·
That sounds good =). Also, you could put down a sheet of neoprene or styrofoam under the tank (Cut to the tank size) so that if there are any imperfections in the plank, or it starts bowing at some point, the styrofoam/neoprene will cushion it and help disperse the weight of the tank uniformly across the base.
 
#27 ·
Thats a glass tank right?

If so all you need is support for the four sides, the bottom isn't supported by the stand in a normal stand either.

Heating pads?!?!? You don't need those, get an aquarium heater!

Besides that the DIY stuff looks great, and I can't wait to see more updates.

-Andrew
 
#28 ·
yea it's a glass tank. right now the corners and the front side and the back side has full support. the side views dont' have full support so i'll add a little bit in there just to make things safer. and the heating pads aren't for heating the aquarium. they're gonna be for drawing water down into the substrate so that the roots for plants get more nutrients. it's the same idea as the undergravel heaters but cheaper.
 
#33 ·
and the heating pads aren't for heating the aquarium. they're gonna be for drawing water down into the substrate so that the roots for plants get more nutrients. it's the same idea as the undergravel heaters but cheaper.
But pointless. Heating pads get hot, and I have never seen one designed to do what you're talking about that won't overheat a tank. The water that is being heated and moved up through the substrate also heats the tank up. Having a heating pad which can not be controlled via thermostat will basically result in ever rising temperature in the tank... In a viv its not so much of a deal because it is intended to heat the tank and air retains heat much worse than a tank full of water. Heating cables on the other hand won't boil your tank.

With all that being said it isn't needed and hasn't been proven to actually make a difference. A normal aquarium heater and a filter work fine. Plants aren't that complicated or hard to grow for the most part;)

The less there is, the less room for error.

-Andrew
 
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