Banner image

Marty's 450g (1 Viewer)

Remove jam beyond skill set of those involved. Should add there are sidelights on either side of the door, not sure if that matters.

Putting 4000+ lbs of water on the 1st floor of a new house is already pushing the WAF, taking the new house apart might exceed the allowable WAF specifications of this project.
 
Removing the door jams is easy. They are just attached on with small nails, so you just need a small flat pry bar and gently pry them off. Then when you are done nail them back on there. Might need to do a little touch up painting to cover the nails.
 
if there are sidelights on either side of the door, my guess is that the door in question is an exterior door, which I would not want to mess with either.
 
if there are sidelights on either side of the door, my guess is that the door in question is an exterior door, which I would not want to mess with either.

Yup, exterior door. Inside doors I'm fine taking apart, this one the jam appears to be a structural part holding the door on one side and the glass on the other side(s). I think a guy would have to remove all of it - glass+door+glass. then I could get a really big tank in!!! :)

36" tall was good enough for me at one time, it's good enough for me now.
 
There are folks smarter than me, however, if you build it 95X36X40 and then cut it into two pieces 95X18X40 (or two pieces 95X36X20), can you then just 'bolt' it back together? That would save the extra steel underneath, you would just need 'plates' of some sort with two holes and then a hole drilled in the steel on either side of the 'cut'. If the steel pieces are too thick to be bolting together with plates, then moot point.

I would build it, drill it, put on the plates to fit them, then remove the plates, cut it in half, powder coat the whole thing, move it into place, put the plates and bolts back in place.

I don't know if it will work or not, but seems to me, most of the weight is pushing down in the corners, not out, so it could work.

Otherwise, I am not going to argue with your shortened stand plan, seems fine to me.

It will look unbelievable in the space you have there, it will be an awesome size.
 
Last edited:
I've toyed with the cut it/plate it back together. Works for the middle supports but I can wrap my mind around how it'd work for the outside horizontal supports. Need the outsides to be flush since I have less than 1/2" on each side left after skinning. Image one could tack on some threaded rod to the bottom of the outside rals and then bolt a piece under it to reinforce the rail. Messy for 4" of height.

Problem with 95x36x20 is then you'd have a support rail right in your face when opening access doors in the front.

Thanks for the ideas, keep'um coming!
 
Few brain farts of late:

- Turns out trying to get a 95lx36wx40h stand through a 34 7/8" wide door might have issues. This hit me as I was leaving Jen's meeting for some reason...yikes. Options: 1) Make the stand in two parts 95x18x40 each basically (thanks Adam for the idea!) 2) make the stand 34 1/2" tall. I'm leaning towards option #2, once I add on plywood and foam the tank will be 36" high, close enough to the 40" mark. Challenge with option #1 is if I ever decide to put a sump under the tank it'd never be possible with that much metal chopping up the free space underneath. Plus, a buddy already bought the steel and I don't want to spend anymore in it; option #1 would take a lot more steel.

Open to ideas on this one.

- Plan on welding up the stand Monday night (hence the oh s#$% per previous item)

- Haven' figured out skinning the stand yet. Show who did my cabinets is booked out until November. I struggles with skinning the stand in place or not, with doorway limitations if I want an extra 1.5" of height I'll be skinning in place. Options: call different cabinet shop or just wait on the 1st vendor.

- Have not decided on powder coat vs. painting the stand yet. Powder coat costs more, since I'm not planning on a sump under it painting makes sense. I hate painting, powder coating sounds cool... yes guess which way I'm leaning.

- Aquascaping has me most concerned at this point. I want to do something nice just not sure where to start. Need to pickup some motor mix from Marco (Frank freebie time?) to play with, picked up a long masonry bit I was going to practice with drilling live rock - have the fiberglass rods already. Not sure if I should get some large shelve pieces or not from BRS.

I made the same mistake with the seahorse tank stand I had to cut the stand in half, the stand was made from 1.25" steel tube 1/8" thick so I just inserted 1" steel tube down the center of all of the cuts that ran the length from the top of the stand to the floor.and put it back together once I got it in the room.

It worked well but a stand as big as yours is going to need to be it's probably best to make it a solid piece. If I were you I would mock up a cardboard box the size of the stand and the tank and see what it's like getting it in place. all the way from outside to the final resting space.

the fewer the surprises when you do get the stand and tank the better.

You're welcome to the rest of the marco mortar that I have also you can see what I am talking about when it came to that sea horse stand. I am sure that discription left a lot to be desired.
 
Last edited:
FYI, don't try and cut 2" Tube steel 1/8 thick with your wife's double bezel chop saw. Call this a minor delay in stand build.
 
photo.JPG


At powder coating shop now. Big thanks to my buddy Terry for getting this done!!!
 
Last edited:
I hope you've tested with the cardboard box. tight on a straight away is one thing tight and you have to angle it as it's going through the door is another.
 
Few brain farts of late:

- Turns out trying to get a 95lx36wx40h stand through a 34 7/8" wide door might have issues. This hit me as I was leaving Jen's meeting for some reason...yikes. Options: 1) Make the stand in two parts 95x18x40 each basically (thanks Adam for the idea!) 2) make the stand 34 1/2" tall. I'm leaning towards option #2, once I add on plywood and foam the tank will be 36" high, close enough to the 40" mark. Challenge with option #1 is if I ever decide to put a sump under the tank it'd never be possible with that much metal chopping up the free space underneath. Plus, a buddy already bought the steel and I don't want to spend anymore in it; option #1 would take a lot more steel.

.

34"- 36" is not the same as 40-42"when it comes to viewing... given that you are a taller guy and there is room.. I would recommend to plan for a taller stand.. or a foundation and then put the stand on it to raise the height. I built mine to be about 34" tall and after appx 2 years I was ready to raise the heighht (with the kids also taller now it was starting to sound very convincing)

for circulation, I have used a lot Tunze's... including two different size waveboxes.. personally I like the powerheads much better. I'd probably still consider a wavebox if it could somehow be hidden out of sight and taken out rather easily for maintenance.
Keep an eye out on RC... you can find used 6200's/6201's for a good price. do the high flow mod and dont feel guilty about it ;) I dunno if you will like it but the tangs/angels will love the current it puts out. if tuned correctly the tunzes will easily start a wave
 
I hope you've tested with the cardboard box. tight on a straight away is one thing tight and you have to angle it as it's going through the door is another.

9' landing, open area. You all are going to make me nervous.

Nothing a saws all can't fix
 
34"- 36" is not the same as 40-42"when it comes to viewing... given that you are a taller guy and there is room.. I would recommend to plan for a taller stand.. or a foundation and then put the stand on it to raise the height. I built mine to be about 34" tall and after appx 2 years I was ready to raise the heighht (with the kids also taller now it was starting to sound very convincing)

8" concrete blocks would work well for this. Could set the stand on them and then just skin down over them with wood face frame. 6" block would get you back to 42. I think you would be glad you have the viewing height in the end.
 
Sorry Marty, I am hoping I am able to help you move that beast of a tank into place when it comes in so if we know it's going to go smoothly it helps up front.
 
Ideas and muscle always welcome!!!

Adam is stopping over here is a bit to help me plot, options for moving the tank into the house are:

1. Carry it
1a. Furniture dollies & carry it

2. Build ramps (one step to porch, one step into house) and furniture dollies
2a Same, rent Genie lift type deal

3. Build ramps, buy Hydraulic Lift Table Cheaper option

No one has those for rent. I might be over thinking things and just carrying it will be fine.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top