Denzil's 40B with 20L Sump-Fuge

[xulio]

I'd build some sort of platform to hold the 5.5g container. Just make sure that is easily removable in the event that you need to do something different in the future.

 

[denzil]

Either more bracing, or shear, what you have now will hold the tank, but will not hold up to a quake.

What I do is make a plywood box that skins the 2x4's, then cut our the area you want panels to be. That should be enough shear for that size of tank. I'd say look at the stand I built at Aqua Exotics, but they cut off a foot and removed the lower portion of the shear.

Okay, I'll have to check out their shop again to remember what it looks like.

I'd build some sort of platform to hold the 5.5g container. Just make sure that is easily removable in the event that you need to do something different in the future.

Yeah, I may have to build a 3-sided box out 1/4" plywood that surrounds my fuge-sump and provides a platform for the 5.5g at the same time. Maybe I'll just bolt/screw/glue the 3-sided box but use magnets for the bottom of it. I don't know, just throwing out ideas.

 

[Piper]

The stand I built for my 65 is fairly close to what you did in Sketchup. You can see pics here:

Stand Pics

Pics 5 and 9 give you a fairly good shot of the bracing. If I had to do it again I would not have put the center brace in the back of the stand. I don't think it was needed with all of the shear support. It was all pocket holed together with the Kreg jig too That is hands down one of the best tools you can have in your shop besides a good table saw and an accurate miter saw.

I ended up building a cabinet to put next to the stand for top off and 2-part/dosing pumps. I did not have enough room under the stand to store all of that. I have the skp file floating around somewhere if you want to take a look at it.

~Charlie

 

[denzil]

The stand I built for my 65 is fairly close to what you did in Sketchup. You can see pics here:

Stand Pics

Pics 5 and 9 give you a fairly good shot of the bracing. If I had to do it again I would not have put the center brace in the back of the stand. I don't think it was needed with all of the shear support. It was all pocket holed together with the Kreg jig too That is hands down one of the best tools you can have in your shop besides a good table saw and an accurate miter saw.

I ended up building a cabinet to put next to the stand for top off and 2-part/dosing pumps. I did not have enough room under the stand to store all of that. I have the skp file floating around somewhere if you want to take a look at it.

~Charlie

Damn, that's beautiful, Charlie. What kind of skinning material and finish did you use? It looks like at the top you skinned slightly past the frame support, correct? The Kreg Jig is awesome, I was just about to ask you about that. How does it work in terms of joining the adjoining piece? Are there any concerns for splitting? It doesn't seem like it pilot holes the adjoining pieces.

Yeah, the reasoning on the dimensions of my design is that I'll be able to fit the fuge-sump, ATO, and carbon/GFO reactor all inside. I believe I should still have room for the electrical to be housed in there as well.

 

[Piper]

The material is Cherry on the front and sides and ply on the back. The Cherry actually ended up being a costly mistake on my part because of the finish I chose though. I had a custom stain made at Fregosi Paints in Concord to match existing furniture near the tank. The stain ended up having a lot of solids in it and you can't really see the grain all that well. [EDIT]Note that the problem with the stain was my fault, not Fregosi's.[/EDIT] I made the cabinet that sits next to the stand out of Poplar (less than a 1/3 of the cost of Cherry) and you can't tell the difference between the two.

The Kreg jig does not drill a pilot into the adjoining piece but I've yet to have any wood split using pocket holes. You use clamps to hold the pieces together and maybe that helps with the splitting.

And yes, I extended the plywood up past the top of the stand in the back for support and for aesthetics. I did not want to see the plastic trim on the tank so the tank sits down in the stand on the bottom and covers up the frame. The canopy sits down far enough on the top to cover the top frame. I also think that will help keep the tank in place when we get shakers.

As a side not, I would also recommend not doing inset doors. I find that the edge of the opening tends to take a beating and with inset doors like I have you can see the marks on the edge with the doors closed. I will eventually make new doors that match the cabinet and canopy.

~Charlie

 

[denzil]

Here are some updated sketches. The first set of three are just improvements on the frame structure and a platform for the 5.5g ATO tank to sit on top of which will also sit right over my 20L fuge-sump. On the right side I have a compartment specific for electrical stuff. All plywood to be used will be 1/2" because I wasn't sure if I could get away with 1/4" plywood for both the platform, the bottom of the stand where the fuge-sump sits, and the skinning.

The second set of three photos includes everything in the previous set plus the rough skinning. I imagine I'll put some sort of door for the electrical stuff since that's where I also intend on placing the controller as well. I haven't decided if I'm going to use magnets for the sides of the skinning, depending on if I can get away with just screwing down the rear skinning and the internal board required to section off the electrical stuff. I also still haven't figured out how I'm going to do the front either but I imagine part of the front skinning around the edges will be screwed down minus where the doors would go.

Any feedback on the sketchup would be appreciated regarding the load or design. I also plan on fitting the BRS dual reactor (carbon/GFO) in there too. It'll fit perfectly in there but in a fairly snug fashion.

Thanks in advance!

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[Piper]

Denzil - That looks great! I have a couple of suggestions:

• I would eliminate the center support on the top. I don't think you need it for your tank and I'm wishing I would have left that out, in addition to the center support in the back, on mine. Or you can rotate it 90 degrees for a couple of extra usable inches. That will give you more room and options to mount your dual reactor.
• Definitely use 1/2" ply or better. I have a good source for "shop grade" ply out here in Concord (Santa Clara and
  Millbrae too I think) that is much better that what you will find at Home Depot and on par or cheaper price wise.
  I wouldn't put a solid skin on the back. Use a solid sheet but route out large openings in strategic areas so you can get air flow under the stand.
  For the shelf I would make two minor tweaks. Use a cleat on the back to support the shelf and look at using a leg (3/4" x 1 1/2") to support the shelf in the front left corner. That will give you better access to storage under the shelf.

I like the idea of the "electrical panel" on the right side. Are you thinking of putting electrical boxes in there with outlets facing inside the cabinet? I did a decent job of managing the spaghetti with cable track but it would have been nice to have it mostly contained in one area like that. We'll never be able to eliminate all the cords though :/

~Charlie

 

[Piper]

I completely missed this part:

I haven't decided if I'm going to use magnets for the sides of the skinning, depending on if I can get away with just screwing down the rear skinning and the internal board required to section off the electrical stuff. I also still haven't figured out how I'm going to do the front either but I imagine part of the front skinning around the edges will be screwed down minus where the doors would go.

You're getting a lot of shear support from that ply. I highly recommend you glue and screw it on the side as long as you don't absolutely need the access through there. That will make a big difference in what you do for the back. Like I said above you really want to have some openings in back for air flow to help with cooling in the summer. Definitely glue and screw the right side panel. That may be enough support to allow you to use magnets on the left side but I really don't know for sure. I do have a tendency to overbuild things

For the front, make a face frame that covers your plywood edge grain and nail it on or screw it in from behind. Use 3/4" Poplar or Pine to match your ply. You can easily add doors to that any time you want. I had the two side panels and a face frame that I screwed on from the inside of the cabinet to keep the outside clean.

What are you going to do for a finish on the stand? Stain, paint, something else? If you're going to paint you can always screw it in from the front and countersink and patch.

~Charlie

 

[gimmito]

Denzil-stand is coming along nicely and I like Charlie's suggestions.

Charlie-Are you referring to The Millbrae Cabinet Shop as your wood source ?

 

[Piper]

Jim - I get my ply and hardwood trim from The Moulding Company in Concord. www.themouldingcompany.com

I get their Shop Grade which is a nice Birch ply really nice on one side (usually) and decent on the other. Just under $40 (I think) for a sheet for 3/4". It's over-sized too so you can rip it down the middle and actually get two 24" wide pieces.

 

[aqua-nut]

Charlie, nothing like a REAL lumber company! My go to place in the north bay is Mt. Storm Forest Products.

MacBeath Hardwood ( Berleley and SF) is great too.

There are SOOOO many kinds of ply. Last time I was there, MacBeath had Zebra wood ply! That would make a very cool stand.

 

[gimmito]

Charlie-I bought all my trim for my house at The Moulding Company. I didn't know they carried sheets of plywood though !

 

[denzil]

Charlie - I took your feedback into consideration and applied some of your suggestions. However, I'm not entirely sure what you meant by cleats. I decided to use 1/2" x 2" plywood for the four supports for the shelf. I imagine that should be enough support for ~50 lbs for the 5.5 ATO tank. I'll definitely have to hit you The Molding Company. I decided to go without any plywood for the back hoping I can get away with it. That should maximize the air flow back there.

The interior vertical plywood wall adjacent to the shelf will be nailed/glued in. However, I was planning on having both side panels magnetic so that I can remove them on demand. I figured that the interior vertical plywood wall would provide enough front to back shear support while the front skin or "trim", minus the doors, would provide the left to right shear support which you can see in the sketches.

The electrical panel will house the controller with its respective relays, Vortech controllers, and surge protectors. I figured that I wanted all electronics to have a wall of separation so that they wouldn't be susceptible to any sort of creep or potential shock hazard (within reason).

I haven't quite decided on what I want to do with the finish but maybe paint it black and waterproof it or make it even more modern and follow the ADA-style by using a laminate. However, I'm not entirely sure how the waterproofing would work with laminates. Do I waterproof the frame and plywood (assembled) prior to gluing the laminate on?

Jim - Thanks!

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[denzil]

I just thought of something right now regarding my 5.5g tank ATO. I might affix some sort of quick disconnect fitting at the front of the stand behind the right door. My reasoning behind this is to just use a simple pump to fill up the 5.5g tank because the way the stand's designed, there's really no room to be tipping a bucket of water into it and using a funnel would be too much manual work.

 

[gimmito]

Good idea !

 

[Piper]

However, I'm not entirely sure what you meant by cleats. I decided to use 1/2" x 2" plywood for the four supports for the shelf. I imagine that should be enough support for ~50 lbs for the 5.5 ATO tank.

Denzil - I added a very quick-n-dirty Sketchup pic of how I would do it. It should hold the weight without a problem. I's still recommend that Pine or Poplar for the legs. I would be a little leery of 1/2" ply used as legs with those narrow dimensions.

That looks like a solid plan! I'll be excited to see the finished product

~Charlie

Attached files /attachments/sites/default/files/Denzil.png

 

[denzil]

However, I'm not entirely sure what you meant by cleats. I decided to use 1/2" x 2" plywood for the four supports for the shelf. I imagine that should be enough support for ~50 lbs for the 5.5 ATO tank.

Denzil - I added a very quick-n-dirty Sketchup pic of how I would do it. It should hold the weight without a problem. I's still recommend that Pine or Poplar for the legs. I would be a little leery of 1/2" ply used as legs with those narrow dimensions.

That looks like a solid plan! I'll be excited to see the finished product

~Charlie

Is there any particular reasoning behind having the two supports inset instead of supporting that entire frame for the platform? With your visualization, I think it makes sense now why you exclude the other two supporting legs adjacent to the plywood. Since the plywood will be mounted to the supporting 2x4's in the main frame of the stand, it should provide enough support for the 5.5g tank. However, that side will still be supported by a few screws but I suppose it's only 50+ lbs or so and shouldn't be a concern.

On another note, I figured out what a cleat was, LoL. I guess it helps to attach the "woodworking" keyword in my Google search.

 

[Piper]

Denzil - How about something like this from Home Depot? Seems like it'll be much cheaper and easier then what I was suggesting. Just put a piece of your 1/2" ply on top.

 

[denzil]

Thanks for the suggestion but I think I like your prior suggestion better, LoL. As much as possible, I wanted to keep everything all wood. IMO, I think adding that would make things look seemingly tacky.

However, based on the load rating, I may reconsider because that would mean I'd only need two of these to support the weight/structure of the 5.5g.

 

[denzil]

Now that I think of it, I think I'm almost on board with using those, Charlie. I really like the idea of having a "floating" platform for my 5.5g ATO. Also, should keep my options open for setting up a fuge light in there.