High Tide Aquatics

Looking for 180g + stand

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EasyBay Newbie

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Hi all,
I finally got the permission to upgrade from a 40G breeder to a 180G (72x24x24) reef tank. I'm pretty excited but I'm hitting a wall trying to procure such a tank.
For the tank itself, I'm thinking about the following:
- 180G 72x24x24 RIMLESS
- Starfire 3/4" glass front and sides
- Normal 3/4" glass for the back and bottom
- Pre-drilled for 2x 1" returns.
- Pre-drilled for a Modular Marine 1800GPH overflow

For the stand, I hesitate between 2 things:

1) 80/20 equivalent extruded aluminum stand.
Pros:
  • Doesn't rust like steel (The rusted part turns to powder and doesn't propagate)
  • I like the idea of having T-Slot channels inside the stand. I can hang some equipment, put wire management clips, etc
  • Adding a bracket for lights would be dead easy and super solid since I could make the light bracket out of 80/20 and attach it to the stand. It'd become part of the stand
Cons:
  • Expensive. About $1,000 before I skin it with wood
  • While aluminium is stronger than steel per weight, I'm not sure if an extruded aluminium stand would be strong enough to prevent racking without adding tons of gussets.
2) Steel frame
Pros:
  • Cheaper than the extruded aluminium stand (Maybe? I heard things are out of control in the Bay Area and labor will make this similar to 80/20?)
  • Stronger (overall) than aluminium. More people have them supporting a 180g and have likely experienced an earthquake or two. That beats software modeling I think?
Cons:
  • Lack of flexibility to add anything in the future without potentially compromising strength (Drilling a hole through the steel tubing to attach a light support structure, Skinning with wood, etc)
  • Rust if one part wasn't anodized properly or if I scratch it.
  • Must buy local, assuming that'd be a general welder and not an aquarium specialist.

If it helps, I'm thinking about making the stand 40" tall (including the 3/4" marine plywood top)

Thoughts?
 
I’m a big fan of the 80/20 stands.
You can reach out to the local 80/20 supplier in Pleasanton for a quote. I had them design a stand for a 90 cube and it was under $500 for the design, parts, and shipping.

It’s pretty cool to have the stand arrive flat and then build it with just a hex wrench. The designer said I wouldn’t need gussets but I added some for piece of mind since they aren’t very expensive. Attaching things is pretty simple, I’m being lazy but I plan on just using basic plywood I’ll paint white and mounted with mounting holes until I eventually build something else.

Here’s a pic of my stand, and the lights above are hanging on a 8020 frame I designed myself, once you under how they connect it’s pretty easy to design something. I just finished wrapping the lights this weekend.

B084FEF4-9A83-4D75-B525-AB28C932C3CE.jpeg
 
Here’s a video of a vendor (Tidal Gardens) that just outfitted all their new tanks with 80/20 last year and talks about their stands.

 
max_nano said:
You can reach out to the local 80/20 supplier in Pleasanton for a quote. I had them design a stand for a 90 cube and it was under $500 for the design, parts, and shipping.
Click to expand...
That's cool. I'll see if they can do something for my stand too. Do they use any type of weight/load simulation to ensure that the stand isn't stressed and where the stress points are? Do you need shipping if you can pick up from Pleasanton?


RandyC said:
outfitted all their new tanks with 80/20 last year
Click to expand...
That's the video that prompted by quest for 80/20!

Srt4eric said:
Theres a guy on reefcentral who's selling one in davis.
Click to expand...
This one? It's 190G 48x36x24. I'm pretty set on dimensions since it must fit in the office.

Coral reefer said:
Look at crystal dynamics and sca for tank
Click to expand...
The "Deal of the day" at SCA led to down this path. They had a 150G 60x24x24 Starfire for $811 shipped. I asked about 180g and was surprised to see it's $1,995 shipped for the one with an internal overflow. Holes for an external overflow would be custom and $2295 with 14 weeks lead time. They only do 1/2" (15mm) glass for now.
I'll contact Crystal Dymanics
 
They design and then order it from 80/20 so it isn’t shipping from Pleasanton. I didn’t see any deflection simulations, but my design brief was for a 90 gallon tank or roughly 1000lbs and I wanted it to withstand potential earthquakes. I asked about gussets and they said it could handle more weight than I was planning to put on it. But for $40 extra I decided it would make me feel better to have them on there. So I ordered the gussets off tnutz.

Life changed so I’m only holding up a 25 gal tank with it for now, but I’m happy to have something overbuilt rather than under qualified.

I worked with Dave Cure from teco if you want to work with someone else who has already dealt with one crazy fish owner.
 
One thing you can do with steel if you want to mount stuff... use magnets no need to drill holes at all. As to the cost of steel to have someone competent do it... yeah I have no idea what the trades are charging now. 8020 absolutely can be done, if you get a design setup look at other suppliers of extruded alumnium, tnutz.com is one I've used in the past and they beat the pants off 80/20 for pricing.

As to the strength, either will be fine in the vertical direction, no need to overkill with the legs either like 3" x 3" as to the racking issues. Yeah it's something to think about. if you're going to skin it with ply you could use the t-slot fasteners with the ply and forget the gussets as the ply would be structurally doing the same thing, and probably a lot better. As for steel, it'll all be able the quality of welds which is something you'll never know about unless it fails.
 
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