Reefroom ‘A’ Continued: The Stand

So lets keep the chat going, as many are now blowing up my phone with text messages about this topic. I know you all want pictures! Me too! So relax, have a margarita.

With many threads out there about how to construct a ‘perfectly sound’ stand that could withstand over thousands of pounds (or kilograms) , comes much confusion over which design is best. So what to do? I designed my own (thanks Mike… again).

Here is the blueprint of the stand.

It involved cinder blocks, 2′x6′s, plywood, and extreme attention to detail . The design will be able to withstand at least 3200lbs of water, or a really really fat elephant!

Here is the build.

First lets start with the cinder blocks. They were three high, and two wide, slightly spread apart. I didn’t use any adhesive to bond them, as it wasn’t needed. Also, I always use vinyl matting underneath all of my stands to move any possible water underneath, and down into the drain (you can see the drain in the picture above).

Here is the view from the laundry. Pretty self explanatory.

Here are the bones of the stand. 13 2′x6′s were evenly spaced apart (1.5″) over a 37″ length. This is the true strength behind this design. There aren’t any weak points throughout this section. Its like a NyQuil med, it makes you sleep easy at night.

This is where the bones were covered up by 3/4″ sheet of plywood. In the picture, it looks like the ply is too short for the bones. Don’t worry, I patched that up. We initially wanted to have the ply even with the tank, but after some thought, we drew up a slightly different design. The tank will have a 1″ flange all around it. Why do you need that? You will all see later.

For scale, here are two LumenArc reflectors, which are 2′x2′ in footprint. The stand dwarfs them, ya think?

Here is Mike, the superhard working grunt, who said one long time ago that he would work for salt. His autocad and building skills are invaluable. Therefore, I will be committed to granting him three times more salt that he requires.

Next up is the sump build. This will be very interesting to document for you all! And STOP THE TXT MSGs. The OMGs, and LOLs, need to stop