Cantilevered Tank Stand

I just moved into a new house and am going to be setting up either my 90 or 125 gallon tank as a reef. I want to do something a little "different" on this and had the bright idea of cantilevering the stand out of the wall.

I had a structural engineer come in and he told me it's doable by putting I-beams vertically into the wall then having additional I-beams cantilevered from them out into the room.

The good news is that I've got a closet behind the wall (that my fiancee has let me have half of so I don't need the stand to house equipment. Additionally, behind the closet wall is the drain/water end of a bath tub so I can plumb in water for an RO/DI unit as well as have a drain for water changes.

See diagram:



Considerations:

- Metal in the stand - been there, done that (with stainless), said I'd never do it again with salt water. Though engineer assures me that we can coat the I-beams in polyeurathane to ensure no corrosion.

- Piping under the tank will be hidden by a wooden facade that is about 8 inches or so high.

- How many nights sleep will I lose dreaming of a tank smashing to the floor?

- I don't want a standard canopy top. We've got a little bit of an older house and I'm considering mounting metal halides in antique-looking aluminum housings. Anyone seen anything applicable?

- Maintenance should be a breeze with easy access to equipment in the closet.

- How many nights sleep will I lose with my fiancee's voice in my head complaining of losing half of the guest room's closet?

Anyone ever see a setup resembling this? If so, what are your experiences?

 

I think When I go bigger I will do something very similar. Great design. Its one of the first Fugs I've seen that will not use a pump to bring water back to the main tank therefore not chewing up any pods that flow to the main tank.

Sweet design, I hope you have a camera to document the Build

J

 

My first refugium went with this concept and I've never done anything else. In my opinion one of the main reasons to have one is to get live food back in the tank for your corals. If you're killing 75% or more of the critters coming out of it then you're dramatically reducing its effectiveness.

I was amazed at how much better my corals grew after I added my first refugium.

My main issue with this one is that since it's in a closet I need to figure out a way to support the weight - can the top shelf support a few hundred pounds? The other bummer is that due to the positioning of the closet, the output is going to be very close to one of the overflows, though I suppose I could plumb for a little bit along the back of the tank before dropping it in.

Darren

 

Don't know if you can make it work but I have to give you karma for the design.

 

My pods go from my fuge to my sump and then up to my tank and I gets lots of pods flowing through without being chewed up. My fish love it.

Nice design!!!!!!!!!!