s76rick's 75 gal Rimless Build

After a year of reading, research, asking questions and buying equipment I'm finally almost ready to fill my tank up with water and start cycling.

I picked up my stand earlier this week. It's a custom made ADA knock-off I had a friend build for me at his wood-working factory. The stand is made entirely of African Mahogany. The doors and shell are 3/4" laminated slats. The inner supports are 2x4's and the back wall is 1/4" board. Hardware is just basic European cabinet hinges from HD and the leveling feet are heavy duty rated at 600 lbs each.

Pardon the dust and picture quality- they are phone pics. I'll dig up the digital camera for the next batch.

Any comments and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all of you who have answered my newbie questions so far... Here we go.

 

From what I can see from the images it looks to be well made. I think ADA systems are very attractive.

Do you already have the tank?

Congratulations on one step closer.

 

Looks really nice. I would be cautious using those leveling feet, regardless of what weight they're rated for. A 75 gallon will weight ALOT more than than 600 lbs. According to a quick calculation, the water alone will weight 626 lbs and thats not including the weight of the sump, sump water, pumps, lights, tank itself, actual stand, I'm guessing 75 lbs live rock, etc..If one of them gave out, or the screws attaching them loosened from the weight, the whole stand could shift and crack the tank.

That's my opinion anyways. Just something to think about, as i know i would constantly be worrying about those holding up. Can't wait to see it setup.


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Thanks for the kind words and comments Corailline and Don.

Yes, I do have the tank. It's a Deep Blue 75 Edge. I hope to fill it up this evening. I'll post more pics tonight when I get out of work.

The leveling feet are industrial use not just average home furniture type and there are 4 so the weight will be distributed across all of them giving me 2400 lbs of headroom. In all honesty I am still a little bit concerned about the feet but the floor where I'm putting the tank is like something out of a funhouse.

This is my first time doing this so I really appreciate the comments and any advice.

More later...

 

I like the stand. Can we get a picture of the tank? This sounds like it will be a cool build. K+.

 

I'm with Don on the feet. I would ditch them an level the stand were it is going to sit with solid shims right under the feet. I'll be watching. Good luck with the build.

 

I'm going to recess the feet completely and see how it sits on the floor just on the base of the stand. I haven't tried that yet and it would be dumb not to before I get the tank on it.

The feet are on an L shaped bracket that supports the bottom of the leg of the stand and there are barbs that are hammered in to the wood as well as a few wood screws to fasten it on. All that said, I would feel more comfortable actually having seen these feet at work in a similar application with a similar load. Any engineers on today that would like to chime in?

 

Thanks for the kind words Seano. I'll have pics of the tank up tonight if I don't drink to much beer after work today If not, tomorrow.

Thanks for the well wishes and advice Peppie.

 

Nice looking start, I agree with Don on the feet.

 

Thanks 2 in 10.