I am looking at possibly making the opening on the front of my Perfecto Sedona stand a little bit bigger so that I can easily get the sump that I am going to build in and out of it. Below is a picture of the stand.
I want to take out that center piece of wood between the two doors. With that piece of wood in there, I have no way of getting much more than a 10g aquarium underneath in there. I was planning on building a small frame for the front of the stand to support the weight of the aquarium when it has water and live rock in there. The bad thing is that it kind of takes away some of the space that I was hoping to have at the top of the stand.
My other option would be to just take the bottom of the stand off (it snaps together with this quick twist locks, so it would not be hard). But my only problem would be, if I ever need to pull the sump out in order to add something, or fix something, I wouldn’t be able to lift 55gallons of water and live rock to get the sump out.
What do you all think I should do? Is it smarter just to put the sump in before filling the tank? or modifying the stand to better fit my sump. The more I deal with this stand, I wish I had just built my own stand, or bought a vanity cabinet that would match my kitchen cabinets…
If it is that easy to remove the base I would do that since it will not be visible. Worry about replacing the sump when needed if ever. It looks like a nice piece of furniture I would not remove it unless there was no other way. If the bottom happens to be a problem my second choice would be the rear brace as it is also not visible. If you remove either you can use a pocket joint and glue for a strong joint.
Worse case if you add a large sump and you need to remove the sump in a hurry break the sump!
Since the tank is empty now, couldn’t you pivot a sump in from above by angling it in? I would not take that center brace out as I’m sure that’s integral to supporting the weight of the tank above.
[quote=“johnr3, post:3, topic:1275”]
Since the tank is empty now, couldn’t you pivot a sump in from above by angling it in? I would not take that center brace out as I’m sure that’s integral to supporting the weight of the tank above.[/quote]
Yeah, I can get the sump in though the top or the bottom, and it would be very easy, my main worry would be that if something were to happen and I needed to get the sump out, I would have to empty the 55g tank in order to take the stand apart to get the sump out.
The other thing would be if I have to work on the sump for some reason, like wanting to add a bracket or brace to hold monitoring equipment or something like that, I might need to take the sump out in order to make it easier to modify, but won’t be able to if I need to take the stand apart.
Regardless, it looks like I am going to just insert the sump (once i get it built) through the bottom of the stand, seems to be the easiest thing with no risk of structural integrity to the stand.
Is it a big bathroom - or at least have room for a pretty 29g refugium with which you can explain delicate ecosystems and how they benefit us and how it is essential to conserve our natural resources, cut down on greenhouse gasses, etc while the poop?
A bathroom isnt the best place for a sump. Think of all the cleaners and sprays that are used in a bathroom… you DONT want any of that getting into your system.
I installed my refugium in the basement and drilled holes through the floor to plumb it to the display tank. In my case, under the tank was space challenged and I knew that I didn’t want to be banging my head around in there whenever I needed to play with the refugium. The other advantage is that I can now do my water changes from the basement. I’m not sure whether this is an option for you, but I’m very happy I elected to plumb it to the basement.
I wouldnt cut the center support. It is integral to the integrity of the tank. You could end up with a crack right down the center ot the tank bottom. #@$^
[quote=“johnr3, post:11, topic:1275”]
I installed my refugium in the basement and drilled holes through the floor to plumb it to the display tank. In my case, under the tank was space challenged and I knew that I didn’t want to be banging my head around in there whenever I needed to play with the refugium. The other advantage is that I can now do my water changes from the basement. I’m not sure whether this is an option for you, but I’m very happy I elected to plumb it to the basement.[/quote]
Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to do this. I only have a crawlspace. I have purchased all of my acrylic at this point from E Street Plastics for around $130. I plan on taking a trip up to Kauffmann Glass to get the Weld-On #16 acrylic cement. I already have the #3 on its way from Delvie’s Plastics, along with a sheet of 2’x4’ 1/16" black acrylic that I am using as a background on my main tank.
As soon as I get the tank all put together and ready for water, I will take pictures and post it. I plan on closely following one of the designs the melev uses on his website here: http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html
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