125 Gal. bench stand bilud.

wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
Today we started Clown101'a 125 gallon bench stand. I snapped a few pics along the way. The frame measures 72" x 26"x 36" tall. The bench detaches and will be a wet area with a hinged seat theat folds up. The compartment inside will accommodate easily 3 10 gals. for QT, ATO and Water change. It'll have a 55 gallon fuge. This is a copy off my stand for my 135. Except my bench doesnt not detach and will have a custom acrylic wet compartment encompassed in the entire bench area, for a few different reasons.

First pic is Clown101 chipping out the dead wood on the 4 front and back pieces.

Second is the main stands frame assembled and plywood top on. With the bench's bottom frame sitting on top of it.
Third is the inside of the stand. You can see there will be a lot of room under there. With all the 2X4's joined together the way the they are.
4th the bench sitting in front of the stand the way it will be when finished. With one 10 gallon sitting inside it.
5th The seat sitting on the bench. This will be hinged.




 
t316

t316

Active Member
Sounds really cool, but I'm a little lost....the big section is the tank? And the smaller section is for all of the extra's? And this is a bench...for sitting on? Show a pic of your setup so I can see what's going on.
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
Here's mine. His tank is actually the one you see in these pics. I sold it to him when I upgraded to the Oceanic RR 135. My bench compartment doesn't currently have the wet area in it. Nor does the bench lift up. But it will soon. His will have 3 10 gallon tanks set inside the bench. Mine will be acrylic "wrapped " on the inside. With dividers as necessary.

 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
The bench is for sitting on, yes. But mostly as the tanks its 5 foot off the ground to the top it allows easy access to it, as well as is a nice extra.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Very cool. This clears up the visual. Really nice idea

In the last set of pics, what is that rock? Doesn't look like lr, but more like boulders.
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
There is some limestone rocks in it. The tank itself, now, has about 100lbs limestone, 80 lbs baserock and 30lbs LR.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Sorry, couldn't tell from the photo's. Just looked like boulders from the yard, not pourous rock like most photos you see on here. Good setup though.
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
That pic only shows when it had mostly limestone.
This is rock harvested from a recent excavation nearby here. So it's not real porous. Hardly at all as a matter of fact. There was some BR in there as well as a little LR. But since then it's gotten some more BR and LR. Really limestone is just dense BR. It's calcium carbonate rock. It's just there as a "filler" so to say, but also aids in biofiltration as surface area. Coraline grows on it, it just looks smooth and doesnt match the amount of surface area as does BR or LR. I dont believe that it aids in nitrate reduction either, but it does have it's uses. Mostly, it helps the pocketbook.
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
Of course anyone can build one!
We'll be finishing it up this weekend. I'll post some more pics when it's done.
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
looks good, the bench is a good idea, I always have to drag out a step stool when I get in the tank, which seems to be all the time.
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
More progress made today as it was WARM!
Here its all skinned out, seat on with piano hinge.

We left 1/4in around the stand so the bech can float independantly of the stand.

Heres the piece we made wich hides the gap. It's attached to the bench, not the stand and just conceals the gap.

Then the routing began.

 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
Arm rests rounded and routed

Doors all on an ready for sanding and finishing.

Bench up!

Doors open, 2 of the 4 tens in the bench(will be 3 in bench, one in stand), and the 55 that will be a flow to center design sump.

From the side
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
Thanks!
Next is the sump build. Then the plumbing and prewiring electrical. The bench will have 2 10gall. for water changes and a 10 for QT. Then there will be a 10 for ATO in the stand with the 55 sump/fuge.
 
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