The begining of my 50 gallon SW tank

[diesel359]

Hello all, I just bought a brand new 50 gallon tank this weekend from a old guy on the other side of town. I had been in his garage for some time and never been used. The stickers were still on it! I has a complete top with a lighting hood. Hood has 2 ft. bulbs. I bought this whold set-up for $100 bucks!, wow

I was going to build my own tank, so I checked on the price of 1/4 glass. It was $5 bucks a square foot, crap. If you do the math on this size tank, it takes 30 square feet of glass. Thats 150 bucks plus tax. So I got a complete tank with woodgrain trime, fully sealed top, and a lighting hood for 100 dollars. Thats 50 bucks cheaper than just buying the glass.
Here are some pics of my tanks and hood, still dirty from his garage. The stand under the tank is what I custom built this weekend to support it. It took seven 8 foot 2x4's. The part that the tank sits on has five braces in the center and under the tanks is 3/4 inch high density board. All in all it cost under 30 bucks to build this stand including the nails. I'm going to finish it wil 3/4 oak plywood to match the tank. It is $42 bucks a sheet and all I need is one. So a grand total on the stand $30 for the structure frame, $42 for the oak plywood, and around $10 for stain and clear. Total for stand $82 bucks.
So now I have my set up for this summers project: 50 gallon tank and oak stand for $182
If anyone wants more info on the build let me know and I will send them to ya.
Ideas anyone? I will start with around 40 # of live rock on a deep sand bed. I not sure about fish yet. I want fish, inverst, other things

 

[drewsta]

Looks good you got a great deal

You might want to change out the lighting if you want to have corals. Look around for a while for a light you can find good deals just check the auction site. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[some1fishy]

Just a heads up, the framing looks good, but you didnt take into consideration the weight of the water. How tall is your stand? eason being, water in a higher stand can be top heavy. I am a construction manager and just by viewing it, you may want to consider checking out the the tank filled with water before you finish it off. Try filling it with freshwater and see how top heavy it is. It just loos too tall to support the top heavy water. You are talking about 400 lbs of water plus rock and equipment and sand. Almost 500 plus lbs. I dont want to see your hard work topple over on ya!
Just a suggestion and gret job on going at it yourself! Thats being frugal and custom in one!
Good luck.

 

[diesel359]

thanks for the input!! The stand is 36" tall. Do you think it will make the tank top heavy. The tank width is 12.5" so I made my stand 16" wide to have a bigger footprint than my tank. I thought this was maybe enought to counter that. Please let me know. thanks greg