# my 75 gallon tank stand, just finished...hoping for the best



## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

I haven't tested this stand yet. It does not have a support along the back side, the support was designed to be in the 4 corners, for the most part. Anyway, hoping for the best. I should probably get a wet-dry vac in place in case of disaster










oh, and the best part about this stand is I only spent $14 on wood, I had some scrap plywood, glue, and screws already :dancing:


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## gtphale (Oct 12, 2008)

What is it for a 55? Only negative I see is that you didn't support the whole back side of the glass. Not sure why you didn't do that.


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

No, I designed it for a 48x18" aquarium (75,90)... The reason for the partial 4th side is because I was basing my design off of my 90 gallon stand that was commercially manufactured. It has a very similar design. Basically, I believe having the back side partially complete will allow the left and right side to twist in such a way that the bottom rim of the aquarium will be perfectly flush with the stand, whereas any tiny mistake in the design of a 4-sided rectangle would cause problems with the bottom rim of the tank being flush with the top of the stand itself and require shimming.


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

ok, I just filled the tank, everything seems good... water is level, tank is level... hope it works out in the long run


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

here it is, filled, added a half inch of sand  transferred penguin 350 filter over the new aquarium, hopefully the beneficial bacteria survive


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## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

you are going to be find as long as you dont rock the tank back and forth shouldn't have any problems


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

alright, I added a plywood shelf, and I managed to get my 45gallon plastic tote(sump) to fit!!!

I am making a DIY PVC overflow with a new (never tried) design.. I will add pics soon


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

jwal said:


> I am making a DIY PVC overflow with a new (never tried) design.. I will add pics soon


I im really interesting in this- Take lots of pictures- I personally was thinking about doing this with my 55gallon  I guess Ill use this thread to see if I will make one as well opcorn:

oh and JWAL I'm right above you in Kannapolis lol...


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

I spent $20.00 at Lowe's on the PVC parts yesterday. I cut the pieces and now I am ready to cement them together. I'll take some pics


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

Ok, I cemented together the pvc parts (except the intake part I am going to leave friction fit until I fine tune it

Here are two different angles of it, in case one angle isn't clear:


















hope it works well


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

i cant wait to see it all put together

it looks like its coming along well though opcorn:


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

I added a check valve for removing any air bubbles in the siphon section. 
Tomorrow I'm going to finish the sump and drip trays :dancing:


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

I just tested the pvc overflow...the results aren't as good as I had hoped. Only 600 - 650 gph throughput. I sort of thought I could do better than that with this design. Oh well. Maybe I have to rebuild with 1.25" pvc OR use this one and divert away 150-200 gph with a valve...


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## willny1 (Nov 17, 2008)

Lower the wye. As long as the wye is higher than the bottom part in the tank than it will maintain syphon. Also, the greater the distance seemed to increase GPH in my pvc over flow build. I used 1 inch thin walled pvc which had had a smaller i.d. allowing more flow.

Also, some pvc 90's have less i.d. than others. Street pvc is what you want.


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

too late I already cemented that together... I used thin wall 1" pvc but I think it will max out at 650-700 no matter where I put the Wye..

I thought that if I lowered the Wye too much then the water level on the inside of the U inside the tank would be too low, allowing excess air bubbles to enter and pass the bottom of the U


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## willny1 (Nov 17, 2008)

Put the wye about 2 inches above the U that is inside the tank. I had greater flow when I did this on my setup which is similar to yours.

What size pump are you running? Do you know the specs on the pump for head loss?


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

I will be using a pondmaster mag drive 9.5 which supposedly can run at 800 gph @ the head height I will be using, 4 feet. I would guess more like 700-750 since the return has a U bend.

I am considering rebuilding a more simple overflow just using 1.5" pvc pipe, 3 street elbows, 3 regular elbows, and a Wye.

Or should I use 1.25" PVC? :-? I guess the only reason I would choose 1.25" over 1.5" is if the 1.25" PVC is less likely to have air bubble build up in the siphon section. I would prefer to keep that to a minimum just in case the aqualifter pump I will be using the remove the air bubbles ever gets clogged

Also, I believe if I more closely match the drain with the flow of the return pump, the faster flow in the siphon area will help to push small air bubbles through


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

If it's an option, I'd build 2 overflows, each capable of draining the needed amount. For your set up, I think that would be 1.25 PVC. DIY overflows aren't foolproof. Occasionally you lose the siphon, or the intake gets blocked, or the check valve leaks, etc. A back up over flow is cheap and will prevent an unnecessary mess.

In my experience, overflows are quieter at 1/2 speed too. Can't guarantee that's the case for everyone, but that's how it worked for me.

Are you having some sort of guard or anything on the intake to prevent fish from going for a ride? I picked a few cories and a GBR out of my sump before I added a guard.


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## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

There is a plastic mesh with square holes sold in craft shops which works well as a prefilter wrapped around the intake. I'm going to use that. I just finished a 1.5" PVC overflow which will be more than enough for 800 gph. I'll post pics soon.


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