• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Stands

Jocco

Vampyroteuthis
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Dec 21, 2014
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386
Location
Staten Island, NY
Hello!

We've been reading along for a month or so. We are starting to gather our tank and have been looking into stands.
The stands for a 55gal tank seem to be a bit expensive - like any good shopper - we were looking up alternatives.

Although we would love to build one, it is winter in NYC and that isn't an option right now.
Next guess was Home Depot for a wire or metal rack made for a garage or kitchen and such... heavy duty etc.
600lbs is quite a weight load, and I do not want that water all over my living room, eep.

I called my LFS and they said NO WAY, the tank will be too heavy.
But they also say it isn't as complicated as I'm reading here...which...well...I don't want to say they're wrong, I don't do this for a living, but um, it seems a little more tricky then how they're wanting to set me up.

Are they trying to make another buck on me?

Jackie
 
Are they trying to make another buck on me?
Glad you posted! Thanks for joining TONMO.

Seems like an astute observation to me. I'm not a ceph-keeping expert... and we're not in this for the money (obviously).... but I know this much, just from running the site: keeping a cephalopod is not something one should take lightly. They are highly intelligent creatures requiring careful management. The concept of replicating an ocean environment in one's living room is a pretty astounding, when you think about it... and only the most disciplined tank owners should consider bringing a cephalopod into their homes. If you get the foundation right, the rewards of ceph-keeping are quite striking, from what I've seen. But setting the foundation properly is not an endeavor that should be simplified. My :twocents:.

Good luck! I'm sure others here with more experience can offer more pointed advice.
 
We want to do this right, but we also want to be smart about what we spend on. I know the foundation is of the up most importance. We just don't see the structural difference between the tank stands we see in our LFS and Home Depot. When the range is anywhere between $50 and $500, we don't want to cheap out for such an important piece but there must be a happy medium :smile:
Thanks for the quick responses! They gave us these sites today
All Glass Aquarium
Marineland Perfecto
R & J Enterprises

One thing I forgot though - wood gets wet - it swells - becomes useless - so now I'm a tad worried about ANY wood stand.

Now what?
 
Hi, and welcome to the site!

The idea of looking for a used stand is a good one.

Home Depot isn't a good place to look for stands. Some people have gone to unfinished furniture stores and bought sturdy tables there. You can stain and varnish the table or stand. This might be your compromise.

Bear in mind that metal can rust and probably isn't available in a sturdy enough configuration to be used for a heavy aquarium

My large aquarium is on a matching stand which appears to be black plastic, but actually has a sturdy wood frame underneath.

Hope this helps.

Nancy
 
Hi! Thankies for the welcome!
We are long time octo lovers, first time tank owners. Both of us are VERY excited for this new hobby and lil beastie!

We were researching stands. At first the LFS said the desk I had was fine (had the tank delivered as an xmas gift for my guy). But we ended up not wanting to give up the desk.

Wood, was our first go to, but saw prices, and then a dyi build (winter here now). Then metal. Went to the LFS and saw both. And since have been warned away from home depot. We are ok with that. Wood, I cannot fix if it gets too wet etc, metal I can hide and sand/paint the rust.

I figure the tank will be disturbed more often than the average tank, (feeding, water changes) thus more drips etc.

In all of your opinions, am I thinking too far into the stand?

I'll save my tank post when I have the list of what I ordered so far, on that forum category.

Jackie (Rocco might post too :smile:
 
Support is the major concern and much of the shelving now available in the hardware stores won't support the weight. Stands designed for an aquarium (regardless of the exterior acrylic or wood finishes) will have heafty bracing. Older wooden desks (non-veneer with real wooden supports) make decent stands if you can find the right size for your tank, newer IKEA kit style units, not so much. The finish WILL get water exposure so if you go with a piece of furniture you will need to protect the finish. I suggest a counter top type laminate on the top and a good coat of marine varnish over the exterior (difficult in winter).

Another alternate would be to look for kitchen cabinets. You would not want a single cabinet (vs two or three) though as the support span won't support the weight. This alternate works well if you can find the sizes you need as you can have a set of drawers that are handy. You will still want to add water protection even to a finished cabinet but a normal counter top will fit (assuming it fits the width of your tank) and the top would not need additional protection.

You can build a sturdy frame with 2x4's (check on spacing of studs and cross braces for support) and use a wooden top with a water proof laminate or acrylic (or find counter topping in the Home Depot that was returned or miss-cut) then add a decorative exterior later if this appeals to you (be sure to design it for retrofitting sides, doors and allow access if it will have a back (often they are backless but this will expose your walls to water and salt if you are planning to have a sump - recommended - in the lower section. Acrylic is expensive and can scratch but is relatively easy to cut (or have cut to your specifications) and edges sand easily by hand.
 
I definitely thought too much into it, if a laminate can "solve" the issue. I've been reading for almost 2 months now and a good bit of the lingo still sounds like another language but I'm diving in (ha, see what I did there? ohh I amuse myself hahaha) ok, but seriously, I want to create a great environment.
Since my other hobby is work, and occasionally I'll crochet a blanket, I am looking forward to breaking into aquarium keeping. Aquatics? Tankestry? Tankanomics? Aquaforuma? Fishkeeping? Cephtopology?
... I don't know which one is correct, if any... but this is fun. :smile:
 
Hi Jocco,

Welcome :smile:

I don't know if you have a tank already, but if you don't I would like to recommend this tank as it comes with a stand that is rated to support the tank. I've found it to be ideal for keeping an octopus, and has room underneath to keep the sump or other equipment out of site. It's $250 at the moment but regularly goes down in price to $200 and sometimes even $150.

I'm also based in NYC (LES), and may be able to offer some local assistance down the road.
 
Be careful when you read my term laminate. I was explicitly referring to counter top material that is designed to get wet. Typical veneer is NOT suitable for warding off water damage.
 
@JingoFresh Thanks for the tank/stand suggestion, but we did get a tank with an overflow box built into one of the corners. We will mesh or sponge over it. The tank itself is long and rectangular. We have the flat top with the hinges, and the strong clips to help prevent escaping. I will post the tank in another thread; don't want to hijack my own with tank talk when it is actually supposed to be about the stand.

@DWhatley Ohhh... ok... those are cheap, and a cool fix too... adds color to an otherwise boring stand. Thanks!
 
Alrighty! It is starting to come together finally! Snafu a plenty.

First we had to play tetris with stuff we already owned to make room for the tank and stand. TLFS brought the wrong tank initially. It was a regular tank where everything would be hanging out of the top... we read and told them we couldn't do it because the ceph would escape! Now we have a tank with an overflow box in it. We put mesh over the top and secured it, but there are slits in it - I'm guessing they need to be ceph proofed too. And a hole around the output thingie hose water ejector... that needs to be patched up.

Then we had to get a stand. The one I bought off Amazon was far too wobbly for anyone's comfort... and had to wait for stand #2. Thankfully I can return it to a Petco and get credit.

What to spend the credit on... we're not sure... but I'm sure there will be something. We just want the most bang for our buck.


TLFS dudes just left after setting up the stand, heater, tank, sump, sand, salt, and water! Tomorrow we're going to get live rock, hermits, snails and fish. We don't want to stare at an empty tank for 2-3 months. They said they would exchange or take back the fish when it was ceph time. I'd let the ceph have its way with the fish... but I don't want to stress the lil'un out.

We didn't set up the protein skimmer, going to wait for the last month. They're also getting us another top. We'll put weights on it. We also have the light without the red filter.


Check'er out!

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LOL, setting up a tank CAN be fun but HAVING to set one up - not so much.

You don't need red lights during the day but if you end up with a nocturnal you will want one. If your light is removable and sits on a clear plate, you might eventually consider replacing it with a free standing LED set up (still hard to find one that will do both blue/white and then all red for night.

It will be awhile (about a month) before you can add fish or other critters (snails might be possible sooner but they don't add much interest). The first cycle will kill just about everything so you need to get through your initial ammonia->nitrite->nitrate conversion and wait until you see 0 on both the lethal ammonia and nitrite. I recommend good adding good live rock, interesting clean up crew and overfeeding the scavengers rather than adding fish. Fish hardy enough to survive in a newly cycled tank tend to be the most aggressive, the hardest to catch and the most stressful on an octopus if they are not removed. Additionally, most "cycle" fish will have been treated with a copper based medication to prevent/cure ich and makes them deadly for invert consumption (never feed freshwater fish to a ceph as pet store feeders are always treated this way).
 

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