As if I don't have enough living creatures at this house, I'm going to add more. I've always wanted to try and maintain a saltwater fish tank, so I'm taking a stab at it. After putting a fresh water tank in at the office and remembering how relaxing it is to watch, I decided to take the plunge (well, not literally). As I was shopping for stands, I was noticing the poor quality 1/4" chipboard that they were constructed from. Since salt water weighs 8.5 pounds per gallon, and I'm figuring I'll have at least 70 gallons or so after all the rock and stuff is in, plus the weight of the rock, and the tank... I'm looking at a pretty heavy load. And I'm pretty sure I'd have to freak right out if I got it all up and running only to have the stand collapse.
Looking at the price of those cheap stands, too, I was pretty sure I could build my own for less or at least close to what the stores were charging. I did some online research to get some ideas and the project took off. I figured I have about 15 hours invested in this thing, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. There are a few spots that I resanded that I need to touch up with paint, but I think it's looking good. It's pretty sturdy. I'm feeling like you could probably park and elephant on it and it wouldn't break. Now to start collecting all the stuff I need to get this thing set up. It's amazing, with the research I've been doing, how involved this saltwater thing is. It's basically like maintaining a really complicated hot tub. With living things inside.
I'll keep the progress posted!
