If the cabinets are well made there should be no problem at all, but I would sit the tank on a 20mm 3/4 ins sheet of styrene foam.

Keith

Hi keith:
Thank you. I am lso thinking aboput reinforcing the cabinet with vertical 2x4s.

What does the styrene foam do?

The foam levels out any uneveness in the surface the tank is sitting on. It also acts as a sound and viabration barrier. Styrene is used under 99.9% of tank in Aust.

Keith

One area to be aware of is the "toe kick". Thats the area that over hangs in the front on the bottom. Either reinforce it or set the tank back so it isn't directly over top. Wouldn't want it to topple. 2X4's may not be necessary but 3/4" boards will add alot of stregnth. 3/4" will also make it weigh a little less.

Tanks, hoods and stands are usually priced individually by retailers, so you can just buy the parts you want.

As for supporting a tank on base cabinets; 2 cabinets connected through the frame plates at the top and bottom, will offer greater support than a single long one, as the the two connecting sides create a double wall and will bear twice the weight as would each end.

If the cabinets used as a tank stand are also connected to others, the total weight will be spread out through the countertop and you should have no problem at all.

Presuming your cabinets will be installed properly, which means precision leveling and being bolted to the wall through the back plates before the countertop is installed, a slight portion of the tank sitting forward of the area over the toe kick will also present no problem.

However, unless your kitchen is on a concrete slab, make sure the floor joists below the tank are adequate for the weight.

No kitchen appliance, including an overstuffed upright freezer is likely to weigh as much as 200 gallons of water, plus the gravel in the tank.

Do not presume the joists beneath your kitchen were constructed to hold such weight in one spot: check it out first, to be sure.

All:
Thank you all. Great advice.

I just went to the basement. The joists are standard 2x10s spacing 18 inches apart. Will they hold?

Also, anyone has use myfishtank.com? They have the tank with a built-in filter on the back. Not exactly sure how the thing works but does anyone have experience with this outfit? They want about $1200 for a 125 gallon tank with the filter.

2 x 10s on 16" centers would be more standard than 18" so adding an adjustable steel jack post below where the tank sits would be cheap insurance in relation to the value of your house.

Built in filters operate much the same as in-tanks, but make sure you will be able to access it easily from the front of the tank.

Think about your own height and reach, and how well you will be able to get down into it to service and clean it, because just changing the media isn't enough.

Filters housings need cleaning too, and why no real aquarist will use one that can't be throughly scrubbed out.

Otherwise, you might think about one that sits above the tank, or just go with a sump filter, which is really the best system for any large tank.

With the base cabinets below, you would have plenty of space for a really big sump, and would not have the problem of accessing it for service.

The nicest thing about well designed sumps, is the ability to establish genuine circulation flow, as you can set them up to drain out from the bottom at one end, and pump the water back into the tank through a wide spray bar at the other.

Spraying the return water oxigenates it and with a sump, you can add as many layers of different media as your type of tank needs.

It really depends on what kind of tank you are setting up too, as what is necessary for FW is different than for SW.

My largest show tank is currently a 125, set up as an Amazon tank with 4, interconnected plastic tanks under it as a sump, so for me, the abilty to lay a mesh bag filled with peat into one of them makes all the difference in my ability to keep the water close to the real thing, and I can get them in and out easily, for complete cleanings.

But no filtration system will ever compensate for the fact that it's a closed system, so constant water changes are more important than any other factor.

In fact, a 10% change daily, is far better than 50% weekly.

What kind of tank are you planning; for what kind of fish?