Removing center brace?

Here I am at pet smart and sadly they do not have the 46 bowfront at the price of $269. The one they do have is $353 which includes the MarineLand LED (useless IMO)

So it's back to my original like for the 56 Column. $277 with stand, hood and light. However the stand doesn't leave much room for a sump, as it has a permanent shelf inside, plus it has the glass door :( Anyways here's a pic of the 56 next to the 46.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/17/ypyneve8.jpg

Just the 56
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/17/temujyra.jpg

Just out of curiosity try talking to your local glass shop. I would dare say they could match that price with 3/8 glass and then you could euro brace it. A euro brace is glass strips siliconesd on each end then a strip siliconesd to the front and back panels secured to the strips on each end. Making sense ? Then you could doa cube to your dimensions. Just food for thought.or give Great Lakes a call ! They do great work and are use to shipping tanks even to god's country
Stands are easy to make,gotta have some friends or kin who could make ya one. Redneck engineering is alive and well in da UP ,just on hold tell January.

Great ideas Chuck but theres no way I could afford what your suggesting, period. Espesially from Great Lakes! I'll work with what I can find locally :) But I can ask someone to build me a stand :)

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Originally Posted by MizTanks

Great ideas Chuck but theres no way I could afford what your suggesting, period. Espesially from Great Lakes! I'll work with what I can find locally :) But I can ask someone to build me a stand :)

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Sounds like a plan ! Plenty of time

Maybe just keep your eyes open for a tank on craigslist up there and save a few bucks. How about @2FarNorth , seems like he might have a tank or two laying around.

But I think you should hold out and get what you want. This will be your 3rd upgrade in a few years....get a tank that you know you will be happy with for the long haul. As far as I know there isn't an emergency here...do your research (at places besides PetSmart)...leverage your contacts and something will come up. You can make the trip to Lansing for the swap in two months and prolly negotiate a deal/pickup at swap. @BeakerBob is going to be selling his 75 gallon with custom stand since he is "downgrading". I bet he'd include some extras with it as well. I'm sure Chuck and others could help find something and have it waiting as well.

You AAAAARRRRREEEE coming down to the MCES swap the end of January, right, Jamie? I agree you need a 75 gallon tank. Perfect size for you, not 18 inches wide (which you will hate for trying to set up a reef with any kind of room for fish and moving around) and plenty of room in a stand for a nice sump. Preuss has nice used tanks all the time and we can get you into a super tank for well less than the ones you are less than satisfied with. Maybe you can snag Beaker Bob's tank - has a nice stand and canopy, as well.

Every time someone comes up with a great idea/suggestion I come up with more and more obstacles :( and I'm sorry for real. I almost feel as if I shouldn't even talk about it.

Without getting to personal let me say that every gift I get from myself only comes once a year. Which is totally dependent upon what's most needed at that time. My needs come first. If my Jeep cost to much to fix then there's no upgrade. But the Jeep is a must have! Our house hold has recently lost more then half it's income by way of loss of employment, which means I'm paying more. Need I say more? There will be no swaps for me.

I'm a reefer who will always want a bigger tank, period! I had no idea I'd be like this when I first started. Bet many don't. In all actually I don't know how I've managed to stay in this hobby as long as I have. Aside from the fact I go nowhere, do nothing else and eat a lot of Ramen Noodles and my iPhone :)

I've chosen PetSmart because this is where my gift card is for.

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Originally Posted by chort55

Well if your dead set on upgrading and must go through petsmart, I would go with the cube (less likely to completely blow out) and don't drill it for a sump. Its big enough to upgrade, you can use your HOB fuge, AND you can still maintain it with water changes and not really need a skimmer IMO (yes a skimmer would be better but make due with what you have) and save the money for livestock.

Any upgrade will incur costs for more rock, sand, possibly lights, fish and of course coral, just don't over do it with fish and you will be ok.

That said.. you may be able to find someone willing to trade the giftcard for a better tank.

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+1 on 56g cube and HOB fuge.can you get the tank and stand without the lights and save a few bucks? they gonna be single/double brights and like you said useless.

I was thinking of the Octopus BH-1000 as a HOB skimmer for the 56, rated for tanks up to 100g. It has an external pump so nothing in-tank, also surface skims. I've reviewed good things about it.
I would initially keep the HOB fuge but only until I get an under tank fuge. I measured the stand and there would be room enough for a standard 15g.
I saw this guys video who made a DIY in-tank over flow. Pretty cool and looks like something I could do. Without drilling tank :)
Anyways those are just a few ideas. Most likely to change...who knows?