How to swap sumps.

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sparky5785

New member
Ok so my issue is I want a new sump from Will Lutman but I don't know how to get my old sump out and new one in safely. When originally installed the sump entered through the top of the stand but with the tank now running that is not possible.:banghead:

The stand I have is the basic pine slat stand from aqueon my thought is if I knocked out the slats at one end pulled the old one out and slid the new one in and replaced the slats that were removed would that work? What bears the load on these stands? Or would it be better to pull out the slat between two doors? Any help or advice would be awesome? Thanks.:beer:

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Not sure if your stand is similar to mine or not, but the front 3 slats on each side of the front door are not load bearing. This is for my 75G tank. They are purely cosmetic because there is no direct transference of weight from the tank to these slats.
 
I really wish I bookmarked links. I was searching a while ago when I was going to add a sump to an established system and one guy took a handheld jigsaw and cut an access hole through the side panel. He was able to install his new sump through that panel, and also had the capability of removing it anytime he wanted. I can't remember exactly how he reattached the side panel, but he made it look pretty good from what I can remember. I'll take a look and see if I can find a link though.
 
What ever u do make sure ur careful as fawk. Taking or removing a possible load bearing wall with the weight of a tank can be dangerous and catastrophic.

I too saw the one where the guy removed the side panel. If u have a solid piece of wood on the ends of ur stand u can probably cut an access hole with no issues. If ur stand is like mine that uses mulitple pieces of 1by's all around it i would not trust cutting a section out.
 
If you do this, I would get a couple 4x4s and put them in the corners near wherever you cut/remove pieces. That way you at least have something as a backup to bear the load.
 
So I called aqueon today and was told that 1. I could remove the slat where two of the doors meet because its not load bearing 2. Any slat that is stapled in is not load bearing and 3. Mostly the corners bear all the weight. Does any of this sound legit or was it bs?

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sparky5785 said:
So I called aqueon today and was told that 1. I could remove the slat where two of the doors meet because its not load bearing 2. Any slat that is stapled in is not load bearing and 3. Mostly the corners bear all the weight. Does any of this sound legit or was it bs?

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If the slats were load bearing i would hope they aren't stapled lol. And yes, the corners usually carry most of the weight
 
Yeah that sounds good. I would never use staples to hold any load. If you were able to snap photos of the inside of the stand we would be able to tell you for sure if it was load bearing.
 
Here are some pics as requested.

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It looks to me like every slat is just stapled in?

It seems like taking the one slat out between the doors would be easiest to do but harder to support temporarily. Howeved if I took out the three slats at one end it would be a bit more difficult but easier to wedge in two 2x4s in the corners to add support during the swap. What do you guys think?

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I am confused how the corners are supported...are they just the slats or are there 2 x 4's or some other supports?
 
jm23 said:
I am confused how the corners are supported...are they just the slats or are there 2 x 4's or some other supports?
Click to expand...

Nothing but the slats that I saw. I'm almost tempted to go to an lfs and stick my head in a comparable stand to see if its any different

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Not sure what has happened with this but I will be encountering a similar problem soon. I personally would drain the tank into a few clean garbage bins and store the fish in a bucket then have two guys lift the tank up while you swap sumps. Have all the tubing work ready b4. This is the method I will use
 
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