New Tank Set-up

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

Just moved into a new place and will finally be setting up my 100 gallon tank. I was planning on an in-wall set-up and have been trying to figure out what I should use to frame it in. Will 2x4's be sufficient support for that much water? I plan on having the top pieces lying on their "side" so that they will be 1.5" wide and 3.5" tall. This worked pretty well for the 55 gallon cabinet I framed so I figure why mess with a good thing!

I don't have either the 55 or the 100 up and running with anything yet, we had been waiting to be done the move before we filled them up. The original plan was that the 55 would be the SW tank and the 100 would go FW. Now my wife has decided to "allow" the 100 gallon to go Salty (probably due to the discovery that the fish she really likes won't fit in our 55, but whatever the motive I'm not complaining!!!). Anyways... We went out and bought a 36" HO T5 light before we decided to consider putting the 100 into salt, thinking it would work perfectly for the 55 (44" long). I want a softy/lps tank (SPS are a little intimidating right now) and was thinking I could put the T5 over the 100 and keep softies and mushrooms on the sides where it's darker and have the more light hungry stuff in the 3 feet directly under the light. I know I'll have to do a test run to really know but does it sound remotely reasonable or am I way out to lunch with this fixture (If I have to upgrade the lights I'll probably just keep the 100 as a FW Tank)

Wow... didn't mean to get so side-tracked with the light thoughts but there you go!! Anyways, all input is welcome but building the stand is my priority right now!

Cheers