Stand for a Big Tank

[IMPERATORFAN]

Has anyone out there had any experience with constructing a stand? I've been scouring the web looking for stand designs and nearly every one I find is based on a 2x4 or 4x4 frame. I'm a little concerned about going this route because 1) these boards take up a good bit of interior space and 2) most of the weight of the aquarium is resting on the wood screws in most of these designs. I was hoping to build something that resembles the stands you'd find in your LFS. The ones I have seen are typically made from 1" thick boards or plywood and there are few if any woods screws involved. They appear to be held together with staples, brad nails, and wood glue and are usually made of white pine, maple or oak.

Are brad nails and wood glue sufficient for the enourmous weight of an aquarium? Does anyone have any designs they could share? Has anyone ever had a stand break on them?

I'm going to be building a stand for a 150 (approximately 1200 lbs)

Thanks
Scot

 

[jerejohnson]

you can check out http://www.garf.org/tank/buildstand.asp, it can help you. i have a 220 gal and my stand (came w/) is built out of 2x1's and it holds fine there is only 6 supports that hold the majority of the weight, the 4 corners and 2 in the middle, the ends of the tank are supported the most

 

[sw-addict]

You cant build a stand for a 150g the same way a a stand for a 55g salt water weighs more then fresh and your not including the weight of live rock and sand, unless your planning bare bottom with no lr. I would build it the way that your seeing plans for and whatever you do do not use brad nails and wood glue. Use the longest deck screws you can without going through the other side of the wood and if your going to glue something use liquid nails. with a tank that size you will have plenty of room under the stand. My avatar is a diy 120g!

 

[SquishyFish]

I have built 3 different aquarium cabinets and several other large furniture pieces. I can try and help.

First...if your doing a stand for anything over a 75, I would strongly encourage you to at least use 2x4 uprights. They are not going to take up much room and the strength that they will give the stand far out weighs any small amount of space they may take up. If you want to use brad nails, I would also use a good glue (but this is not the reccomended way to do it). Personally, I would use the screws, counter sink them..wood putty the holes and then use the molding to hide them. Obviously you would have to plan ahead where to put the screws if the trim is going to hide them. Then take the brad nails and tack it down everywhere else. Why dont you draw up your basic design and pm it to me and I will see if I can help.

Squishy

 

[Cesspool]

hehehe personally i dont trust dem lfs stands im almost positive dat if i gave it a good boot it would fall apart. a DIY stand made of 2x4s is as solid as u can get. i mean u can snap a 1x3 over ure knee with ease try it wit a 2x4 and ud break ure leg. i built a stand wit my lil bro for a 155 with just using nails, wood glue, 2x4s and plywood. u still have plenty of room in the inside and it can hold up more than n e thing u put on it
hth

 

[fishfreek]

I'm going to be building a stand for a 150 (approximately 1200 lbs)

Um... thats fairly light for a 150. Thats only 8lbs a gal. Thats the weight of the water alone before adding salt to it.

A more realistic weight would be over 2000lbs.

Remember you have water, salt, rock, sand, corals (big corals are heavy), fish, lights, canopy, other assorted items. All on your stand. Then you have the weight of the stand all on your floor.

 

[IMPERATORFAN]

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to go with oak plywood for the main part of the frame and then attach 4x4's in each corner and 2x4's in the middle. I'll use wood screws, glue, and brads to connect. This should be pretty solid (I HOPE). Then I'll finish the exterior with solid oak and oak play.

I saw another post where someone was asking about the max height of the stand. I'm shooting for 3 feet. Anyone see a problem with that?

I'm attaching a sketch of what I hope this thing ends up looking like. Any other tips/considerations appreciated.

 

[IMPERATORFAN]

I don't think I managed to attach the file. Trying again.

 

[IMPERATORFAN]

Uncle!

 

[duaumun]

Make your own or have it custom made. BTW, love your icon!!!!

 

[Cesspool]

looks good to me, id love to c da finished product. dont think heigth matter much its just preference i think, but id think ud want it at least high enuf to house a tall skimmer.