Question about stand size

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M

MurfQ

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Hey Everyone,

I just bought a 25 Gallon tank to replace my 10 Gallon that my goldfish have long since outgrown. I've been searching, without a lot of success for a pre-made stand. I finally found one that says it accomodates most 29 Gallon tanks (so I know the weight won't be an issue) the problem is, the stand is 29 1/2" long and my tank is 31 1/2" long, which means that my tank would stick out an inch on each side of the stand. I'm wondering if that would be a problem? Is it ok to have the tank sticking out on each end? The width is more than enough so most of the bottom would still be supported. It's a glass aquarium by the way. I would appreciate your opinions as soon as possible as I don't want to put the stand together and then decide it's no good.

Thanks,
Cindy
 
I would not risk it. Get a friend or family member to cut a 3/4" piece of plywood and cut it to the exact size of the bottom side of the tank. You will sleep better at night!
 
stand

All the weight of a glass aquarium is supported on the edges of the bottom. So the ends would in effect be without support beneath. You may get away with it, but it will likely cause leaks, at the least, over a period of time.

Generally plywood to support a tank larger than a stand is not advised ...... but with an inch it may be okay. I have never tried this, anyone out there with experience doing this??
 
I wouldn't do it. Keep searching for a bigger stand with more room on each side or possibly modify the stand with an additional piece of wood on each side.
 
Thanks for your input everyone. In the end I decided to go with odessadude's advice and got my brother to cut out a piece of 3/4" plywood for me the size of my tank. I spray painted it black (to match the trim and stand) and have the water in my tank now.

I'm fairly confident that this won't cause any problems since the weight should be distributed now, it only sticks out about an inch on each side, and the stand was designed to handle the overall weight. I'll definitely let you know though if it should happen to spring a leak. Hopefully, that is news I will never have to announce.

And now it's time for my first ever attempt at cycling a tank. When I set up my 10G, I didn't even know there was such a thing...
 
please be aware that you might be headed for a potential disaster. i'd go with FF and JL, and look for a larger stand. over a period of time, the glass might just shatter due to a buildup of stresses.
 
Over time, that plywood will bow - the edges will drop, and the middle will rise. If the middle rises enough to touch the bottom of your tank (which is bowing downwards), then you will have an VERY big mess on your hands - the bottom of your tank can crack/shatter.
 
I'm not sure I follow the concerns here. Why would the plywood bow with about 250 pounds sitting on it and only about a 1" overlap on the ends, the rest being supported by the stand? It's not like all the weight of the aquarium is going to be on the ends? If it will cause the plywood to bow, why wouldn't it cause the stand to do the same, after all surely 3/4" plywood is just as strong as the 3/4" particle board that makes up the stand?
 
ALL of the weight from the tank is on the unsupported edges of the plywood - ALL OF IT. The force is NOT spread evenly over the surface. The very edge of the stand, where the plywood sits, acts as a fulcrum for that force. The edges go down, the center goes up. The wood bows.

This is simple high school physics. That wood WILL bow over time. Not today, not tomorrow, but down the road the edges will drop and the center will rise.

The stand is constructed so that all of the load bearing structure is under the edges of the stand's top. This means that the weight of a tank will be directly supported by the structure, not offset like the oversized plywood top. And if the stand isn't constructed that way, get rid of it.
 
3/4 inch plywood with the edges of the tank on it. Evenly distributed all the way around is not going to bow significantly. It is only 300 lbs. Even all the way around not that much weight on any edge. It is inside so humidity shouldn't be a huge factor I just dont forsee a problem. A few screws on the edges and a couple in the center. It is a 29 gallon tank so the peice of plywood is only 30 inches long.
 
I don't mean to sound like a know it all. Obviously I don't, or else I wouldn't have come here looking for advice in the first place. But I definitely have to disagree with that statement. Not the one about it bowing (as I honestly don't know for sure if it will or not), but the one about ALL of the weight being on the unsupported edges of the plywood. It isn't possible for all of the weight of the tank to sit on the two ends (I took high school physics too). Some of the weight sits on the ends, but some of it also sits on the lengthwise edges of the tank, which are supported by the stand.
 
If only the very ends are hanging off, and the front and back are on the stand, there should not be a problem. The weight that is pressing down along the front and back edges should be more than enough to keep the plywood from bowing. If the wood was hanging off on all four edges then I could see the problem. The "center" of the plywood should not come up because the front and back edges will be applying a greater torque on the wood than the ends by a great deal.
 
OK, maybe I missed something. If only the ends of the plywood are unsupported then it should be OK. I was under the impression that the overhang was all the way around. If that's wrong, I appologize for making a stink over the issue.
 
That's what I was thinking sabbott. And yes, the front and back are supported by the stand. The depth of the stand was more than enough for my tank. It was just the length that fell slightly short.
 
No problem src, no need to apologize. I appreciate your concern and effort to help me avoid disaster anyway. And yes, it is just the ends that are overhanging. The front and back fit with room to spare.
 
Right, I'll definitely do that. After I get the fishies transferred over. First of all, I've got to work my way through this whole cycling thing. This is all totally new to me. When I got my 10G, I had never heard of cycling and stuck like 4 fish in there the day I set it up and 2 more a day or so later. I reckon it's a miracle any of them survived.
 
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