Tank Stand questions on supporting members

[pentiumburner]

On the custom stand that I have that will be supporting a 125 Gallon FW tank I was curious as to other's on supportive considerations. The tank is a 6 foot X 20 X24 with a custom pine stand purchased at the same time the tank was.

The tank itself sits on the stand and has solid support around it,s perimeter, sitting on solid wood. The bottom of the tank is the area I have a question on.

There are braces every few feet approx every 2 that go the length of the stand. As well there are uprights as well that support on the peripheral edges. I have read that some people will place the tank on another solid sheet of wood to add support. Is this over kill? I also do not want an out of balance tank the tank is perfectly balanced in every respect at this time.

Before I refill this bad boy (and I have once already to rinse it out, I want to be sure that I have the best support possible. Any suggestions are welcome, and I do have a thread in the FW setting up forum called thought this would be interesting as I am going to catalog and give a play by play on the setups and any pitfalls I encounter to help out someone in the future.

Thanks again!!

[StngStr]

you can't have TOO much support. But, an out of balance tank has the potential to eventually leak. If you can add more support AND keep the tank balanced...that's ideal.

[jsoong]

Actually, a solid sheet under a glass tank won't add anything to the strength. The glass tank is supported entirely on its perimeter & the bottom glass should never touch bottom or it might crack.

The only time when you need a solid sheet under a tank is with acrylic. On a glass tank some people will put a thin sheet of foam insulation under it, both for insulation and to even out tiny imperfections in the wooden rails.

[Andyvette]

A couple of suggestions

1- Polystyrene foam on all 4 corners between stand and aquarium. What this does is allow the weight to be distributed evenly.

2- Dont use huge rocks that can move (if you stack- glue them!), if one falls, the pressure can make the tank explode. Just a FYI

[fishfreek]

As was said there is no need to support the entire bottom surface. If you notice the glass itself is set up from the bottom of the tank slightly. So adding a shet of ply under the entire tank will do nothing that the current stand is already doing. Thats supporting the foursides.

What you can do is put a sheet of ply thats like 5/8" thick cut to size on the floor adn then put the stand on this. That can help spread the load of the legs out over the entire sqfootage of the stand vs having it on just 4 or 8 legs.

Not sure what you want as far as substrate and how deep but what we in the Salt side do is burry rocks in a sand bed and then build our rockwork up on the base rocks that are down in the sand. You want to avoid any pressure points on the glass. If you do that your tank will last for a very long time.

[pentiumburner]

Thanks to everyone. I will keep an eye on the substrate and any rocks added. So far the tank is looking to be set up the week of the 20th.