How much weight can my dresser hold?

[Helloelliee]

Okay so I have a solid oak wood dresser that's probably 6 ft long or so. It's a short really long dresser. How much weight do you think it could hold?

[TWEDM1]

Yo if you gotta ask just spend 50 bucks or so and get a iron stand and only use the table for breeder or nursing tanks. Last thing u need is a rotted or worped table holding up vibrating 200 pound water filled glass tank.

Good luck tho if you insist on a numerical estimate over advice post a pic and I'll let you kno

[absolutangel04]

Sit on it. Thats how I check my tank stands. Sit on it and see what you think. Get a friend to sit on it too. Ask somebody to watch and see if it buckles.
You can also take out the drawers and look at how it has been put together, but I also suggest sitting on it.

[Koikid88]

How are we supposed to give you a definitive answer? All we can tell you is look it over, see how it's built, and test it out if you think it's sturdy enough.
Honestly, a lot of the wood stands that LFS sell with their tanks are not well made. I bought my first tank/stand combo recently for a 90g bowfront, and I looked at the stand like, really? This is going to hold up 1000 lbs? I made a table in grade 9 with more structural support.
Yet the warranty states, if the tank malfunctions while on a stand OTHER than one of their own (******) stands, it is void.

Since the dresser is low to the ground, that's a good start (especially for bigger tanks). 6ft long, how many legs does it have? 4 on the corners and 2 in the middle? If it doesn't have support in the center, I wouldn't put anything too weight bearing on it as it would most likely bow over time.

[jcolon]

Originally Posted by Helloelliee

Okay so I have a solid oak wood dresser that's probably 6 ft long or so. It's a short really long dresser. How much weight do you think it could hold?

I'd say a low solid oak dresser or even a solid oak coffee table can hold
up to a 20L Gal. Most dressers that have legs at the corners focus the weight in a small area which is why I wouldn't do anything larger than 20gal long.

After that, you want a proper aquarium stand ... which some funny enough do not look like they can possibly hold the weight of the tanks they advertise. However, aquarium stands are designed to properly support the weight at the corners and distribute the overall weight evenly at the base.

[LyndaB]

Save yourself a whole lotta grief, get a real fish tank stand.

[adadkins1]

I will just say that I have kept a 20 tall and a 5.5g on my dresser(at the same time). It didn't even phase the furniture, I was more worried about the floor. Everything held fine, except my dresser was tall so I always had to get a chair to do maintenance. I would say it depends on the size tank you are putting on it. Anything in excess of 20g is pushing it if the furniture is not very well built. Try doing what absolutangel04 said and sit on it and see if it buckles. If you are still unsure do go and get a stand.

I will say that this was some old and extremely sturdy furniture, not the cheap junk most places are selling these days.

[Wy Renegade]

Depending on the foot structure (as was already pointed out), if the dresser is in fact solid oak, it will support the weight of any tank you want to put on it. It may shove the feet through the floor if it sits on four small feet, but the dresser will support even up to a 150gal tank with no issues.

Of far more concern than the weight that it can hold to me however would be the quality of the furniture. If this is a nice dresser, which I assume it is being made out of solid oak, you will most likely ruin the finish and probably the top of the dresser within a year or less due to spills during water changes (unless you are much neater than me). As others suggested, I'd save myself the headache and just buy or build a stand.

[Helloelliee]

I have a 55 gallon tank. The cheapest stand around here is 100 dollars and it's made out of that fake wood. I bought the exact same one before and it worked I guess. I just hate to spend 100 dollars on a stand. There's no middle pegs on this dresser so I guess I'm just going to spend the money for the stand.

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Wow? A hundred bucks?

There are tons of sites out there to help you find used stuff people don't want. I prefer Craigslist personally. I got my 55g stand for twenty bucks and minus a little chipped paint (looks like from where someone wasn't careful around a corner), it's perfect. Also, Goodwill is great too. I've seen tank stand (hollow top) that were super cheap, most likely because normal people have no idea why someone would buy a cabinet without a top, haha.

And I would say to just get an actual stand. Cabinets should only be used with small tanks (10g or under) or use furniture that is built to hold up lots of weight.

[Tim Wheatley]

The only furniture I have ever used as a stand was a very sturdy outdoor bench. Everything else (including that tank now) I use bought tank stands. It's just not worth the risk.