I finally for my 150 (60"x24"x24") gallon tank set on its stand in my house and we had a 5ish something earthquake the other day. It got me wondering if the factory stands are strong enough to support a tank that is going to way 2,000 lbs+ full of water. The tank and stand are from Oceanic's higher end line with high clarity glass and a wonderful looking stand. The stand is essentially 3/4" plywood on end with a cap for the aquarium to sit on. Don't get me wrong, the crush strength of that much plywood is WELL above 2,000lbs, but I worry about it's shear strength. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I've never had a tank larger than 50 gallons that wasn't built into a home with massive structure under it and resting on 1/2" of styrofoam or blueboard to ensure the load is distributed evenly. What do you folks generally do with your large tanks for stands and do you often place a sheet of foam under them to help distribute the load? I grew up wood working and doing construction, I do have the tools and the skills to build a stand if its the right thing to do.
Tank stands: factory vs. DIY
- Thread starter Aknickolai
- Start date
DIY Stand
I completely understand the, well, stand issue. It my case it was more of an aesthetic concern than a earthquake one but having grown up in So. Cal I get it. I had concerns regarding the crush of a 1200+ lbs. tank and arrived at this trestle design. I cannot say I did a lot of math but having built a number of decks and the like I figured 2 x 6 dimensional lumber would be ore than sufficient to handle the load. The legs are doubled up essentially making them 4 x 6's and all of the joints are mortised with through tenons secured by dual oak wedges. I would image this would handle quite a bit of shear.
I am lucky in that all my mechanicals are right on the other side of the wall and underneath a storage is not an issue.
I now only hope this new tank set up is worthy of the stand.
Regards,
Sean Flynn
[attachment=1352:name]
I completely understand the, well, stand issue. It my case it was more of an aesthetic concern than a earthquake one but having grown up in So. Cal I get it. I had concerns regarding the crush of a 1200+ lbs. tank and arrived at this trestle design. I cannot say I did a lot of math but having built a number of decks and the like I figured 2 x 6 dimensional lumber would be ore than sufficient to handle the load. The legs are doubled up essentially making them 4 x 6's and all of the joints are mortised with through tenons secured by dual oak wedges. I would image this would handle quite a bit of shear.
I am lucky in that all my mechanicals are right on the other side of the wall and underneath a storage is not an issue.
I now only hope this new tank set up is worthy of the stand.
Regards,
Sean Flynn
[attachment=1352:name]