Weird Stand Idea

[StirCrazy]

ok after some lengthy thought I have decided that I might be willing to tear down my fresh water tanks to make a salt water tank system. ( nothing like jumping in with both feet images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif) but seriously the wife doesent think we have room for another tank soo as a compramise I migth be using the room we are already using.. anyways

what I am wondering about is how hard it would be to build a stand that will hold a
33 gal and a 25 gallon under neith a 50 gal (the main tank) and a 20 gallon tank up top for a refuge, and also uptop maby a ro water top off tank. the problem is I want at least 14" above the 50 gal for lighting and access. and the same under neith for the two tanks downt there.. (a sump and a badboy/rock curin tank)
I figure this set up will also give me a working level of about 100 gal so I would be benifiting from incereased stability.

would 4 4X4's be able to suport all this weight? I don't mind building the stand wider than 3" and I was planning on building it 24" deep anyways for room below.

what I am thinking is that for the main and top level I am going to have to use soem steel angle iron maby 3X3 to suport all that weight with out center braces.. and no flex.. how does this sound to all of you?

any insites or pointers would be helpfull..

Steve

[StirCrazy]

no one have any idea's?

[DJ88]

Can I get back to ya on it tomorrow Steve? Heading out for the day.. I do have some I ideas I can share..

[StirCrazy]

ok np Darren
thanks

Steve

[Reefmaster]

steve
to me that sounds WAAAY overbuilt. you could do with 2x4 vert and 2x6 horiz if you wanted, or even with 2x4 horiz (tho you should notch them)if the stand is only 3'. i would suggest 3/4" plywood beneath the verts to distribute the load over the entire area of the base rather than point loading at the four corners. either way this shouldn't be a problem. we have a 135g and had a 40g sump beneath and never needed steel. also worth using 3/4" top with >1/2" high density styro to account for any unconformities in the stand. that way no concern for stressing and cracking the tank, though i have never heard of or seen this happen, everyone recommends the styro. shane ps if the next vic meeting is at our house you can see what i built.

[Silverfish]

Shane, is the next reef club meeting @ your house? images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Steve, I am about to build a stand for my brother's 135g 6' tank. I was planning on using 4x4's in each corner, with 2x6's horizontally, supplemented with 2x4's horiz and 2x4's notched in all round the bottom to diastribute the weight. I was going to sheet it in plywood as Shane suggested. I was thinking of adding 3" angle iron along the top rails, inset into and between the 2x6's and 2x4's, don't know if I will need them tho. Don't want any posts in the middle of the stand. Shane, did your stand have any center posts, or did it span the 6'?

[reefburnaby]

hi guys,

How about some drawings or pictures ? It is some what hard to visualize based on the description.

BTW...is it safe to assume that we are all dealing with glass tanks ? Acrylic tanks need different stands from glass tank stands.

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

I thought I would do up a drwing to show more of what I was thinking..
http://members.home.net/s.l.s/tankstand.jpg

hope that helps

Steve

[ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[Reefmaster]

steve what you are looking at isn't really a big deal for the stand. depending on the age of the building might be worth beefing up the floor joist but i could guess better with age of building, storey you're on, floor type etc.

as for the stand i built, as bruce indicated i went with a notched post/beam frame with 3/4" plywood glued/screwed to that. either one of these structural elements should be able to support the weight of our 135, but i wanted redundancy in the event one should fail for whatever reason. so i have 2x4 verts notched with 2x6 horizontals, for the front and rear, and then notched 2x4 verts and horizontals on each end.

bruce yup i span the entire 6'. the doors open to give me more than 4' of access with no centre posts. its a nice feature.

i wouldn't suggest using steel. the thing about steel is it is a great tensile member (it is very strong if you pull on the ends of it, but not so great if you support two ends and load the middle). of course you could go with an i-beam or box beam etc, but why bother. wood is strong enough, especially since most of the load from our tanks come down on the four corners, so a good piece of plywood across the top and you're laughing.
anyway just my thoughts. shane

[StirCrazy]

ok I know some of ya have to have some ideas for me images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Steve

[StirCrazy]

hey Shane, ya I was thinking of using angle iron for the suports. my reasoning for this is that because of the angle construction it is very ridged and the size would be much smaller than the size of wood required to suport the same weight. this would allow me to have more clearence above the tanks with out having to build the stand higher.
lets say a 2X2 angle iron as aposed to a 2X4 or a 2X6 stud. so a savings of 2 to 4 " in space above the tank.
do you have any pictures of your stand I wouldent mind seeing them to see exactly how you did it.

Steve

[Reefmaster]

sure i could take some and post em or you could come by and see first hand. let me know. shane

[StirCrazy]

Its up to you Shane, I am off work for the rst of this week and next week and board as hell images/smiles/icon_smile.gif so let me know what you prefer ..

Steve

[StirCrazy]

well I am on a re-enforced concrete slab so it can handle 3000psi images/smiles/icon_smile.gif so I am not worried about weight..

Steve

[Reefmaster]

what the hell kind of floor are you on???

[StirCrazy]

re-enforced concrete slab .. my house is built on a concrete slab. no basement or crawl space..

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

How thick are the 3x3 or 2x2 angle iron ? oh...are you sure you want to do that 125G thing....

- Victor.

[BCReefer]

When I was looking into upgrading my system I was told by a contractor that most floor joists can handle 500 lbs per sq foot. If you have truss joist beams that it is even better than that.

Patrick

[reefburnaby]

You know, the 60x24x18 expansion idea ?

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

oh ya.. well the reason for the dept was to give me room for plumming and such behind the tank but ya now that you mention that I will probably make it big enuf so if I want to upgrade later I can easy ..

Steve

[StirCrazy]

ok now I am getting lost .. what 125 gal thing hehe, I would have to look up the exact size of angle iron but I would say the blades on the angle iron would be at least 1/4" thick.. and whare they join is thicker.. I would use this for the frame and then bolt plywood across the top and such it wouldent be just a edge that the tanks sits on hmm I will have to check on the strenght of angle iron..

Steve