Multi tank stand idea. Thoughts?

[krislhull]

I have two 40B and 3 10G tanks that we are planning on setting up in our family room, and I figured I would pick everyone's brains on here about my idea for a stand. The idea is to build it out of 2x4s, with a design similar to what Cory built for the CoOp, only much smaller. The thought is to have the 3 10gs on the bottom, then the two 40Bs stacked on top. Below is a quick drawing of what I am thinking of. Think it will hold the weight?

 

[KaraWolf]

110 gallons. Depends on how stout you make the legs!(currently finishing one for 125...someone said they think they could park a car on it soo.... it's possible!) I think if you support it right that could very well be done! If you dig around here and in the photo's section you should be able to find a couple of people with tank stacks similar to your idea.

 

[Pleco Jim]

This is my stand in the fish room in my garage.
It holds 2, 20 gallon longs on top, then 2 sets of 3, 10 gallons on middle and bottom shelfs.
Could do 30 gallon breeders easy with it.
And then do some finish work around the cyber blocks so it looked better in the living area you want it in.

 

[Pleco Jim]

I built it about 4 months ago. I think between 80 cent to $1.50 depending on wich ones you get.

 

[Bob]

Yes just looked at home depot and deleted my post, thanks for the reply =)

 

[justin case]

Id be concerned about it being top heavy. With the 40 on top. I think id go with the 10s above the 40s. It may not be a big difference but it could be enough to cause the whole shootin match to dump 100 gallons of water all over your living roon. And that not something i want to deal with.

 

[krislhull]

I'm limited by space, so the cinder block idea will not work in my case. I have just enough room to fit the width of a 40B between a wall and my 210g. I might build the stand a little differently and just have the 40s on it.

 

[Madness]

I have a stand where the top tanks is a 150, the middle tank 125 and the bottom holds 2 x 40B and a sump, overall height is 9.5'. Having the heavy tank/tanks on top make no difference. You can support them with plywood as your foundation support. Like mentioned above, it is all in how you build it. Make sure the legs are what supports the platforms, use cross bracing.

 

[justin case]

I know very well how to build. And i still think having more weight above less weight us a bad idea. Unless the base is a good bit,like 1.5×,bigger than the upper levels. Or if its well secured to a wall. Say you have 4 soup cans. One is full and the rest are empty. Now what happens if you stack them one on top of the other with the full one at the top? It may be fine for a while but sooner or later some one will slam the door to hard and down it all comes.

 

[hose91]

I think you're both right, just talking about 2 different things. The order of the weight doesn't make any difference when it comes to the vertical load supports. The 4 soup cans all weigh the same to the table they're sitting on, no matter which one is on top.

Having said that, the stability of the stand very much does depend on where the weight goes, since mass with a higher center of gravity is more likely to keep moving if/when a horizontal displacement is imposed on it.

Wood is crazy strong in compression, so if the weight of your tanks is resting on the wood supports, things are pretty solid. I found that a bit hard to do for the lower/middle levels, so ended up using lap joints for the front and back cross supports, then some lag bolts for the two shorter end supports on a 60" by 22" 2 level stand made from 2x4's with 1/2" plywood cut to fit for both shelf levels.

FWIW, I messed with making a three level stand from wood, and couldn't find a happy medium on the vertical spaces. The lower shelf was too low if I wanted to see the upper tank very well, and if I moved the lower shelf up, the upper tank was at or above my eye level, and it was even harder to imagine working in a tank that high up. My first shelf now is about 22 inches off the ground, and the top shelf is about 48 inches high.

This changes some if you get a metal stand fabricated, because the cross members can be MUCH thinner, so you don't lose a bunch of vertical space to multiple 2x4's. Good luck and keep posting. Love to see what you end up with.

 

[krislhull]

Do you have any photos of the stand you built? I think I am going to just go with a two level stand and just have the 2 40Bs on it. The more I thought about it, it just makes more sense, and gives me room for filters/etc. down below. Ill have to figure out where in the house to put the 10gs now, but that should be too big of a deal, and plus, they're easier to store than the 40s!

 

[Pleco Jim]

Here are some pics

 

[krislhull]

That would be easy to do, but sadly I don't have room for cinderblock supports.

 

[Pleco Jim]

I have 2 peice of 3/4 plywood stacked on okne another as the shelves. Between that w the 2x4 brace there is zero bowing. But you need to make sure the 2x4s are cut very precisly or it will bow up or down.

 

[Pleco Jim]

2x6 legs would work easily and be strong enough to support.

 

[Pleco Jim]

LOL. I just realised you were not asking for pics of my system. Sorry about that.

 

[krislhull]

Eh, no worries! I always like seeing what others do for home made stands! it never hurts to show them off for ideas!

2x6s is what I was thinking of for the legs, with 2x4s laid horizontal between them for the supports, creating a box joining all four legs.

 

[justin case]

I think I would start by building the rectangles for the shelves then cover them with plywood. After that take 2x4 and cut them to what ever spacing you are gonna use inbetseen shelves than nail the short 2x4 to fill length 2x4s leaving enough room to slip over the edges of the shelves. Like in this picture but full sized. Excuse the poor cuts I literally tossed this together in half a minute.


Then just nail,not screw, through the outside support into the shelf. If it's too wobbly x-brace the back and sides but if your cuts are good and everything fits right you shouldn't need any bracing. I hope this makes sense to you.

 

[hose91]

I did something sort of similar, except I didn't want the extra 2x4 on the outside, so I used lap joints for the 60" long cross beams (2x4s) and lag screws for the 18" side supports. I'll snag some pictures and post them up this weekend.

 

[justin case]

The extra 2x basically doubles the size of the feet. That's mainly why I'd do it that way. I don't think 5 1/4 sq inches is a big enough contact point. Even 4 of them which would be 21 sq inches makes for a lot of pressure. Something like 33.333 psi. And thats just the weight of the water and tanks roughly. Unless my math is way off.