My DIY Stand and canopy for 48x24 120g

[blindkiller85]

Gravel and heater in. Have to wait till tomorrow to see stuff to clean the new media for the fx6 and put in seeded media in from my other tank.

Playing around with drift wood configurations and this is what I've ended up with so far.

Have a few rocks that are going in and might make a small cave out of them via hot glue gun in between the driftwood.

Have some sanding to do on the driftwood because there are a lot of sharp edges.

 

[Thechaver]

Very nice.

That stand could hold 4 tanks. lol

 

[blindkiller85]

Other views

 

[blindkiller85]

Very nice.

That stand could hold 4 tanks. lol

Haha or my one FOREVER lol

 

[markstrimaran]

Your canopy is supported by the tank? I will be doing a similar build on a 75 gallon. I have to brace the floor joists in the basement, if I go bigger. An old house.
I am curious on how much weight an aquarium can safely take.

 

[blindkiller85]

Your canopy is supported by the tank? I will be doing a similar build on a 75 gallon. I have to brace the floor joists in the basement, if I go bigger. An old house.
I am curious on how much weight an aquarium can safely take.

The 25 lbs on top that my light and canopy weighs is nothing for a static load on 1/2 iron glass. Live loads are dangerous because of twisting and uneven distribution that can easily twist and break glass, same reason we level our tanks. I'd trust 100+ lbs of weight on an aquarium as long as it's evenly distributed. I've even read of people putting 20g tanks on top of 125g and 180g tanks.


And being perfectly level on a rimmed aquarium that's sealed and supported correctly isn't even that important IMO. My 125 (6x18.5x23) is off level by 5/8ths of an inch left to right and 1/4 inch front to back. It's never been re-sealed, and is 11 years old and I got it second hand. Knock on wood, hasn't given me a problem in the 7 years I've had it.




Second pic is when I was filling it March 2011

 

[markstrimaran]

Thanks.
I am building an in the tank. Filtration system for my 75 gallon. Leaves me some options I have not thought of

 

[freelanderuk]

Did you stand the tank on polystyrene sheet to take out any Un eveness in the plywood sheet on the top of your stand

 

[blindkiller85]

Did you stand the tank on polystyrene sheet to take out any Un eveness in the plywood sheet on the top of your stand

i had the intentions of doing that like almost everyone does. And for good reason, but I found a peice of plywood that was bowed, so that it would be bowed up into the aquarium and pushed down with the weight. After that to take out the imperfections I sanded it with 220grit and 400 grit to get a smooth even surface. And after all that I screwed it on to the stand and let the weight of the aquarium push it down. Sat like that for 2 years because I got lazy and busy at work and now I'm almost done. Have it half filled to let the stand settle for 3 days, and as long as it doesn't rain all day I'm going to wash the new fx6 and media and my fx5 so that I can put an entire tray of seeded media into the new aquarium.

 

[Pharaoh]

Stand looks great