125 gallon stand with 4x4 posts...
- Thread starter fatmatic
- Start date
fatmatic i'm still a little concerned about the weight distribution. my understanding of a glass tank is the weight is all felt around the rim of the tank. on your stand that weight will be distributed across the horizontal surface of the 1/2 plywood with the heavyiest concentration of that weight right below the lower tank rim. it looks like there is no vertical support directly under the tank.
if i am not making sense i think your stand should be about 6 inches smaller all the way around so the rim of the tank sits directly above solid wood ( 4x4's ) all the way to the floor.
dave
if i am not making sense i think your stand should be about 6 inches smaller all the way around so the rim of the tank sits directly above solid wood ( 4x4's ) all the way to the floor.
dave
I would re-do it so the stand has 3/8" of the top plywood showing all around the out side edge of the bottom tank trim,the tank edge above your top horizontal 2x4's, I know it's a pain , some one told me just yesterday a guy cracked his front pane on his tank , basicly set up like yours ,,I've re-built the stand I'm working on now twice , thinking tommorrow I'll have to change out the top 2x4 to 2x6 , all the way around ,( I have had 2 fellow aquarist tell me I'm crazy to even attempt building this stand but I'm goona try) good luck
i did this exactly for my 180. the rim is maybe 1/4 to 3/8 all the way around the tank. the rim is completely supported vertically all the way to the floor. even the smallest amount of flex could break a pane of glass and put 125 gallons all over the floor.
dave
i JUST checked this thread now not knowing it had any responses... what you said david does concern me. Would it be ok since i have cross beams under the plywood going across like the bottom there? its been filled ever since that last picture was taken and its been ok so far but i would certainly not like having 125 gallons of water all over the floor one of these days..im not an engineer so i have no clue about weight distribution and all those things
People get so overkill on stands.... Go to Petco or Petsmart and look at their 125G stands... they're basically supported by 4-5 sheets of 1/2" plywood, and people use them all the time. I personally don't trust those types of stands, and my stand is overbuilt, but if you do some calculations and such, most of the stands/tanks that people build on this forum are like 4X stronger than they need to be. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but its something to keep in mind.
You did build your stand in kind of a weird way, since the top sheet of plywood is connected directly to the 4x4, and the 2x4's are connected to the side of the 4x4, the 2x4's aren't really carrying much weight. A better design would be to put the 2x4's on top of the 4x4's to let them distribute the weight.
But, I think your stand is fine as is.
You did build your stand in kind of a weird way, since the top sheet of plywood is connected directly to the 4x4, and the 2x4's are connected to the side of the 4x4, the 2x4's aren't really carrying much weight. A better design would be to put the 2x4's on top of the 4x4's to let them distribute the weight.
But, I think your stand is fine as is.
