420 Gallon Stand Concept. Need Experienced Opinions!

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TheBigB

TheBigB

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 1, 2011
503
3
33
North Texas
As Im gearing up for my 84" X 48" X 24" 420 gallon tank build I wanted to get some opinions on a stand design.

All horizontal supports will be 2x6 and all vertical will be 2X4. Each vertical support will consist of at least 3 2x4s. One will go from the ground to the top of the decking and the others will be between the horizontal supports shifting the weight onto the boards instead of the screws. Hopefully the diagrams below will make that more clear.

My biggest question is do you think I can get away with 4 rows of supports instead of 5? My orginal idea was to use five but that really limits the entry space for getting under the stand. If I go with 5 supports the distance between them would only give me about 16 5/8" but if I drop down to 4 supports this will open up the distance to 26 3/8".

420 gallons is obviously alot of weight and I would much rather over build than under build it, but if I can make it alittle easier on myself for sump/plumbing maintence then I would be all over it.

Here are the two different ideas
420 Stand Concept 4 Supports.jpg

420 Stand Concept 5 Supports.jpg

420 Stand Concept 4 Supports.jpg

420 Stand Concept 5 Supports.jpg
 
Put some diagonal braces at each corner. Put a few vertical legs in the middle because its such a wide tank you will be in good shape with that. Just make sure to let the wood support the tank when building not the screws or nails.
 
jsodwi said:
Put some diagonal braces at each corner. Put a few vertical legs in the middle because its such a wide tank you will be in good shape with that. Just make sure to let the wood support the tank when building not the screws or nails.
Click to expand...

thanks for the suggestions....Yeah there will be vertical supports through the middle. If you look on the diagram, the gray little rectangles are the vertical supports. I will be configuring the 2x4s in such a way that the top braces will be on top of the vertical supports transfering the load to the wood instead of the screws.
 
Is this a tank you are buying? Or are you doing a plywood build?

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Glass sides with plywood bottom? Sounds like the design Uaru Joey used in his most recent build thread on his YouTube channel. If it is, than you must have seen his stand build vids by now. If not, go check it out. He should've released his 6th video of that build by now.

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i built my 300g stand, its a 19mm hardwood ply box with the sides inside the top and bottom sheets. braced inside with 2x2 glued and screwed, i then put 3 rows of 4x2 uprights... my access is from the end rather than the front... its been holding it for a few months and looks good! just a bit of my experience, ,may be of some use, your drawings look much more robust! good luck.
 
Concur with the anti racking comment. Looks good. The weight of the tank will cause it to fold like a house of cards very fast with little side loading unless you incorporate some gusseting into the design. A slight nudge is all it takes when full.

If an acrylic tank Id go with 12" OC instead between cross members and two sheets of plywood on top for even support.

Avoid perpendicular loading causing any type of shear. Beams should always sit directly on top of pillars.
 
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