concrete stand vs. wood stand?

[stephclay]

i m planning a build in my garage for a large saltwter tank. my question is should i go with a cinder block stand w/ plywood on top or just build it out of wood?
the cinder blocks would be filled with concrete and have either 3 or 4 on top of each other since the spance is 6-7 ft should i do 3 legs on the front and back.

one other consideration is price, i want to do it fairly cheap but not comprimise stability.

i"m also concered about wood rot since the tank is saltwater

 

[stephclay]

anybody?

 

[Tongue33]

Cheap = Concrete

 

[Dr Joe]

Structurally both work, just depends on your design. You may not have storage under the concrete.

Concrete is pretty permanent. Do you own the home?

Price both out.

How big is the tank?

You may not need the blocks filled.

Dr Joe

.

 

[stephclay]

the tank will be 92x 48x 42 or so
we do own the home and it will go into the dining room wall with the tank and rest in the garage, however i would fill the blocks as tier and fill outside on a surface then remove it once dried, then lug each leg into the garage as not to cement it to the floor.

 

[itstheiceman]

that would work, but personally if it were me id go wood because you could make something look great you know?

 

[Dr Joe]

HAve you searched this site? There are several in-wall units.

 

[IITUFFTOBEATII]

You may not need the blocks filled.

Dr Joe

.

There is no reason to fill the blocks, normal strength concrete is 3000 psi, just be sure to position the blocks so that there is minimal stresses in the tank.

 

[dogofwar]

I use concrete blocks and 2x4s for all of the stands in my fishroom: cheap, easy to use, flexible (stack and unstack - I don't fill the cores)...and it looks pretty good if you cover with black fabric or plastic.

For your tank I'd build a 2x4 or 2x6 + plywood "top" for the concrete block legs. I'd probably only go with one center leg (front, back, and center along the 4' depth) to support the ~8' span and the corners plus a center row for the 4' sides of the tank. That's plenty of support and will leave you with two ~4' x 4' areas for sumps of storage under the tank.