DIY Stand Question RE:Tall Stands

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
N

Nadeaux

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 26, 2010
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Leesburg VA
Starting to make my plans and supply list for my 1st DIY stand and had a question about height.

Planning on doing a "in wall" look 125 gallon tank in my basement. Room behind is open so I will be cutting a hole in the wall to view. Problem is I want it to be higher than an normal stand as I want to be able to have some chairs and a table under the hole in the wall.

Tank needs to be about 4ft tall at the bottom and top of the tank will be around 6ft in the air. Floor is nice and level concrete. Concern is around stability, do you think that 2X4's is enough or should I go with 4x4's or maybe 2x6's. Maybe just 2x4's with some extra cross supports and or plywood sides and back to give it support. I will also use metal strapping to attach the stand the the wall.

I plan to build it in the typical fashion like below.

My other question is on width how much bigger than the tank should the frame of the stand be? I was thinking about 1/2 inch all around but would it be a bad idea to do it 6" bigger on all sides?
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A friend of mine did the same setup a couple years ago. 4 ft high he used 4x4 for the legs and 2x6 for the top and bottom frames. He was roughly 2" or so bigger than the tank itself. There was 6 legs all together with some crossbracing. He bolted it to the wall and also to the floor. It was solid as can be. Oh and 5/8 plywood on the top.
 
When I built my in-wall setup, I made the stand about 1/4" bigger on each side. Possibly less.
 
Why would you want that much overhang on the stand? 6" isn't really enough to be useful as a work/storage area. I think it would just be in the way. I like to see the vertical supports of the stand directly beneath the tank edges, though that probably doesn't matter in a well-constructed stand. Just a little more peace of mind.
 
My idea for the 6 inches extra on the sides what so that I could drill holes in the plywood top and run my plumbing down under the tank. My thought was this would keep the plumbing nice and organized and avoid any lines from getting bumped or pulled on.
 
I built my 100g with 4x4 legs and 2x4 construction. I think maybe everyone is trying to keep the front nice and clean looking. You should run all the plumbing in the back behind the wall. Don't know what the room behind the tank looks like. :confused:
 
opps! :eek: I forgot you should put some center support (legs) in your pic
 
There will definitely be more legs than on the drawing, on the non-access side i am planning on adding 2 additional legs. So the side against the wall will have a total of 4 legs and 3 legs on this side that i will use to access the equipment underneath. If i stick with my plan of just using the 2 XP4's i have then i may even go with some center legs to suppor the middle of the tank but I keep thinking about a sump setup so that would not allow for the extra legs.
 
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