DIY Stands In General !

[carpboyjoe]

I am in the process of designing and building a stand for my new 210 that will be here soon yay
I have been looking at a few designs on here and for commercial stands available here in the UK. It seems that a lot of the DIY stands are way over built. Most of the commercial stands even from bespoke aquarium builders are made of 18mm MFC(3/4" roughly) uprights with no framing of 2x4 or 2x6 even for tanks up to 260.

This is an example 7x2x2 cabinate, an if you check there site it will tell you that they use 18 MFC in all cabinate builds.

I have a juwle 400 litre tank that sits on 4 15mm MFC (5/8" roughly) uprights with an 18mm MFC base and top.
It has held my tank up no problem at all with no signs of sagging or bowing. I am fairly certain that if Juwel thought there would be a problem they would up the thickness of the wood and there are a few of these around.
I really like the style of the Juwle stands no great chunky frame work just a simple design that seems to work.
So why do you guys over the pond build the stands the way you do, Is it just a case of over building for safety sake ?
I dont want to make a stand that is unsafe but equally I dont want one that could be used a foundation to the empire state.

 

[Knowdafish]

Ummm.......do you have earthquakes in the UK? Do you put large sumps under your large tanks? Is lumber cheap and easy to come by? A production stand is always going to be engineered to save the builder $ and maximize profits! The easy way for someone without engineering or building skills is to overbuild! Things are almost ALWAYS bigger in America anyways!

 

[carpboyjoe]

Yes we do have some earthquakes but nothing on the standards of yours, Of course everything is bigger in the states. Do you honestly think that if you get and 8+ quake your 2x4-2x6 stand will still be standing
Yes we do certainly put sumps under the tanks and yes just as big as yours, heaven forbid, and the companies in question sell them to go under there stands.
And yes once again lumber/timber is cheap and esy to come by, I have loads of timber merchants within 20 miles of my house.
These companies may well want to keep cost to a minimum but I am sure if these stands were not up to the job then you would think the companies would increase the thickness of the construction materials, or as they guarantee there cabinates it would start to get expensive would it not ?
I see people on the various forums building stands for 48" tanks with 2x4 which are way over the top for the purpose.If some one does not have the engineering skills or experience perhaps it should be built by someone that does.
I will be building my stand from 25mm (1" marine ply) with total confidence that it will support my 210, with a fair safety margin.

 

[SonsOfLeda]

So why do you guys over the pond build the stands the way you do, Is it just a case of over building for safety sake ?
I dont want to make a stand that is unsafe but equally I dont want one that could be used a foundation to the empire state.

Nice - a DIY stereotype.

I can guarantee you that not everyone builds them like that over here, but I would say that most do. The reason why is in the motivation:

1) Plans using 2x4/2x6s are readily available.
2) 2x4/2x6s are easy to find for most people.
3) Most people are comfortable working with 2x4/2x6s.​

People don't necessarily over-build them for the sake of over-building. They just end up over-built out of convenience. As much as the, "I'm an American so I like everything big!" stereotype comes into play, the, "I'm lazy and don't want to spend any more time/money than I have to," stereotype usually wins.

Besides - who says that having anything over-built and saving some time/money in the process is a bad thing? "Not I!" says the cheap/lazy American!

 

[carpboyjoe]

I have no problem understanding ease of doing something, and if you are saving time and money then all the better I suppose.I can see that certainly a lot of the diy plans I have seen do feature 2x4-2x6 so perhaps as you say that does come into it quite a bit. Although I would have thought that to assemble a stand along the lines of the juwel stand would take far less time than to build some of the stands I have seen, must take a while to put all the lumps of 2x4 together and to ensure they are square.
My question really should have been worded better, but hindsight is great, It certainly was not intended as a dig at any one.
I dont have a problem with overbuilding stuff per say, But I want a stand that will look good and making sure the wife is happy with it will be my main concern right after safety as if she is not happy I will not hear the end of it.
When I get to building it I will try and do a thread covering the build with some plans, although I have a feeling the thread will be mainly "you are asking for trouble building it like that" and "do you realise how heavy this tank will be".
I am very confident that my build useing 1" marine ply will support the 210 I will be putting on it.

 

[chesterthehero]

i built the stand for my 75 with 4x4s and 2x8s... simply because if i ever lose interest in fish i plan to start collection bulldozers..

 

[Knowdafish]

As far as "looking good" part goes one could also wrap their massive framing in the stained, and thin veneer of their choice!

 

[ozpkchris]

i think a little extra ease of mind is well worth over building, and i can also say that the life of any diy stand will well outlast any prebuilt stand. it takes a bit more to rot a 2x4 frame then it does mdf,
on the other hand the weight factor is always a concern but how often do people typically move there monster fish tank anyways

 

[DeadpooldP]

I understand what you are saying, really I do. I think that I would prefer using a bit more lumber and knowing that I don't have to be concerned when people are around the tank that it might wobble and fall over.

My truck says it only needs 2 ton jack stands to support it in the air when I am underneath it working on it. That being said, I feel better when I have to 3 or 5 ton jack stands under it as opposed to the two ton stands, not sure why, just do.

 

[Pharaoh]

I somewhat overbuild my stand, but only because the 2x4s are cheaper. You can see it if you search for my DIY 110 gallon stand.