Floating 55 Gallon Stand?

[nfored]

So my idea is to take a solid sheet of steel and cut a slot in the wall only big enough to put the sheet through. Then on the other side connect the sheet to two steel mounting brackets attached to the studs.

I know the mounting bracket and the sheet will hold the tank, but I worry about will the studs bare the upward force the sheet will put on it. In my mind the sheet wont bend so the weight of the tank will push the front of the sheet down, and the back will try to raise so It would be like trying pull the stud out of the floor. I was thinking of a bracket that holds it below and above the stud. I could likely place a steel tube on the back of the sheet in the center and run that up to the horizontal stud that runs across all the vertical studs.

I thought something like that would be cheaper and safer then me buying 10 100lbs dumb bells and anchoring the stand that way. Another option is to notch the sheet so that it has a slot for each stud in the 4' span this should let me ancor it to at least 4 studs.

 

[Tailfin]

I'm not sure what you mean by 2 steel mounting brackets on the "other side." I'm assuming that does not mean the other side of the wall with some random brackets sticking out (though you could make it all the way through and have an extra shelf lol)...but it seems to me that it would not be a problem provided the brackets were good and long. As you kind of touched on with the steel bar idea, you're not "pulling up" just the stud, the force would have to push up the entire wall frame...not happening with a 55. The point at issue would first be the stud itself, and if over a long time the screws could work themselves somewhat loose or perhaps split the stud. I would also build it to do more than hold up the tank.... I can foresee some rather unpleasant eventualities if someone were to accidentally trip into it.

It sounds like you'll be tearing the wall apart and putting up new sheet rock regardless, so it should be easy to do. I don't know what sort of tools you have, but they must be at least moderate if you can notch thick steel at a whim. If you have a tap and die set, you could fasten a small plate to the bottom stud, such that it comes up off the stud in the middle... kind of like... __|-----|__ ...drill a hole in the middle section, and a hole in your shelf directly over that point; take a steel bar a bit longer than the height of the shelf, and cut a thread on both ends. Then get a couple nuts of that thread size and washers/lock washers and simply "bolt" the shelf to the bottom stud that way.

Edit: Actually on a similar note, since the structural integrity of the side studs would be such a stress point, I'd suggest attaching pieces of 2x4 to the sections that would receive the brackets, making them double-thick, then drill through both and fasten the brackets with a long bolt and nut, washers, etc... Not a place to trust humble screws.

 

[nfored]

I never really thought about the screws coming out I did think about the possibly of the studs stripping. I wanted to make sure the stand could hold the tank weight x2 just in case some DB wanted to lean on it.

 

[Tailfin]

Oh ok I see now. And yes, you have my idea right. They both look good to me. Brackets in that fashion would distribute the force at least to more than just a couple spots. Truly, if it were me, I"d probably do a hybrid, and maybe even add your pipe wedging idea on top. Then you could be quite relaxed on the matter. Still, I would use some liquid nails and screws and double up the vertical 2x4s at least where they're going to take the weight... The support methods are sound, but don't underestimate the mighty lever. With the fulcrum having no "other side," or counterbalance, you are dealing with thousands of pounds of rotational force when put on the edge of the shelf...and yes, if some DB leans on it, or what I would especially dread...falling on it..lots and lots of force. All that said, it is definitely important to distribute the force as much as possible. Your idea spreads it a bit along the vertical studs, mine would bring that bottom stud into play, and to be clear, I didn't mean to suggest doing that alone...then ALL the force would be on a couple of nuts, if you'll excuse the pun. How thick is this steel shelf anyway? Is it strong enough to not bend at the fulcrum under such immense torque? Plus if it does, it must weigh a fair bit on its own. Anyway, tons of force involved, but I think if both ideas were done, perhaps also, instead of wedging a pipe in the top part, actually doing what I suggested on the top as well, so it couldn't come loose, I would think it would hold. Hard to judge without looking at it. In any case, if you got it all done and it looked a bit iffy, you could screw some very formidable eyes above it, and run two cables to the front corners of the shelf. Not quite the "floating" idea, but it would take a great deal of load off, since it would be lever force in your favor...would look a bit like a drawbridge, I suppose.

Screws and even the bolts can loosen and cause problems, particularly when wood is involved. Expanding and contracting with humidity does plenty. I built a workbench and adhered the top to the frame with large screws, and have a large vice bolted to it. I have had to tighten both (granted with lots of stressing due to the vice and...lever force hehe). You should be able to stymie this enough for your purposes by using the aforementioned bolts and lock washers...and wouldn't hurt to plop on some no-nonsense thread locker.

 

[nfored]

I have no idea how thick it needs to be, and that will likely be the second key part to this. If it has to be so thick that it cost a ton or would look like a 2x4 sticking out the wall I will just say forget it and build a regular stand. I come up with crazy idea's like this one and love that I can bounce them off people here. It's good to hear someone say it will be to much to be worth it, to hard to do, or it just plain wont work. I will talk to a couple fabricators in my area and get their thought on the thickness needed..

I would feel pretty good combining both ideas top and bottom vertical braces in between studs and large L brackets on the studs.

 

[Tailfin]

I hear ya. I don't say it would necessarily be too much to be worth it. Just realize how sure it needs to be if you don't have feverish affection for spackling :-D...and the fact that you wouldn't see signs of a problem right away. If you were willing to make a few concessions to the perfect "floating" look, like the cabling I mentioned and such, it might make it easier. You could try to sort of model and see what it's like. Actually, if you're talking to fabricators, they can probably tell you how thick it must be...though it could be imagined in a way... Picture a steel plank extended 2 feet from some sort of massive vice, no brackets coming out to reduce that lever force, and sitting on the end of it and bouncing on it. You probably want at least enough strength to not bend at the vice. I'm only guessing, but it seems to me that it would have to be at least an inch thick. An inch-thick piece of steel spread over 4x2 feet or so is not light in its own right.

Not meaning to discourage, just to, as you say, bounce the idea and fathom just what you're getting into. There are benefits too...you could paint steel like a car and create a fun look.

I get my share of questionably sane ideas indeed. I never doubt the possibility of doing it... There's usually just one obstacle to my mind. One idea I had was to build a tank...and it occurred to me that a mirror is just glass with a silver backing...mightn't it look sweet to use a mirror for the back of a custom aquarium? Then what awesome lighting effects, and that's just the start...I could build myself a siphon-sump filter, with clear pvc pipe and feed it back to another piece of mirror glass that would deflect the water into a waterfall as it re-entered the tank and....and...and then I realized I wanted to eat something aside from dirt and ramen for the following 3 years . Good luck .

 

[nfored]

Thinking of the mirror is something I considered only for a slightly different reason. I have a 500 thats sitting empty until I can finish buying filtration for it. Well my wife wanted it to be a room divider and I thought that would be nice, but then I started getting all these horrible visions of my daughter drawing on my tank with marker. So I thought I could get two way mirrored plexi face the mirror in words towards the tank on both sides, in my mind what would happen is from each side you could see the tank, but never see whats on the other side. I could then have a neat effect and a bit of protection in case my daughter wanted to draw something for the fish.

But that dream derailed when I really started thinking about what it would take to modify the flooring to support close to 3tons of dead weight. I see people use lally beams to do it but I was just to worried about it. So I ended up deciding that the tank will sit in the garage and have a hole cut in the wall to make it an inwall tank.

 

[Arthur]

I honestly that's a disaster waiting to happen. First of all you're going to have to get some pretty thick steel to pull off a cantilever that will hold 500 pounds+ and to put a 4' sheet of steel through a wall you're going to have to cut studs in half, which would severely weaken your wall. Maybe if you built a second wall to hold up your first wall, but short of consulting some sort of engineer I would just build a regular stand.

Say your cantilever extends 24" from the mounting point on the opposite side of the wall, and using a low guesstimate for weight of 500lbs, and neglecting added weight of steel

2' x 500lbs = 1000 ft lbs of torque on your wall, at a minimum

 

[nfored]

I just wanted something cool for my high tech planted. Any other suggestions that might look nice?

 

[nfored]

This is the look I was wanting best I could get from the movie they never really get in close on the nice tank, like any one cared about the saw movie by number 6????