help me construct a 12ft long stand for (4) 180 gal tanks stacked

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A

arowfan

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 12, 2008
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North Jersey
www.stickam.com
Hey everyone, I've built a stand before for two 75 gallon tanks stacked on top of each other, but something this massive-I figure I'd ask the experts and get some good ideas going.
So my plan is to have a 12ft long x 2ft wide stand (give or take more or less)-that will fit two 180 gallon tanks on top, side by side, and two 180 gallon tanks on the bottom side by side.

And go.....


lol :D
thanks in advance,
John
 
Are they glass or acrylic tanks? IMO it would be easier to construct 2 six foot stands and place them side by side than to build one 12 ft stand. You can use your plans for the 75's as a starting point. Subscribed. Good Luck!
 
hey rich...they would be glass...and yes, that sounds like a possibility...the only thing is, (in the front at least) I wouldn't want there to be a center brace-wondering if this would put a kink into the structural aspect of the stand-I know that I will put one if not 2 center braces in the back of the stand...
any advice fellas, would there need to be a front center brace needed for 180 gallons?
I'm assuming yes...
 
You could put the two tanks together side by side on two stands and in the front where they meet run a 1x4 or something up the middle and cover the seam. This was what i was going to do with two 125's before I got this 180 i'm working on now (walked into a good deal and couldn't pass it up :) ). But, down the road next year maybe i'm going to build another stand beside this one and do just that. This will give the appearance of one 12 foot tank and not two tanks.

Just an ideal :)
 
It should be just like any other stand build except for two things. One is a non issue, the other will be the tough point to address.

1. It's like two stands that share one side of the vertical supports.
2. On the upper tanks, you will have no additional support for the center of the tanks. They will be suspended across the 6' span. I've seen this done without issue, but they were done with steel stands, not wood.
 
OK, I see what you are looking for. Wow, it will be great if you can pull it off. Are you going to put a sump or two underneath? If so, it will a massive undertaking. Add another to the list of pics. LOL
 
hey everyone, thanks for the responses...rich, its added to the list lol...
how about this...if the backs are supported with many center braces-upwards of 4 (with the 2 outer braces of course totaling 6 on the backs for each 180)
i will try to photoshop something together tomorrow and you guys tell me what you think...
also I've heard that 2x4's are stronger and better to use i think then 4x4s-is this true? what would be the recommended wood for this type of build?
and to answer about filtration, I'm planning on running fx5s for each of the 180's with something else (not sure what yet) but these tanks would have a maximum of 2 fish in them anyways...
let me know what you guys and gals think!
thanks!
john
 
hey guys, just came across this when searching the net for a good design...what do you thing about something like this-keeping in mind, my stand would only have one tank stacked on top of the other..though I would beef up the supports on this stand a bit for safety measures, but wanted some opinions about leaving the front clear of a center brace
stand.jpg
 
I would probably go with a 2x6 (little stronger) on the front and 2X4's 12 on center and with the 2X6 on front you could mount some lighting to it and hide it behind the 2X6....just my 2 cents

Actually the more I think about it I would make it all out of 2X6 and drill holes for my piping and lighting aka electricaland so forth with 2X6's you have enough to run everything mostly hidden but thats me I would also make it like 14 foot and have all my Filter plugs and everything in the center and make some sort of door for ease of maintenance and setup.
 
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