anyways, do u think it will hold? im going to have only canister filtration for the jardini tank. i already have a h.o.t. magnum that has a rate of 250 gph and im going to buy a powerhead. what are some of the best canister filters i can buy?
In the past, I have tried to help people from doing dumb things just because they saw someone else post a picture of what they did. The free engineering shop has closed due to the pompous know-it-alls such as Dannyboy in the above post. You, however, are putting yourself at risk of killing yourself or someone near to you.
Your plans are to put a large tank six feet up on unsupported cinder blocks with interuptions caused by the 4x4's, all within a few feet where you sleep. First educate yourself about wood. Go to your local Home Depot and look at the 4x4's, 2x4's, and 2x6's that they have. Pick one up and look down its length. Not only will you see some warpage, you will see a lot of twisting. If not in that one, you will find it in many in that stack. (The Home Depot has some of the worst wood anywhere.) As wood dries, it twists and warps even more as dictated by the grain and growth. Pine is worse than hardwoods. This is the stuff that can be the success or failure of your stand. It is also what your floor is likely made of. Your floor is designed to handle 250 lb per square ft of loading across its entire surface. This is not point loading but integral. You are going to basically point load areas of your floor. If your blocks are not placed over joists, the deflection in the subfloor may cause the tanks to topple. That will be a bad thing if you are asleep.
Additionally, I have a stand that has three twenty gallon tanks stacked. The stand is on double padded carpet over a concrete slab. The stand is rock solid, as is the concrete slab. The empty stand is so heavy that I can not move it by myself and it now has 498 pounds of water on it. I can shake the stand with one hand because of the carpet and padding. Yes they compress, but they are still there, willing to compress more. (Your car is on springs that are compressed. If you sit on the hood of your car, the springs will compress even more.)
If you choose to go ahead with this, first make a stack of blocks with wood interuptions on your driveway or other hard surface. Make it as tall as what you plan to build. Next, stand on the stack to test its stability. If you actually do this and stand on it, the hard surface is to knock some sense into you when you fall
Additionally, the saltwater people will cringe if you have a SW tank that is smaller than 55g.
Any questions? Just ask. I have a lot going on right now though.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28412
