My new 260 Gallon acrylic tank question

[genavorn]

Hello Everybody ,
I am new in this forum . I am not new to the hobby . Recently bought 260 gallon acrylic aquarium with metal stand . Stand is very sturdy well made . The bottom of the tank is 1/2 inch acrylic . The guy I bought it from placed plywood on the top of the stand and foam ...it looks really ugly , even with a tank on top of it .. Stand has a " ribs: every 2 feet .Top of the stand is very smooth .My question is : Can I put fish tank on top of the stand without any layers (like wood ,foam ) right on metal ? Tank fits perfectly on top and look great . Tank is 86X30X24 .
Thank you ,
Gena

 

[wednesday13]

I would say yes thats perfectly fine as long as the stand has the welds ground down and is smooth and level like ur saying. The foam is actually detrimental to the tank so leave that out. The wood could be a bit beneficial tho also. Wouldn’t take much to paint the wood to hide it and make it look more aesthetically pleasing to u.

 

[genavorn]

Here is a pictures of the stand and tank

 

[genavorn]

wednesday13 thank you for your reply . I think the main problem is a bulkheads from overflow that has to go down . Without plywood it's very easy to install them , but with plywood I'll need to make a holes in plywood for bulkheads ...

 

[wednesday13]

wednesday13 thank you for your reply . I think the main problem is a bulkheads from overflow that has to go down . Without plywood it's very easy to install them , but with plywood I'll need to make a holes in plywood for bulkheads ...

Everything looks to be fairly new and made well… stand is supporting the acrylic properly. Personally id use 1/2” plywood, but you should be ok without it.

 

[genavorn]

Thank you very for your help . I think I will leave it on the stand .

 

[danotaylor]

wednesday13 said "Personally id use 1/2” plywood"
This is what I would do as well, including painting the front & side edges of the plywood black to match the stand. It's the recommended and safest way top protect the tank, and your home.
The other option is to put the tank on ply and enclose the stand.
This is zoomed in on your third pic. The weld looks slightly higher than the top of the frame with a very slight gap created to the left of the join. If this is indeed the case and not just camera angle you would need to grind the weld down flat or use the ply. It’s really not worth damaging your tank or home…

 

[danotaylor]

I think the main problem is a bulkheads from overflow that has to go down . Without plywood it's very easy to install them , but with plywood I'll need to make a holes in plywood for bulkheads ...

Don't cut holes, just cut out a rectangle on each corner that matches the footprint of your overflow box

 

[DN328]

FWIW I would also vote to at least use 1/2 plywood as G genavorn decided. I would also suggest you paint to a color of your choice if you don't like the plywood. Whether you decide to wrap the metal stand or not the paint just looks better especially with the open bottom and sump. But that's just esthetics. I used 1/2" MDO painted white just to give an idea. My builder advised me to also use a type of foam btw.

 

[yellowfinfmb]

I would put a piece of wood down on top of the stand acrylic isn't made to have open bottom but I guess you can do what you want as it isn't that big