Im picking up a 30 gallon this weekend and it needs a stand. The tank is supposed to be 30x12x18. Now my question is what size wood should I use? I just tore down my old iguana cage that I started building but never finished (never bought the wire for it :/ he died half way through building it too) and so I have a ton of 2x2's. Would they be strong enough to support the 300lbs+ of the tank? Or should I just go out and buy a bunch of 2x4s and go from there? I have plenty of wood and cud easily provide plenty of vertical support and all that
question on building a tank stand
- Thread starter Wretched5705
- Start date
If built correctly 2" x 2" lumber would be fine. I might use 2" x 4" for the top frame and 1/2" plywood...follow the plans all over the DIY forums here at MFK...
Depends on how you design it. Just from a compressive strength standpoint, 2x2's in the four corners would be plenty to hold up the weight. However, it must also be reinforced adequately to resist racking, or sideways motion that would make it fold up on itself and collapse. For smaller tanks like that, I prefer to use plywood as the structural component, like the one in this thread: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=310461