I recently picked up a 40 gallon acrylic tank from a friend along with the stand he had been using. I noticed that the stand is approx 2 inches too short for the tank, which is 36 inches, and about 1 inch narrower than the tank also. He said he had simply put plywood over the stand to ensure that the entire perimeter was under wood, however I am thinking I should do something more to brace this tank to be safe. I was thinking of adding 3 2x4's across the top of the stand and then covering it with plywood, so that the entire bottom of the tank is covered and supported. Any ideas on this concept or suggestions? I realize that a 40 gallon isn't a huge tank, I just want to take any precautions I can and I would prefer not to buy another stand or build one from scratch. Below is a pic of what the setup looks like now.
Stand Adjustment Question
- Thread starter dcwallace
- Start date
just put a piece of plywood at least the size of the tank. 99 percent of the weight is already supported, by making the wood bigger, it takes the stress off the inside of the bottom.
freshwaterz;2436814; said:
RayzrsEdge;2437402; said:
I think he has that part covered:
dcwallace;2435896; said:
The reason it worked in the past and will work in the future is that the weight of the water is transfered straight down in collumns so to speak. Only the weight of the sides and one inch of water collumn is required to be supported through the bottom in shear (side to side strength). Acrylic has really good shear strenght and could do the job on its own. However, that would be dipping into the 'factor of safety' which is an engineering no-no.
Get the plywood from your friend and then dress it up with trim molding from HD or Lowes so that the plywood isn't such an eye sore.
Thanks for all the input. Now that I have the plywood would you all reccomend screwing it or nailing it into the top of the stand? Or Wood glue??
Put a couple nails or screw in it, although you could probably get away without putting anything on it.