Stand build advice

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Here's what I do with ANYTHING I am DIYing....... Take the most extreme recomendation and make it better than that. If someone recommends 500 pot scrubbies get 700. If someone recomends a 2 by 4 use a 2 by 6. Overkill/better safe then sorry never hurt anyone. Do you want to loose sleep over wondering if you are going to wake up in the middle of the night to a loud crash that your tanks just made falling onto the cement floor? If it was ME building that stand it would have double 2 by 6s. Why? Cause A single 2 by 6 was suggested and so was doubled 2 by 4s. Double 2 by 6s leaves NO doubt it will be strong enough doesn't it?

Seriously can you put a price tag on piece of mind? If you could I bet it is worth a lot more than the price difference between a 2 by 4 and (2) 2 by sixes. Would 2 by 4s work? Maybe..... Would it kill you to walk to work? No. But you drive anyways. Get my point?
 
jelly;2298142; said:
The stand will be on a concrete floor and it will be horizontally stable as three sides of it will attached to the wall. All of the upper top frame will sit on top of the uprights rather than attached to the side of them. it is an option to use 6 x 2 if required, would this give me a guarenteed sturdy top as the weight would have to bend 6" of wood. If the 5' span is not possible then I can re think my plans.

Thanks for everyones input, I really want to do this properly and only once.
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This is my take on it (much like DB junkie's): Using 2x6's will reduce your opening by 2" and cost maybe $10.00 more. The added strength will give you piece of mind and a nice safety margin. Seems well worth it, in my opinion.

Eamiles mentioned that wood loses a lot of it's rigidity when it gets too wet, it seems like an aquarium stand could easily be exposed to moist conditions. I believe that 2x4 could hold up the tanks, but I'm not sure that I would trust them to remain perfectly flat across the span.

Where's Dr. Joe? I would like to see his opinion on this... :)
 
Well, I guess that's pretty unarguable DB Junkie. The thing for me is that I would be very comfortable with 2X4's, so I was just trying to say that they were safe enough to trustworthy of them. If you are not though then you are 100% correct you should make it bigger if your gonna lose sleep over it. I do still think that it would be beneficial to study a little more the strength of woof and such. Maybe we could make a section just on that?
 
Eamiles;2303128; said:
Maybe we could make a section just on that?
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I, for one, would appreciate that. I believe many of us would tend to agree with DB junkie and I think it would be beneficial to understand it from a professional point of view.

If you do create a thread, please link to it in this thread. Thanks.
 
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