Stand for my new 240 gal.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Looking good! What are you going to "wrap" it with?
 
Looks great, I have one question about the leveling. I am hopefully going to need to make one for a 265g here soon and i have been thinking this out and I wonder if it would be better to assemble and level it in the exact location that it will be placed. So that i do not have to shim it level when it gets set-up. I was thinking that this would be best because even if i moved it later on down the road I would just have to shim it like regular anyways. But for now it would be in solid contact with the floor and no shims. what do you think?
 
I built mine in the exact location to avoid the shimming you mentioned. This stand is by far the straightest nad most level thing in my house. I even weight the bottom frame with some bags of concrete to make sure everything stayed put during assembly.
 
hybridtheoryd16;1981570; said:
Looks great, I have one question about the leveling. I am hopefully going to need to make one for a 265g here soon and i have been thinking this out and I wonder if it would be better to assemble and level it in the exact location that it will be placed. So that i do not have to shim it level when it gets set-up. I was thinking that this would be best because even if i moved it later on down the road I would just have to shim it like regular anyways. But for now it would be in solid contact with the floor and no shims. what do you think?
Click to expand...

I shimmed mine (300g) before filling the tank. I trimmed the shims that stuck out from the stand with a chisel. I eventually plan on putting some molding around the bottom. Or, if you are building a 2 x 4 stand you could shim it in place, and then put the plywood panels around it.

IMO, it's better/easier to build a nice rectangle "cube" stand and shim for the floor, as opposed to building in place and trying to level by cutting the boards slightly different lengths.

One more thing.. 265 gallons is a lot of weight, if you are putting this on a regular floor (as opposed to concrete), you might need to reinforce the floor to avoid sagging. I added additional floor joists. It's important to reinforce the floor BEFORE the tank is filled up.. Adding joists after the original joists are already being strained does little or no good..
 
I am just about ready to apply the finish to a stand that I bulit for a new 350 gallon tank and I have to say that your framework looks much neater than mine. However, for a tank of this size, I would recommend struts or cross-braces (one on each end and one across the back to prevent the stand from shifting. Particularly, because your setup appears to eventually have a rather high center of gravity.
 
I'm going cover it with 3/4 oak plywood which will be glued and screwed to the sides and front providing the support you mentioned. thanks for input I do aprreciate any and all help I can get.
 
I forgot to mention I will be framing a wall around it so that should brace it as well. I'm just waiting to sit the tank on the stand first(still trying to round up enough people to lift the tank).
 
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