Tank Stand Tragedies........

[rickyricardo]

Hope you guys arent tired of hearing from me, but anyway here goes another one. I read a thread about tanks falling through the floor. The poster asked if anyone knew of or experienced anything like this. There was nobody. In fact I have never read an account of this happening. Which brings me to my current "need to know."

I built my own tank stand, first time ever, didnt even have the luxury of this website for guidance as I hadnt discovered it yet. I am not completely uncomfortable with building things but I am by no means a carpenter, structual engineer.......ect.... But I went for it anyway. The tank (110) was only on the stand (full with water) for a couple weeks. I gotta tell you, I was constantly worried. Its not that it was unsteady or anything like that, it's just that I dont trust my stand building skills. We're talking 110 gallons of water in my living room.

What got me further thinking about this was another tank build thread http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160423

First let me say I give thanks to the author for posting an informative post and I also trust that he knows what he is doing. With that said I noticed everyone had a different opinion on whether or not his stands were structually sound. Which further leads me to believe some over build while others rely on stands others might cringe at. So here, finally, is my question:

Has anyone ever heard of, or had it happen to themselves, a tank stand that failed while a full tank was sitting on it.

Thanks..............rick

 

[CichlidAddict]

I've never actually heard of one failing but I built my 240 gal stand sturdy enough to drive a truck on just in case.

 

[Mystus Redtail]

I have not personally heard of a stand failing and I've seen some pretty big tanks up on 2x4's. I'm a big fan of overbuilding tho. My 55 gallon is up on 4x4's with a ton of cross bracing.

 

[Oddball]

Several years back, I bought a used 125 gal setup with a "marble" finished stand. A year later, I noticed the stand appeared off-centered from the position I set it up. I moved the fish and drained the tank. When I tried sliding the tank off the stand, the stand's upper shelf 'scissored' from the bottom platform in the direction I slid the tank. Turns out the stand was made of compressed particleboard. The particleboard absorbed water to the point that the boards disintegrated under the thick coat of marble-texture paint. I figure I only had a day or so before the stand would have failed completely while holding up the tank of 30 Karilani fronts and would have either collapsed and/or crashed through an adjacent aquarium. I haven't trusted painted stands ever since.

 

[danz]

I use to have my 125g on an old dresser and my daughters cat decided it would use the corner as a bathroom and lucky I caught it in time due to the smell and the tank was about 3" out of level. With my luck it was old MDF so being saturated with liquid caused it to denigrate and was the main support for the stand and dumped some water and could have been alot worse. I took the tank down to 40% to get rid of the weight then when I had a day off broke down the tank and built a new stand. If you look at retail stores stands are not that complex and most are over built on here but an extra $20 in 2x4 can give you peace of mind.

 

[Dylan]

Ive never heard of one completely failing, but if you don't build it correctly, it can put the tank off center and cause cracks, or the silicon to leak, the other thing ive heard of is the stand tilting over if its to thin, but failing? never.

 

[rickyricardo]

Ive never heard of one completely failing, but if you don't build it correctly, it can put the tank off center and cause cracks, or the silicon to leak, the other thing ive heard of is the stand tilting over if its to thin, but failing? never.

I think tilting over would qualify as failing.

 

[Dylan]

I think tilting over would qualify as failing.

My definition of failing would be the stand actually breaking, not being to top heavy.

 

[justin guest]

I used to have a 200gal tank that i could push back and forth about an inch! Eventually i attached some diagonal bracings to the stand (solid pine) after which it was fine. As far as I know the setup is still running
A friend of mine also used to have a six footer sitting on floorboards. After 3 years we broke the tank down and discovered the floorboards around the feet of the stand had sunk down about a half an inch. The stand was very solid though so the tank was fine. It does pay to check the flooring where a tank is to be placed as well though
j<><

 

[12 Volt Man]

there have been a few threads on places like cichidforum.com about AG/Perfecto stands failing - the wood staples holding the peices together seperated.. the only reason the tank did not collapse the stand was that the owner noticed this quickly and drained down the tank.

one case was a 180. I will see if I can find the thread. its what has convinced me NOT to buy one of the AG/Perfecto pine stands for my future 150..

that is too much weight for staples IMO..