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Has anybody designed and built a stand for a large aquarium, one 24"deep x 24" tall x 35" long? Looking for some design, mainly structure not necessarily the exterior. I know the structure will need to be 2 x 4 material for the strength. How would your attach the horizontal framing to the verticle, half lap joints, M&T? I am thinking half lap with lag screws and glue.
Any ideas, considerations would be appreciated.
Thanks
My math says you are looking at around 750 lb of water filled to the brim, not including the tank, At that weight I'd be inclined to go with mechanical fasteners at minimum and fasteners and glue even better. You will also want diagonal support or some panels to prevent it from racking and collapsing.
The more you can design the parts to stack on top of each other the better. You want to avoid having lots of weight being transferred by just fasteners. Something that was basically framed like a mini house with a flat roof wouldn't be bad.
I haven't built one for years, the last one I did was for a 200-gallon salt water tank we had and I over-engineered the heck out of it. 2x4 construction, with doubled 2x4s for the uprights and 2x6s for the top, all half-lapped with diagonal bracing on all of the joints. Everything glued and lag-screwed together. Then I created hard wood frames for the outside that just attached to the stand and you didn't know it was a giant wooden brick. There was plenty of room inside for all of the filtration. This thing would have survived a nuclear explosion. It weighed a ton and there's no way I'd ever install it on a second floor. You're looking at something less than half that size, but you can never go too strong.
a tank that large, especially if for marine fish and corals, using has large filters, pumps, sumps etc, under the tank that add to the total weight and need a strong bottom shelf. I would also considered having some air space under the cabinet; I never had a tank that did not result in some escaped water and its nice to wipe it up with a towel on a yardstick rather than wait for it to soak into the floor of your house.
This might give you a few ideas
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yidRNxwpiss
I used to make tanks for a friends business. What I did was to make two platforms from 2x3s the bottom one had melamine on top.And the top one was 1/2 ply.
I cut all the vertical 2x4 exactly the same length. The real strength came from the outside skin either more plywood or solid wood.
We took extra care to make sure the bottom of the stand was sitting on the floor in its spot supported just the same way as it was on my assembly table. Usually it's the corners that need shims.
Heres a pic of one I made in mahogany.
Go to your local pet store and look at the stands they sell and check out their internal structure. It won't be massive timbers. A single 2 x 4 is capable of supporting 466 pounds when standing on end. Four 2 x2's one in each corner should be more than adequate to support your aquarium. As others have stated you need diagonals or panels to stiffen the frame to prevent racking. You also need strength to prevent the aquarium bottom from sagging, but a 2/4 on edge should do that nicely.
Many years ago I built a stand for similar size tank out of 2x4s. As I recall it was screwed together. Back then I didn’t do any special joinery nor did I know about pocket screws.
Mine isn't made out of wood. It's square steel tubing, but it has to hold 6 tons of weight. Has a few cross pieces, and plywood on top. It's held the weight for 17 years, no problem, but you'd have to have welding skills. You can barely see the stand at the bottom of the photo. The poor guy inside the tank was stuck there. We feed him daily. It's only fair.
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Have you looked at the commercial offerings that pass as stands? Mostly particle board boxes. I would use plywood or solid wood. Anything you build would likely be 1000 times stronger then what you buy.
I built this stand for my 110 gallon tank in the early 90’s. The structure is 8/4 red oak with 10 2”x4” vertical posts lag screwed top and bottom. It’s still going strong.
2x4 is way overkill, Marineland still uses 3/4" partial boards for their 200 gallon tanks. The size of your tank sounds to be around 75-90 gallons. You'll be amazed at how strong wood is when it comes to compression rating. Put a 1/2" back on it along with some face frames to prevent racking and you'll be fine.
That's how I got work making stands.Replacing the stands that were bought from stores made from partical board. Many of the tanks were acrylic. My friend only uses glass now. We also went with metal tube for the 200 gal + this is earth quake country.
I don't have pictures as the one I built was many many years ago. I made three half lap frames out of two by fours that stood vertically. I then put two by fours on the top upright and screwed them directly to the horizontal frames. I put another set of two by fours in between the frames on the bottom and screwed them in place. I put a sheet of 3/4" plywood on the back to prevent racking. My set up was to support a 70 gallon tank on top, and I put a 29 gallon and a ten gallon in the space below it. I skinned it on the exterior and interior with solid oak and oak plywood.
It was a beast, but I never at any time worried whether or not it could support the weight.
I was just out of the Army and living in Pacoima when the Feb 9th 1971 earthquake hit. I had a little 30 gallon tank on an open store bought stand. It didn't fare well. My son was born 2 days later. It was an exciting week!Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Hughes