Building a stand - Corner Support Question

[jschottenfeld]

I'm having a stand constructed for my 125G tank. I have always heard that most of the support for the tank should be at the corners. My cabinetmaker is considering in his design to structure the stand so that all of the weight will be borne by the corners. The tank will sit on top of 3/4" plywood which will bear some of the weight from the sides and bottom.

I guess my question is, "What % of the weight should I figure the sides and bottom to hold"? Is 90% of the weight placed at the corners?

In theory If I had superman and his friend over and they picked up my 125g tank from the corners would that support the tank or would the sides or bottom blow out?

 

[shag26272]

the bottom would blow out if it was full of water, it has to be supported all around, the plywood skin on the stand provides alot of the support on the sides front and back on most stands

 

[woz9683]

Not true.

If your tank is acrylic, yes it has to be supported all the way around the perimeter and have cross-braces underneath the plywood.

If your tank is glass it just needs to be supported at the corners. You don't even need plywood underneath it really.

 

[shag26272]

I dont think that is true the edge of the glass needs to be on a frame all the way around

 

[woz9683]

Well, in this case he's talking about having cabinets built for the tank. So, there's going to be a perimeter all the way around. But, no it does not have to be load-bearing. I can't find the thread at the moment, but I know for a fact I've seen a tank on here (maybe a 100-125 long) 4 feet long or more just supported by concrete blocks on the short ends. There was a completely open span of at least 4-6 feet underneath the tank. You could put 2x4 Ls at the four corners of a glass tank and have more than enough support for a tank up to a couple hundred gallons. Of course there should be plywood for lateral support, but in this case that's a given since we're talking about cabinets.

 

[shag26272]

I guess I have never seen it done, So I assumed it wouldnt work

 

[woz9683]

No problem, if it ends up being an acrylic tank, it will make you perfectly right. Before giving a real structural suggestion I would like to know the tank's dimensions anyway, so it's up to jschottenfeld to supply them. But personally, I use 1x4s for constructing stands and double them up if I feels it's necessary (primarily the corners, and really for the sake of rigidity rather than actual necessity). This leaves the stand a little more open underneath than the standard 2x4s that most people use.