building custom stand for 60 gallon cube

[newbie2011]

so heres my question

I have bought a planet aquarium rimless cube 24" x 24" x 25" 60 gallons

I am building a stand for it and want to use birch wood. can i use just the birchwood without using 2x4's or should i brace with 2x4s attached is a crappy blue print to give you an idea.

 

[A sea K]

Birch plywood? If so then @ 3/4" it will be plenty strong enough if built correctly.
I built the stand for my 24x24x12 30 gal using 3/4" oak ply and it is way stronger than needed. Also, my 210 that I recently took down was built from 3/4" oak ply as well. It was set-up back in 05 or 06 and showed no sign of problems when I took it down.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

I used the 2x4 frame on my 42" high stand to insure that I wouldn't have any, any structural issues with stand rigidity. There just wasn't much of a time or financial advantage associated with screwing with a proven design during the build. Just my opinion. Good luck!

 

[A sea K]

I'll need to go check but I'm pretty sure the stand for my 210 is 40'ish inches tall.
The problem I have with internal frame structures is the loss of internal dimensions, fairly important especially when dealing with smaller tanks as sump space becomes a premium.

 

[billdogg]

If you have the ability to make square cuts in the plywood, you can assemble using pocket hole screws, and the result willl be way stronger than it needs to be.

 

[woodnaquanut]

+1 to both billdogg and A sea K's posts.

2x construction is great if you are new to woodworking and can't make long, square cuts. It takes up lots of room in the stand which is OK on larger tanks but really is restrictive on smaller tanks.

As to strength, either method is way more than needed if the construction is good. My 120G sits on a plywood stand. It's still there after an earthquake (Napa, 2014) strong enough to slosh water out of the tank!

Has anyone seen a commercial stand made with 2x material? I haven't.

 

[davocean]

On non trimmed tanks it is important to make sure the bottom is fully supported, not just corners like trimmed tanks, so keep that in mind.
Agree w/ others, ply is plenty strong, done properly.

 

[newbie2011]

Well i was to worried to do just ply since i have never built a stand before but here is the stand i made out of 2x4's. Still have to wrap it in something.

I'm thinking on the attached picture. The way they did the bar. Has anyone done this? where the wood is spaced away from the stand.