Calling all engineers!!

How much head room are u looking for? It looks like u built the wall around 42” tall, so if u use a double 2 X 10 it will leave u with about 32” to 32.5” of head room. If u want more then that then u may need to go with steel. U could also come in about 2’ from one end with a support, then u would only have a 6’ span & a double 2 X 8 would work & give u a little more head room.

I’m no engineer & I didn’t calculate to see if a double 2X10 would work, I was just using it as a example as far as how much head room u would have. I know I wouldn’t use anything less then that to span the entire 8’.
 
I'm well along with a build for my 300g in-wall tank. I'm about to start building the stand (out of wood) and need some engineering guidance.

My tank is 96" long 30" deep and 24" tall. the front of the tank will be sitting on 2x6 rails with 2x4 uprights every 16".

HthlB44l.jpg


Plenty of support up front, here's where I need the help of the engineers, for the back of the tank I want to have it completely open, which means the top rails are going to have to be pretty beefy. What do I need to carry the weight of the 300g and have very little (or within acceptable limits) deflection on that top beam?

Thanks for reading.

Shouldn't the header above the opening be doubled up"
 
I'm well along with a build for my 300g in-wall tank. I'm about to start building the stand (out of wood) and need some engineering guidance.

My tank is 96" long 30" deep and 24" tall. the front of the tank will be sitting on 2x6 rails with 2x4 uprights every 16".

HthlB44l.jpg


Plenty of support up front, here's where I need the help of the engineers, for the back of the tank I want to have it completely open, which means the top rails are going to have to be pretty beefy. What do I need to carry the weight of the 300g and have very little (or within acceptable limits) deflection on that top beam?

Thanks for reading.

Shouldn't the header above the opening be doubled up? Also it needs to be supported properly on the left end.
 
For the engineers, what if he made a I beam out of 2X4 and 2X6 or 2X8, would that help carrying the load better than just a 2x8?
Glued and screwed together. Route a rabbit in the 2X4 about 1/3 way thru for the 2X6 or 2X8 to fit in. So 2X6 or 8 on the vertical, capped top and bottom with a 2X4 or even a 2X6.
 
Update,

I went to the local lumber yard and spoke to an engineer of the company that is making my laminate beam. I gave him the numbers (bumped the weight up to 2000 lbs for safe measure).

Long story short, with a .07 deflection at 2000 lbs eight foot long, I needed a 5 1/8"x9" laminate.

Ray, based on what I ordered, I would have had to glue two 2x8's and used another 2x8 rabbited on top and bottom (all screwed and clued) to achieve similar strength.

I know that this is probably going to the extreme. Having the piece of mind that the beam I ordered has been tested and will guarantee what I want.

The last thing I want is to build this stand with, this has what worked for me..., I think this will work..., what I would do..., I feel that this will work... and so on just to have to later add a center upright brace. I wanted factual numbers in which is far beyond my scope of expertise. I'm just glad that I approached this the way I did because I can sleep easy at night.
 
Update,

I went to the local lumber yard and spoke to an engineer of the company that is making my laminate beam. I gave him the numbers (bumped the weight up to 2000 lbs for safe measure).

Long story short, with a .07 deflection at 2000 lbs eight foot long, I needed a 5 1/8"x9" laminate.

Ray, based on what I ordered, I would have had to glue two 2x8's and used another 2x8 rabbited on top and bottom (all screwed and clued) to achieve similar strength.

I know that this is probably going to the extreme. Having the piece of mind that the beam I ordered has been tested and will guarantee what I want.

The last thing I want is to build this stand with, this has what worked for me..., I think this will work..., what I would do..., I feel that this will work... and so on just to have to later add a center upright brace. I wanted factual numbers in which is far beyond my scope of expertise. I'm just glad that I approached this the way I did because I can sleep easy at night.



Nice. I think this was definitely the way to go! What numbers did he give you? Just curious
 
Quick update,

I got the tank in the wall and it's currently filled with tap water to check for leaks.

AGnjZrKl.jpg


When the tank was empty, I took measurements of the center of the beam to the floor and measured 33.0625 and then again when it was full and got 33.03125. I can live with a 1/32 deflection. And a special thanks to sus for lending your expertise to the matter. I appreciate you navigating me through the process!!

tA5ITs5l.jpg
 
I didn't even think to calculate that....on each side there are 3 douglas fur 2x4's, 2 glued and screwed on the 3.5" face and the 3rd glued and screws perpendicular to the 2 other 2x4's, making the uprights 5"x3" column. the uprights are 31.125" tall. Then there is an upright that fastens to the column and extends to the glue lam. Hopefully the pictures will help explain.

kNmTrbzl.jpg


gfLO7tdl.jpg


tuc6wxHl.jpg
 
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