DIY Stands Template and Calculator

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

I can calculate the beam deflection for a tank if you supply the Length, Width, and Height of the tank for various beam dimensions (I assume a gross weight of 11.5 lbs/gallon).

Do you really need a 92" span with no legs in between?

If I can get away without a center beam....yea... This will actually be two tanks on the same stand. I want to get a 20' LVL beam on the two long stretches...which I believe is stronger than pine...The tanks are going to be on each end with a TV in the middle. However, I want to put a 2x6 vertical beam on the corner and at the end of the tank....so the span will be 82". This will really be 2 stands connected. The tanks are 92x42x30H....

 

[SantaMonica]

The tank is 18" wide, by 48" long

The guy I originally hired to do my same size tank should have used this guide and lumber, instead of particle board. Because of the warped and cracked top I now have to transfer everthing to a poly tub.

 

[fltekdiver]

Need help on 120 tank stand build. Going to build It this weekend,

48"x24"

2x6 for top frame

No supports in middle, I need to have access for a 48" x18" refugium/sump

Starting Stand build this weekend

 

[C-Rad]

If I can get away without a center beam....yea... This will actually be two tanks on the same stand. I want to get a 20' LVL beam on the two long stretches...which I believe is stronger than pine...The tanks are going to be on each end with a TV in the middle. However, I want to put a 2x6 vertical beam on the corner and at the end of the tank....so the span will be 82". This will really be 2 stands connected. The tanks are 92x42x30H....

You want to build a tank stand that will support two 500 gallon tanks. Each of the two tanks you want to put on this "stand" will weigh around 5000 lbs. You need to be sure you build this thing right, and that the floor of the room you want to put it in can handle having a 10,000 lb piece of furniture in it. I think you should get a professional engineer to come up with, or at least look over, your stand design, and the room where you want to put this monster, or somebody might get killed.

To answer your question: No, 2x10 beams would not be sufficient over that span (even if you count it as only 82"). According to the beam deflection formula, 2x12 beams would deflect 0.073", which is probably okay, but that assumes that the weight of each tank is suported all the way around its perimeter (all four sides of each tank). Since the footprint of each tank is 92" x 42", the side beams are important too. BTW: can a tank with such a huge bottom be supported only around the edges, or will you need to support the bottom of the tank too? If you'll need to support the bottom, then the basic design given on this thread is insufficient.

You are right, the stiffness of LVL beams is about equal to the best quality Douglas Fir lumber, and higher than the construction grade studs I use in my calculations.

Please be careful, and build this thing right.:deadhorse1:

 

[zemuss]

So for a Solana 34 gallon with dimensions of 20X 20 X 20, would 1 X 2's be ok if I cover it with plywood?

Which 1X2's would I need to go with? I am thinking OAK or some other type of hard wood.

 

[C-Rad]

So for a Solana 34 gallon with dimensions of 20X 20 X 20, would 1 X 2's be ok if I cover it with plywood?

Which 1X2's would I need to go with? I am thinking OAK or some other type of hard wood.

Regular old pine 1x2's (straight ones without knots or splits) can support the weight just fine without deflecting much at all (0.018"). The only problem would be wracking, but if you skin it with plywood (at least for a few inches around the corners) then wracking won't be a problem.

Wracking is side to side instability caused by a failure to hold the 90 degree corners (where beams and/or columns meet) rigidly at 90 degrees when under load trying to move them. In the basic design on this thread, using 2x4's for legs, and tacking strips, is what keeps the corners rigid. When you substitute narrow things like 1x2's for 2x4's in the legs and tacking strips, wracking can become a problem. Skinning is one way to fix the corners so they can't move. Diagonal supports is another.

 

[zemuss]

Thanks C-Rad and that is the current issue with the Solana stand. I want to build one to replace the weak stand made by Current USA. I have all kinds of wood braces now.

Also the Current USA stand is too small for the sump I am using. A 20X20 stand there really isn't much you can do with it.

 

[nickmjr]

NickC5FE, All you need to do is look at the first page of this thread, post 3.

Now, for a 40G breeder, you can get away with 1X4 instead of 2X because of the smaller tank size. My own design for a 40g breeder stand uses pocket screws instead of the green screw strips in the original plan. The idea is to make 4 "picture frames" with a bottom board, two legs, and a top board. Then the four frames are connected along the corners to make the overall box. Simple and easy.

HTH,
RocketEngineer

Rocket engineer, I plan to build a 50g (36x18x18) rimless and was also planning to use 1x4 for bottom and vertical framing and 1x6 for extra height than the standard size stand. Also I plan to use leveling legs cause my tiled second level floor is not level. I read in a post today that you told someone that leveling legs can crack tile. Would hat be the case with a 50g tank? My design is on page 112.

 

[fltekdiver]

I did my stand last night, but it will not fit my 55 gallon sump

MY sump is 48" long by 18" wide

My main tank is a 120 4'x2'x2'

Now i have to take everything apart again, all that wasted wood

Please tell me how to make a stand for a 120 tank, with a 48" Sump below also, Thanks !

 

[nickmjr]

Revised per your comments

Revised per your comments

I see one big problem: the placement of the feet.
It looks like the feet are holding up the tacking strip (pink) not the weight bearing frame (tan). The way it looks, 100% of the tank weight will be supported by the screws holding the tacking strips to the frame, and that's a big no-no. You can only use feet if they rest under the purple pieces. Even then, it looks like each foot would only support the end of one of the two purple pieces that come together at each corner (The front one, but not the side one.) The weight pushing down on the side red beams will push down only on the side vertical (tan) columns, not of the front vertical columns that would have feet under them. If I look closely at your drawing I can see that the side vertical columns sit MOSTLY on top of the side purple pieces, but also rest a little (3/4") on top of the extreme ends of the front purple pieces. That's probably enough, so if you cut a couple of inches off of the ends of your pink pieces (clearing them out of the corners), put your feet under the ends of the front purple pieces, let the front purple pieces extend over the cut ends of the side purple pieces, AND make sure that, just as in your drawing, you let the SIDE leg columns, extend over the edges of the front leg columns, it should work very well.

By the way, this frame is still massive overkill. I ran the deflection formula for the long top beams if you were to use pine 1x3's for everything(.75"x2.5") and got a deflection of 0.056", which is not a problem. With pine 1x4's it goes down to 0.015" which is very solid. Hardwood would deflect even less, but it is expensive, and harder to work with. I would use pine 1x4's for the whole thing, but pine 2x2's for the tacking strips (but that's just me)

C-Rad, Thanks for your comments, I have revised my stand to only have 1x4 for the Top and extended the 1x4 Vertical supports down to the floor. I found Corner Levelers that are rated at 330lb per leg which should be strong enough since I estimate the total tank weight of 625lb filled with LR and sand. As you can see the screw strips are not touching the bottom frame. I'm still concerned if the leveling legs could cause my tiled floor to crack, although I could put wood under the leveling leg to spread out the pressure placed on the tiles.

I'm questioning weither I need the screw board since I plan to join the corner vertical supports with either biscuits or dowls with glue and wooden corner blocks below the top and bottom frames.

 

[Jackie Blue]

My apologies if this questions has been answered previously I took a quick browse and couldn't find an answer.

The following is for a 120 gallon tank. 48*24*24

I used the rocket template
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o184/mrpoletti/posted/tank build/148629DIY_Stand_Template.jpg

My stand is going to be on carpet and an uneven floor so I purchased feet from Rockler
http://www.amazon.com/Rockler-Heavy...&qid=1362272447&sr=8-44&keywords=rockler+feet

I used ten screws to secure the green 2x4s to their adjacent 2x4s and then attached the feet to the green 2x4s. Is this enough to transfer the load to the feet or will there be too much stress from having the feet attached to the green 2x4s. Will using liquid nails in addition to screws be a better idea or not necessary.

If there's any confusions I have a few pictures..

Thanks,
Jack

 

[Der ABT]

have a 156g oceanic....6ft x 2 x 2.....
came with a stand with your design and 2x4s....
the top fram is 2x4s as well and has 1/2 ply for the top....

would this be ok with no centerbrace...has two uprights in back....

id feel better if it was a 2x6 frame up top but its not.....should i just add a 2x4 to the front for safety?
thanks ahead of time

 

[Der ABT]

Meant to say 5ft x 2 x 2

 

[C-Rad]

have a 156g oceanic....6ft x 2 x 2.....
came with a stand with your design and 2x4s....
the top fram is 2x4s as well ... would this be ok with no centerbrace...has two uprights in back ...should i just add a 2x4 to the front for safety?

According to the formula, you'll get too much deflection with that tank using just a 2x4 beam in front (0.161" - 0.188"). If you put a column support in the middle (a 2x2 would be plenty, if it's straight and has no knots), then you would be fine.

With that much weight on a 2x4, you don't want an unsupported span along that beam that is longer than about 42". If you don't want a support column in the middle, you can put one, or two, support columns anywhere you want, as long as the open span between them is 42" or less. I would add two columns, each 9"-10" in from each side, so that I had a 40"-42" span of open space between them.

 

[C-Rad]

I did my stand last night, but it will not fit my 55 gallon sump

MY sump is 48" long by 18" wide

My main tank is a 120 4'x2'x2'

Now i have to take everything apart again, all that wasted wood

Please tell me how to make a stand for a 120 tank, with a 48" Sump below also, Thanks !

Will you ever want to get your sump out of the stand, or is it okay to build your stand around your sump? You can fit your sump under your stand, but you will not be able to get it out through the front of the stand. If you have 48" clear to either side of your stand, you would be able to slide your sump out side-ways. Here's how:

Look at the basic design of the stands on this thread:

Each leg is made up of two 2x4's (purple). Trim the width of one of them from 3.5" down to 3", and use that more narrow one for the part of the leg that faces the side of the stand (or instead of trimming, you could use a 2x3 instead of a 2x4). Now the gap between the purple pieces along the side, for a 24" wide tank would be 24-3-3= 18". That will work in theory, but in reality you need to design in about 1/8"-3/16" of space on each side of your sump, and your sump probably isn't exactly 18" wide. Carefully measure the bottom (and top) frame of your sump, and your tank, and size the yellow and blue pieces so that they are 3.25"-3.375" longer than your sump width. Then make sure that the frame of your tank will still be completely supported by the red pieces. I always make a careful drawing, like the one above, label the distances, add them up, and make sure it's all going to work before I build a stand ("measure twice, cut once") (needing to rebuild stinks, and needing to rebuild twice can lead to holes in the wall and broken knuckles, and stroke)

BTW: Notice that the thickness of the leg, plus the tacking strip, is 3", so even if you use a 2x3 (2.5" wide) instead of a 2x4 trimmed down to 3", you still have a total of 3" of wood in front of, and behind, your sump, not just 5".

The ends of the sump would be resting on the blue pieces, which would not be enough support for the sump, so you will need to run 2x4's under the long edges of the sump (similar to the red beams) to support it. Also, be sure to arrange the two pieces of wood for each leg exactly as you see them in the picture. If you reverse them, then you'll use up 3" of that 19" gap and be up the creek again (sans paddle)

Possible problems I see in your picture:
Your picture makes it look like there is a little gap between the top of your front legs and the bottom of the front horizontal beam. If so, then the weight on the beam will be hanging on the screws in the tacking strip (green pieces) instead of resting on the top of the legs.
It also looks like the tacking strips touch the floor. The should be at least 1/8" above the floor, so that all the weight will rest on the legs, and none on the tacking strip.

 

[C-Rad]

The following is for a 120 gallon tank. 48*24*24
I used the rocket template

My stand is going to be on carpet and an uneven floor so I purchased feet from Rockler
http://www.amazon.com/Rockler-Heavy...&qid=1362272447&sr=8-44&keywords=rockler+feet

I used ten screws to secure the green 2x4s to their adjacent 2x4s and then attached the feet to the green 2x4s. Is this enough to transfer the load to the feet or will there be too much stress from having the feet attached to the green 2x4s. Will using liquid nails in addition to screws be a better idea or not necessary.
Jack

I would never build a tank stand that hangs the load on screws, even if I ran the numbers and determined it would hold, because tanks can easily leak salt water, which softens wood and corrodes screws. The shear strength of a completely corroded screw is zero pounds, so unless you are going to use Titanium screws, and can find data on the pull-out strength of that particular screw in saturated wood, there's no way to run the numbers and know what will work and what will fall down.

The good news is that you can avoid the problem by designing your stand using vertical columns. Before you drop $100 on fancy feet, consider using wood shims under the legs of the stand. Just make sure that the shims support both 2x4's of each shimmed leg equally. I would fill the tank, give the stand a few days to settle (squish down the carpet and padding), and then use a long level to see how much you'll need to raise the low corners to make everything level. Then make your shims, empty the tank, and slip them under the legs.

You can also find feet that are designed to support a 90 degree angle, and trim down (and drill) the the tacking strips at the bottom so that no weight is resting on them, and both parts of each leg are supported. I think the shims will support better, and be cheaper, but either solution will work.

 

[Der ABT]

According to the formula, you'll get too much deflection with that tank using just a 2x4 beam in front (0.161" - 0.188"). If you put a column support in the middle (a 2x2 would be plenty, if it's straight and has no knots), then you would be fine.

With that much weight on a 2x4, you don't want an unsupported span along that beam that is longer than about 42". If you don't want a support column in the middle, you can put one, or two, support columns anywhere you want, as long as the open span between them is 42" or less. I would add two columns, each 9"-10" in from each side, so that I had a 40"-42" span of open space between them.

Thanks guess ill have to figure something out....its around 50in span right now.....was also thinking of butting some corner bracing by the opening (45degree bracing tied to the legs in the top corners) but may just leave the middle brace...i can manage with a 2x4 just would rather have it fully open.... again thanks

 

[jcc29649]

New stand

New stand

I keep looking through this thread and had a couple of questions. My tank is a 65 gallon 36x18x24. Would using 2x4 be good enough or should i use 2x6? Wa planning on using rocket engineer's plans. The stand will also hold a 30 gallon sump so will that make a bit differenc in construction?

Thanks

 

[Dre59]

This is a great thread :thumbup::thumbup:

 

[ronl]

RocketEngineer and other experts,

I'm planning a 24x24x12 rimless shallow cube with 1/2" glass. Bottom will not have plastic trim. Had a 58 gal tank spring a leak in my living room, so wife requires this tank to have no chance of leaking on the floor.

Plans are for stand to be 30 x 31.5, so there will be 3" extra on sides and front of tank and 4.5" extra in back of tank (for plumbing). Bottom frame of of stand will be 2x8 lumber with plywood on bottom and all sealed so the stand will hold ~25 gal of water in event of leak.

Attached are a couple of pics of a structure I was thinking of using. Front side legs (yellow) are 2x6 and rear side legs (orange) are 2x8. This allows a second set of top rails in the front and back (red) that will support the tank and can rest 1" onto the legs. Side rails (beige) would be notched to allow red supports to rest on legs. A second set of side rails (gray) would be attached to the red supports with hangers.

The top will have a sheet of 3/4" plywood with a drainage hole to allow any water that could leak from the tank to drain into the bottom of the stand. The stand will be skinned in 3/4" plywood that is slightly higher than the top of the stand so that water drains into stand rather than going over the edge of the top of the stand.

Will this structure provide enough support having only the front and back rails supported by the legs?

With this size tank, do I even need to worry about the rails under the tank being supported by the legs? Could I just do all 2x4 legs and then use hangers to mount the internal cross rails with the 3/4" plywood on top? I was even thinking of doing a double layer of 3/4" plywood glued together to have a 1.5" thick top, if needed.

Thanks,
Ron