If you build your stand using RocketEngineer's guidelines, you won't need a center post for support. The recommended 2x width is designed to span the length of the tank without the use of a center leg. I added one to my build because I want something in the center to hang doors on. HTH
I would disagree on that idea. It is a nailer, an artifact from a design where there needs to be a board to "catch" the edge of drywall sheets so they can be nailed up without sagging. The design did not transition completely from wood house framing to "furniture". The crossbars don't have the rigidity they would need to prevent spreading or warping. Even if attached with really serious metal joist hangers, they would fail if the front or back rail of the stand began to warp or twist. Screws and glue don't have a chance.
If warping is a possible issue the approach in the photo would address it. This shows a stand just before plywood panels are placed on the shelves. The inner edges of the doubled rails drop down by the thickness of the plywood being used. Once screwed and glued in place, the rails are tied together enough that warping or twisting would be minimized without pulling joints apart as would happen with a crossbar.
Painted, back-braced, and ready for doors, this picture shows the plywood in place on the shelves for the tank and the sump.
I agree with you here completely. The reason for a center post, or an offset post, is to hang doors on, or as a backstop for the door latches. Otherwise it is just something that will get in the way and possibly warp or twist something else that would have been fine.
We can go with a "green" concept and have less wood and more strength, or just throw wood and metal brackets at a design, which could actually weaken it with extraneous non-functional pieces.
The basic principle of the design is two box frames connected by four legs. The upper one supports the tank and transfers the load to the legs. The legs are made of several pieces of 2X4 to assist in construction and sheething the stand in plywood for strength and cosmetics. The bottom frame transmits the load of the tank into the floor.
Design notes:
*The plan for this stand consists of 21 pieces. Like color pieces are the same length and of the same board size.
*The box frames are screwed together first, then the legs are built off the bottom frame, the top frame is then placed on top and secured to the legs.
*The green pieces are screw strips. These provide limited load strength but serve to make assembly easier and help keep the stand square.
*The blue piece between the upper rails (red) works to keep the upper rails from twisting.We are talking about the same piece. That's not the disconnect. The disconnect happened long before either of us entered the picture. The blue piece is nothing except a nailer, and a totally useless one in this application since as we have both pointed out, no one is going to nail anything to it. It is just left over from an earlier use for this structural design when drywall would have been nailed to it. The fabrication that it somehow keeps the rails from twisting or warping is just someone trying to explain why this now useless nailer is still there. Someone who didn't understand why it was there in the first place, left it there because they did not know what it was.
LOL. Well, mine is already built and I was thinking of hanging a light from it over my fuge. I'll put it to work.
The OP wanted to help folk make stands for their tanks using minimal skill and material. You don't have to use 2xs for stands but they are easily acquired, cut and assembled. They are overbuild but the ease of construction allows more folks to build them.
