Question on building a stand

[ninersrule1]

I am going to build a stand, my aquarium is a 20g cube so this is more of a stand/ storage cabinet and will be totally overkill for size tank but also allow me to expand down the road.

It will be 40 in wide by 20 inch deep, can't go to 24 due to location.

Do you think 36 high would make it too top heavy? It's going to be built with 2x4s so it's going to be plenty heavy. I could brace it to a stud on wall but prefer not to.

Thoughts? But

 

[mikejones]

I’m planning a build for a 40 gallon cube and want to integrate a separate fuge to to my sump and ato reservior. I’m planning to make it 40” high as to not bend over to look at it. And 30” long. It will be build with 2x4s as well. I’m not planning on using it as storage so I think you should be good with those measurements, but I’d go 4” in height!!

 

[Irish Mortal]

I have built a few aquarium stands over the past 30 years. All of them were 32 inches tall. But two of them were only 13 inches front to back. And all of them were plenty stable and had no issues with medium sized earthquakes. (5.0 or less).
Your depth of 20 inches will provide you with more than enough stability to have a height of 36 inches. Just make sure any aquarium you put on the stand does not overhang the footprint of the stand where it contacts the ground. So whether you have a flat bottom or legs/feet, the aquarium should not overhang that footprint.

 

[boltman1]

DIY forum has info on stand building

 

[ninersrule1]

I have built a few aquarium stands over the past 30 years. All of them were 32 inches tall. But two of them were only 13 inches front to back. And all of them were plenty stable and had no issues with medium sized earthquakes. (5.0 or less).
Your depth of 20 inches will provide you with more than enough stability to have a height of 36 inches. Just make sure any aquarium you put on the stand does not overhang the footprint of the stand where it contacts the ground. So whether you have a flat bottom or legs/feet, the aquarium should not overhang that footprint.

Thanks, yah I figured it would be fine.

Overhanging the footprint, reminds me of the nightmare when I set up my 180gal tank... had a beautiful custom stand built by a member here. Have him dimensions of the tank, and then stand ended up being like 1/4 inch too small for the tank... maybe less than 1/4 inch I forget. I showed pictures to everyone here and consensus was it should be ok it yah that was a scary moment. The cube is 18 so this will be plenty big for it.

 

[ninersrule1]

Well I started making the frame and put it in the spot and it just stuck out way too much and made the entry way from garage look too small, so now I'm going to have to shorten the stand to be closer to tank dimension so it's going to be around 20x20 and possibly 36 inches tall... little worried about it being like that but I've seen other stands around this height and it looked ok.

 

[.oO Kasei Oo.]

I cant definitely say for sure if yours would be top heavy but I built one for my jbj 45. Stand is 26W"x22D"x36"H.
Wanted it high so people don't have to bend far to look inside. I have it on wood floors tho with no issues on rocking once filled with water. Only issue I have is when sitting on a chair you get an eye full of light from the radions.

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[ninersrule1]

I cant definitely say for sure if yours would be top heavy but I built one for my jbj 45. Stand is 26W"x22D"x36"H.
Wanted it high so people don't have to bend far to look inside. I have it on wood floors tho with no issues on rocking once filled with water. Only issue I have is when sitting on a chair you get an eye full of light from the radions.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input, it will be in an entryway where nobody really would be sitting but I'm sure the youngest kid would have to deal with the led

 

[ninersrule1]

Oh and this most likely will be on tile flooring, I don't want to deal with water and laminate flooring or carpet, too many issues with that from my experience.