Steel stand size

[Satori]

For those of you with steel stands, what size steel did you use and what size tank is on it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[geo]

I have a 150 (not exactly a large tank by todays standards) and built the stand using 2 x 2 aluminum tube. It is a simple box with a top and bottom frame seperated by four legs.

 

[Satori]

Thanks geo. I'm setting up a 180 so it's not much bigger than yours.

 

[geo]

I would not hesitate to build the same stand for a 180, maybe bump the tube size a tad or add a center leg.

 

[Satori]

Awesome.

I actually built the stand already using 1" steel square tubing. I started this thread to make sure my thinking wasn't flawed, and that it will hold a 180.

 

[geo]

that looks nice. I am honestly not sure about the 1" tube though. How tall is it?

 

[Satori]

34 inches high.

I would like to hear from more people on this subject before I make any re-design plans.

It will come out to about 250 pounds per vertical brace, and there are 6 diaganal corner braces to hold against torsional stress.

 

[Satori]

Here it is before powdercoating so you can see it better:

 

[geo]

are you going to cover it with plywood or is it complete as is? It will probably be fine.

 

[Satori]

3/4 inch plywood top, 3/8 inch on the bottom, and 3/4 inch front and sides.

 

[Konadog]

MSM, very nice stand.

IMO we tend to over build steel stands.

Here's my over built stand for my 225 built of 2 x 2 square tubing, 72"L x 30"W x 40"H:

I had it coated in Line-x truck bed liner:

Moved into the house with the top:

With the tank:

I still need to enclose the stand

 

[Satori]

Konadog, thanks. Your stand looks great!

 

[sidewinder770]

The thickness makes a big difference as well- not just the tube size. Do you know the wall thickness? Kind of late to be second guessing you stand isn't it ?

 

[elvictre]

Wait you guys built your own steel stands...cool

Vic

 

[Satori]

Yeah, I guess it is a little late to second guess it.... I remain confident it will hold fine, but after last night there's that seed of doubt.

I don't know the wall thickness.

 

[Satori]

Has anyone ever heard of a stand failing? I've only been around a couple years, but I can't remember hearing of anything like that.
That's probably good since people build all varieties of things to put tanks on.

 

[Konadog]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7245867#post7245867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MSM
Has anyone ever heard of a stand failing? I've only been around a couple years, but I can't remember hearing of anything like that.

I haven't heard of a steal stand failing either, but I'm sure it's happened somewhere. Like I said, "IMO we tend to over build steel stands."

One thing I noticed on your stand, the open ends of the tubing will be a place for rust to start. You might try to find a way to close the holes up. On my stand I had the corners mitered at 45Ã"šÃ‚° and welded together so there are no open ends.

 

[dgasmd]

You don't hear about stand breaking after a while, but you hear about tanks splitting or breaking (acrylic). 99% of the times it has othing to do with the tank, but rather the stand shifted over time (wood usually) and caused extremely high stress in an area of the tank making the seams to have an unusual amount of torque or stress = disaster!!!

 

[Konadog]

Good point! Another reason for a well built steel stand.

 

[Satori]

Good points. I put Great Stuff foam in the open ends to keep it from rusting from there.