TuesdaysChild

I was given a 55 gallon tank and stand but the stand was severly water damaged and had to be thrown out. I already have this here and am wondering if it's strong enough to hold the weight of the tank. Does anyone have an opinion or any suggestions as to how I could figure it out that doesn't involve filling the tank? This unit is made of particle board and is about half an inch thick.

Attached Images

	IMG_0601.JPG (432.2 KB, 65 views)
	IMG_0602.JPG (620.3 KB, 68 views)
	IMG_0603.JPG (679.4 KB, 66 views)
	IMG_0607.JPG (740.8 KB, 62 views)

TedsTank

Solid ends and support in middle is the standard LFS stand....the weight is distributed over the 4 legs on your...might be a bit shy of solid.. Would be better if the legs were wider. My 55 has solid to the floor ends and a support in the middle too. That distributes the weight over 6 points....yours is over 4 points.
A bit risky....your can be fixed with a couple nice boards and some paint to look nice.

Jaysee

If it's made of solid wood you are good to use it, but I wouldn't trust particle board with a tank that big. Particle board is just wood shavings and glue.

mare2009

Hi~Well the ratio of water to pounds is a 1gallon =8pounds, a 55 G tank will be 440 w/out decorations and gravel, with all the etc's figure 55 to be on 460+ side. I sure wouldn't rely on particle board myself. If there is a way to brae it in the middle and sides that would be reccomended, like actually framing it out. Do you know a carpenter, that sure would help you

aquarist48

Hello. Congrats on getting a new tank. If that were mine I would probably use it as is. However, a little reinforcement can go a long ways as mentioned above. I see a table leg, in the back, in the center. Is it resting on 5 legs?
Best of luck and I hope you can work it out.
Ken

Peffico

Hmm well if you have a glass aquarium it should be able to have all 4 corners fit onto the table.

That stand will only work though if you put a thick piece of cardboard or something else to distribute the weight evenly. Or else all the weight will be pressing down on those 4 legs in a certain spot which could possibly (not saying it will happen but theres is a chance) make the legs give out from underneath.

And even then with the cardboard you will have to put it on the bottom-most floor of your house, or else it might just crash (thats an extreme case though) through the floor with all the lbs per square inch of pressure those legs will be putting on your floor.

What you could also do (what I did for mine) is run down to home depot or any place that sells wood and get some nice thick screws and some planks of wood (any will do) and just screw it in the bottom of your stand. That should evenly distribute the weight and shouldn't be a problem for any floor of your house. Of course you wanna get the right measurements so you don't have an eye sore on your hands.

Anyways good luck with all that and hopefully I helped out some.

namehater

put the stand outside, set the tank on top, fill it with water. if your going to take the risk anyhow, might as well give it a test run first. if you do take it outside, make sure the stand is on something solid and level (garage floor?).

i think it will work fine for a stand.

Jaysee

I don't think you have to worry about the tank falling through the floor from the pressure being on 4 legs - the surface area of the contact points from the four legs of that table is much more than that from the iron stand my 55 in on. The less surface area of the contact points, the more force.

My biggest concern would be bumping into it and having the legs give out on one side.

jdhef

I think it will probably be okay so long as the tank is about as wide as the stand. In a perfect world the sides of the tank would be right over top of the sides of the stand. If there is too much distance between the sides of the tank and the sides of the stand, the center of the stand could start to sag, making the sides of the stand lean in at the top and spread at the botton.

TuesdaysChild

Sorry for taking so long to get back. I appreciate all the responses. Most of you confirmed what I was already thinking. Since I don't have the extra space for a 55 gallon stand right now, I decided to trade the 55 gallon for a 30 gallon through craigslist. The 30 gallon should only be on this stand for a few months while I work on making the room to upgrade to a 46g bow front with stand.