Aquarium Stand

[babiimoore]

was wondering if anyone could tell me if this would hold the weight of a 55 gallon?
its messy, but its free. i cant spend $100 on a table.
its either this, or the floor. and thatll suck.

 

[smee82]

If the woods in good condition and its stable and level i would think so

 

[bitseriously]

I think the biggest problem might be the point load on the four legs. You might be looking at 150 to 175 pounds on each leg. Should be fine for the structure, but it’s something to think about for your floor. Framing around the four legs at floor level - as long as the lowest point is the new frame wood, not the legs - would fix this.
That said, it looks well built and if the picture isn’t misleading, it should hold the load without a problem. I guess one other thing to look at is the integrity of the screws or nails; if any of them look undersized (too skinny, like finishing nails for example), that’ll be the weak point of the structure.
And obviously you need to make sure that the top deck is flat, so that you have full contact between the lower rim of the tank and the structure.

 

[babiimoore]

im sorry i dont understand, are you saying to add wood around the bottom from leg to leg? the floor is concrete so im not worried about it affecting the flooring.
unfortunately i live in a basement, ha.

 

[bitseriously]

im sorry i dont understand, are you saying to add wood around the bottom from leg to leg? the floor is concrete so im not worried about it affecting the flooring.

If the tank will be on a concrete floor, I don't think that's necessary (but yes, that's what I was describing).
Many basement concrete floors are intentionally poured on a slope to facilitate drainage. You may need to shim some of the legs to achieve a level surface.
Looking at the pics again, you can also disregard my concerns about the condition of the fasteners - I see now it's done with larger bolts under both decks.
Your chief concern will be flat... and level. Level and flat, flat and level. Your *two* chief concerns will be flat and level. [MP spanish inquisition ref]

 

[Ulu]

Yeah you're not going to get the top of that nice and level with full-contact to your tank.

If you're putting a 55 gallon glass tank on the stand and it fits with a little room to spare, you can just seet the entire rim of the tank in a bead of bedding compound.

Make sure you get the stand level first, shim the tank up level about 1/8", and the compound will give you full contact from the bottom of the tank to the table. When the compound is dry you just pull off the shims and fill in with a little bit more.

I have used several things as leveling compound in the past including pre-mixed grout, rubber-type adhesive sealant, and concrete patch compound.

(If you wax the plastic rim of the tank before you set it all down it will come back apart much easier later.)

Some people just throw down a thin sheet of Styrofoam and put the tank on top of that.

I think that's okay if under some situations, but I wouldn't recommend that here.

 

[babiimoore]

i put another piece of wood on top to insure full contact. look good?

 

[Mazeus]

Do you have a spirit level? Have you checked that all is level?

 

[babiimoore]

Do you have a spirit level? Have you checked that all is level?

spirit level?

 

[Mazeus]

Spirit level - Wikipedia. Maybe its a British term, but an instrument for checking all sides of the aquarium are level.

 

[babiimoore]

oh, i have one of those leveler things. ill make sure.

 

[Rtessy]

If not, you could fill it just a few inches and measure the height of the water on one side then the height of the other side. If it's a big enough of a tilt it will show even with just a few inches of water.

 

[babiimoore]

will being level affect my 15 gallon? the water isnt even

 

[Rtessy]

How much is it off by?

 

[babiimoore]

How much is it off by?

about an inch

 

[Rtessy]

Oh darn, that is quite a lot... Any way you can prop two legs of the table up on something? Maybe a long strip of wood? Thought I don't know how structurally sound that would be...
Well I hope someone else has a better answer than I do

 

[Ulu]

Well it's hard to tell from here how good it is, but once you put a couple inches of water in the tank, if you can take a very thin piece of plastic & slip it under the plastic frame of the tank anywhere, you do not have full contact.

If it appears good, check it again once you have the tank completely full, because things will sag and move once you put 500 pounds of water on it.

about an inch

OMG!

Drain that tank and get it level.

If you put a marble in the bottom of the empty tank and it rolls around it is not level.