65 Gallon Tank How important is it to have the aquarium sides supported?

Hey guys,

completely new to fish keeping and my first post here. I need some advice on the stand I'm DIYing for my new 64 gallon/240 liter aquarium. The two long sides and bottom are 0.4 inches or 10 mm thick, and the remaining sides are 0.31 inches or 8 mm thick. It's a German made tank and built.. like a tank (lol). Also, it's made of glass.

As you can see from the photos I've added, I'm working to DIY/reinforce an old retro cabinet.. thing. The dimensions of my tank are 47x15.7x19.7 in inches, or 120x40x50 in cm. My plan is to remove the floor and feet of the cabinet and build one of your conventional DIY stands like we all see on Youtube out of 2 by 4's. The left over shell of the cabinet will consist of a roof and four walls, leaving the bottom open for a stand to slot into, like a kid in a sheet for Halloween. A wooden sheet, if you will. No eye holes though.
Anyway, I have read and heard that a majority of the tanks weight is held through its sides and corners. The issue I have is that the top of the cabinet is 47x17.7 inches, or 120x45. More or less the same size as the tank itself. Now because of the walls, the stand itself will be built slightly smaller than the top. The dimensions for the stand will be roughly 1.6 inches or 4.2 cm shorter than the aquarium length ways, and 0.3 inches or 9 mm shorter from back to front. Between the tank and the stand will lie the top of the cabinet, a foam mate for obvious reasons, and if needed, a thin sheet of plywood or something.

My concern being that the wood of the top could somehow bend slightly, leading to all the weight being applied to the base of the tank and eventually, wet feet. Could this slight overlap of the tank in regards to the tank stand underneath cause issues, even if I have the wooden cabinet top, foam and, if needed, more wood in between? Or am I overthinking it and I'll be fine. (please tell me I'll be fine). Any advice would be amazing cause this project terrifies me. Never played with so much water D:

Cheers and have a nice day
Jay

 

The correct answer is the tank should not overhang the stand. That is a large tank and I would be very careful. At a very large expense you should/ could use marine plywood that is not effected by long term exposure to water. Ordinary plywood will swell when wet ,the edge will get wet. I know it’s expensive but you will sleep better doing the job once. Having to empty the tank and change the plywood is a major job.

Having seen many local club members rooms there are many tanks set up on chairs etc. I gave you the correct advice but offer a snapshot of a firebucket tank that is sitting on a few chunks of 2x4 .

Just because I am silly enough not to support all of the tank doesn’t mean you should risk it on carpet with live stock .

Instead of plywood you could build a frame of 2x4 around the bottom of the tank?

 

The correct answer is the tank should not overhang the stand. That is a large tank and I would be very careful. At a very large expense you should/ could use marine plywood that is not effected by long term exposure to water. Ordinary plywood will swell when wet ,the edge will get wet. I know it’s expensive but you will sleep better doing the job once. Having to empty the tank and change the plywood is a major job.

Having seen many local club members rooms there are many tanks set up on chairs etc. I gave you the correct advice but offer a snapshot of a firebucket tank that is sitting on a few chunks of 2x4 .
View attachment 850144Just because I am silly enough not to support all of the tank doesn’t mean you should risk it on carpet with live stock .

Instead of plywood you could build a frame of 2x4 around the bottom of the tank?View attachment 850145

Cheers for the response. The tank will not have a single part which isn't supported, only the plywood sheet will be ever so slightly larger than the base. Do you still think this could be problematic? I'm unsure of how to calculate the strength of ply over x distance with y thickness. I assume .5 inch thick plywood out to .7 of an inch would be more than enough considering the lever arm is so short.
For waterproofing I had planned to paint it using black waterproof paint. Would that be sufficient for water proofing do ya think?

Below is an example of a tank stand where the top overhangs the stand underneath by a huge margin. Granted, the tank on such a stand would be a third of the weight.

With building a second base out of 2 by 4's, I don't think it would be all that much stronger than with ply, seeing as it would to an extent also overhang the stands base. Another thing being that I'd need two plywood tops which would make this project less feasible money wise.

I appreciate the pics and advice. You're very right, though. I'm living on the fourth floor in an apartment, where 64 gallons would do a lot of damage. I need to be certain before carrying out this project. I will have the aquarium insured though so I have that as backup.

Ah also, here's a quick drawing I did to help visualize what's going on better. This would be from the front

 

You seem to have a good handle on what you are doing?

Do it once and do it right.

I think paint will work with enough coats.

Some stands sold in my town by the big box stores are made of partical board that is probably the worst material for a shelf that gets wet.

 

Ah also, here's a quick drawing I did to help visualize what's going on better. This would be from the front

View attachment 850184

Nice drawing. How thick and solid is the cabinet top? It seems unlikely to me that a .8 and .3 inch overhang of this top over your 2x4 stand is going to bend. Even with 700 pounds over the 126 inch perimeter it's only 5.5 pounds across any inch. It seems you could stand on this edge and not see it bend.

I also question the need for a pad between the cabinet top and plywood. Won't hurt of course, but just not sure what it offers. Aren't frameless tanks supposed to have a specific pad directly under the tank?

Even with 700 pounds over the 126 inch perimeter it's only 5.5 pounds across any inch.

I was thinking of a traditional framed tank here, where the entire weight is constrained to the edges of the frame. But a frameless tank bottom is completely flat, correct? So the weight at the perimeter will be even less than above. The cabinet top will not bend if supported properly by your 2x4 stand as proposed.

One thing I would do it fasten the cabinet top to your stand with countersunk screws and wood glue. This will add additional support for the extremely minor top overhang.