Advice on my stand

[760mason]

This is my stand i built for my 90 gallon. the common sense side part of my brain tells me to add center supports. Although I like the idea of having it open for easy maintenance. It will be skinned with 1/2 oak has anyone built a stand like this with out center supports? If so how is it holding up? It is 2 x 4's with 3/4 ply on top. it was made with kreg joints and glued. i Also shot 2 inch brad nails at each joint for extra piece of mind. it is rock solid and very strong. will this design hold up without sagging in the center?

 

[redfishbluefish]

The major problem I see is that it's about 2 or 3 Corona's short. :bigsmile:


The rule with these dimensional stands is up to four feet, 2 x 4 top braces; over four feet, 2 x 6 top braces. I'm assuming this is a "standard" four foot 90 gallon tank.....if so, that stand looks fantastic! No center brace needed. I would highly recommend some type of skin to keep it from racking.

 

[760mason]

it is actually a custom 90gallon 40 inches length. it will be skinned with 1/2 oak I am working on that as we speak.

 

[geef64]

I built one for a 125 with no center brace in front but put one in back. I used 2x6 for top frame and 2x4 for legs and bottom frame and skinned with old barn wood.

 

[redfishbluefish]

There is a structural defect in this stand design. You have the screws/nails supporting all the weight....it will eventually fail.

If you can, pop off the skin and add 2x4's that directly go from the top frame to bottom frame...as in this picture...the purple boards.

 

[geef64]

There are i just did not post that picture. They had to be there not only for strength but to put on the barn wood

 

[geef64]

Bit thanks for the concern.

 

[760mason]

I used 2 x 4 on the entire stand 2 x 6 seemed a bit excessive for a stand only 44 inches long. I am going to put a center support on the rear so i have 3 points to earthquake strap it to the wall. I am very happy with how it turned out everything is square and is level. But this morning I noticed a small gap between stand top and bottom of tank. I am stumped this is actually the second version of this stand. the first one had a wobble to it. So I took my time on this one built jigs for all my cuts checked square and level it was perfect. Is this just a flaw in making a stand out of wood? Should I pop the top off and shim that corner? or use foam? Rubber mat? or will it sink into place when the water is added?

 

[SloppyJ]

I think your stand is fine. The hard work is just begun. Skinning that dude and making doors is the fun part!

 

[bmeudy]

Stand looks good. Like the bardwood wrapping.

 

[Reef.ductionist]

Framing looks really good, I built one for a 100 gallon high a few years back using the same structural layout. However, I also clamped and glued corner buttresses into all the major corners on my design. Doing so was pretty easy and the logic is you want to 'overcompensate ' in your design. Over time nails alone can become risky with high humidity etc. The use of any reefcresting or wave making devices could also add additional sideways torques to the stand which over time could theoretically loosen nails alone. A 90 gallon tank would weigh well over 1000 pounds so all these pressures on the nailjoints would be magnified.
So that is my opinion. Stand looks nice but add those corner blocks in the corners too.

 

[geef64]

If you over doit you have peace of mind for your investment

 

[Bad Company]

I went as far as stainless screws everywhere on my stand, and then made sure there were no heads exposed to the humid interior.

 

[760mason]

Framing looks really good, I built one for a 100 gallon high a few years back using the same structural layout. However, I also clamped and glued corner buttresses into all the major corners on my design. Doing so was pretty easy and the logic is you want to 'overcompensate ' in your design. Over time nails alone can become risky with high humidity etc. The use of any reefcresting or wave making devices could also add additional sideways torques to the stand which over time could theoretically loosen nails alone. A 90 gallon tank would weigh well over 1000 pounds so all these pressures on the nailjoints would be magnified.
So that is my opinion. Stand looks nice but add those corner blocks in the corners too.

All joints are glued and have exterior kreg screws through out. I only used a couple brad nails on each joint for the unlikely event that the keg joints come loose. As far as a corner buttress would would a triangle cut from a 2 x 6 work in each corner?

 

[Reef.ductionist]

Hi 760mason,
Yeah that was what I used. I finished everything first likeyou then cut some triangles out of some pieces of woodthen glued and clamped them for 24 hours.
After that the thing felt like a rock, and Islept better too, kidding aside. By the way that looks nice. Whatkind of reef are you building?