Attempt #2 at a tank stand

[taylorjonl]

I am building an in-wall tank in my basement, my first attempt at designing a stand was using 8020 aluminum but it was going to be super expensive so I am designed a new one out of wood. The tank will be a 72x60x30" tank, so about 450 gallons filled which is about 5000 pounds of weight.

The stand is using 2x8" for the upper supports. I am trying to keep it as open underneath the tank as possible to allow for plenty of space for equipment. My hope is the 2x8" will be strong enough to not need a center support across the 60" span.

The stand also has a 21" ledge on two sides so I can stand on the ledge to perform maintenance in the tank. The stand will be nailed/screwed into the framing for the fish room which should help with the stability also.

Here are some pics:

There will likely be a few more supports in there, especially for the ledge. Also of coarse there will be 1" plywood on the top and bottom to support the tank/sump.

Will this design support my tank appropriately? Any suggestions or changes?

 

[jsker]

Very nice design layout, you are more than covered with support.

 

[BlueCursor]

The left and right sides, will those be covered over with sheet rock or exposed? I assume you have access from behind and get to the sides from behind.

The reason I ask is that those side braces/shelves offer no support and will get in the way of maintenance. If you can stand in there life is a lot easier than having to deal with a shelf in the middle. Like I said, those side braces offer no support at all for the aquarium. If you are worries about sideways movement of the tank, put some 45 degree bracing underneath in the back, but you don't need any of that anyway. The stand is so overbuilt you are fine.

You could keep the horizontal 2x8 at the front of the aquarium stand, and connect that to your wall 2x4s. But serious consider opening up those sides so you can walk in there without having to do contortion acts to clean and maintain your tank from the sides.

 

[taylorjonl]

The left and right sides, will those be covered over with sheet rock or exposed? I assume you have access from behind and get to the sides from behind.

The left/right sides will be left open, so there will be a 21" wide space between the stand and the wall, both of which will not have sheet rock, so depending on alignment I could potentially have an additional 7" to move. The space will have 2'10" of clearance. I just measured it out under my computer desk and checked how it felt, it was of course tight but it wasn't bad and my computer desk only has a clearance of 2'4".

Here is a rendering of the tank/stand from behind:

Again, I tested how comfortable I was in a space that small under my computer desk and it wasn't bad, I may even redesign the stand to make the ledges use 2x4's instead to get another 4 inches clearance. That would give me 3'2" of clearance, when sitting upright in my computer chair I measure the top of my head to my chairs cushion is about 2'11".

I am also contemplating stealing more space from my laundry room, maybe another 6" to 12" which would help even more.

The reason I ask is that those side braces/shelves offer no support and will get in the way of maintenance. If you can stand in there life is a lot easier than having to deal with a shelf in the middle. Like I said, those side braces offer no support at all for the aquarium. If you are worries about sideways movement of the tank, put some 45 degree bracing underneath in the back, but you don't need any of that anyway. The stand is so overbuilt you are fine.

I put the shelves there to help make maintenance easier. I plan on making the equipment accessible from the front and back.

So if I make the equipment I need to access most easily accessible from the front or back access areas I shouldn't have to crawl around on the sides much. For example, I plan on a skimmer, the zeovit system and a couple algae turf scrubbers. With the amount of space I have it shouldn't be hard to find space that is easy to access. Honestly, I think under the tank will be pretty empty. I will be dosing 2 part for Alkalinity/Calcium, so no calcium reactor. Zeovit recommends no GFO so no reactors. It should be a pretty simple system.

The primary reason for the shelves are maintenance in the tank, e.g. vacuuming sand, placing live rock, etc. I don't want to have to use a ladder or stepping stool, I want the stability of a shelf. I guess I could build a ledge that is removable, in case I really need to stand next to the tank, I am just not really sure how much I will need to stand next to the tank.

 

[taylorjonl]

If I make the shelves not permanent and instead put a couple 2x4's on the wall and on the tank stand, then build two 3' stand that I can slide to where I want it and/or remove it completely.

You can see the shelves, the one on the left is ready to use for getting into the tank, the one on the right is flipped up so it is out of the way.

I also stole another 6" for the fish room, so I have 24" on each side of the tank, minus 3" where the 2x4's are on the wall and stand. I think with 24" I could sit indian style on the side of the stand.

What do you think?