Center brace for 4ft stand?

Afrashz · Aug 17, 2021

Using the kind of diy’s method to build a stand. Do I need a center brace on a 4ft stand? 50g lowboy.

Gtinnel · Aug 17, 2021

I have a diy 6' stand for my 125 without a center brace in the front. With the lumber I put in the corners it gave me a little over 4' span in the middle without a support. I did use 2x6 instead of 2x4 though.

For a 50g I would think that a 4' span with 2x4 would be plenty strong enough.

I'm assuming when you say brace you are talking about a center vertical support?

Afrashz · Aug 17, 2021

Gtinnel said:
I have a diy 6' stand for my 125 without a center brace in the front. With the lumber I put in the corners it gave me a little over 4' span in the middle without a support. I did use 2x6 instead of 2x4 though.

For a 50g I would think that a 4' span with 2x4 would be plenty strong enough.

I'm assuming when you say brace you are talking about a center vertical support?

Yes exactly

Cassjjo · Sep 14, 2021

Gtinnel said:
I have a diy 6' stand for my 125 without a center brace in the front. With the lumber I put in the corners it gave me a little over 4' span in the middle without a support. I did use 2x6 instead of 2x4 though.

For a 50g I would think that a 4' span with 2x4 would be plenty strong enough.

I'm assuming when you say brace you are talking about a center vertical support?

Do you by any chance have any pictures of this? Thanks

Gtinnel · Sep 14, 2021

Cassjjo said:
Do you by any chance have any pictures of this? Thanks

Here are some old pictures I found on my phone. I'm at work so I can't take pictures of it currently. This was one where I was initially building the stand

Here is a picture after I got it skinned with the tank on it, but before I added the doors, please ignore the wiring it was when I was first setting the tank up and was working on the wiring for pumps.

There are 2x6s going vertical from the corners to the opening, and then there is a little over 4' unsupported section in the middle. I hadn't added those vertical supports yet on the first picture. This stand is probably way over built for a 125g tank, and I suspect it would hold way more weight than I have on it.