Steel stand, 6ft span. Does it need a center brace?

[Reefin' Alaska]

Family is military and moving, I don’t know specifics but they bought this a year ago and he was deployed shortly after so it’s never had water in it.

Stand is tube steel, welds are really nice, but the lack of center bracing is a bit concerning. They are PCSing out end of next week and offered it to me for $500. What do you think?

 

[D3DPrintedThingz]

It wouldn’t be hard to build or find a stand for a 125 6’ they’re pretty common. It is a lot of weight and I always say if you have to ask you already know the answer.

in addition I wipe the sides of my stand down quite often from salt creep and occasional bubble pops and drips from the refugium. It goes on wood and glass so it is a non issue but you might end up with rust or some undesirable leaching into the tank. Once u fill it you aren’t going to want to do a new stand. It is good deal 500 even without the stand, I say go for it but new stand, can build your control board as you go

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

It wouldn’t be hard to build or find a stand for a 125 6’ they’re pretty common. It is a lot of weight and I always say if you have to ask you already know the answer.

in addition I wipe the sides of my stand down quite often from salt creep and occasional bubble pops and drips from the refugium. It goes on wood and glass so it is a non issue but you might end up with rust or some undesirable leaching into the tank. Once u fill it you aren’t going to want to do a new stand. It is good deal 500 even without the stand, I say go for it but new stand, can build your control board as you go

I actually talked to the store that sold this tank locally, and they directed me to a shop in town that fabricates their stands currently. He told me as long as the steel is straight, which is appears to be when I looked at it, he could easily beef it up and brace it correctly, and cost would be fairly minimal. That makes me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing.

 

[D3DPrintedThingz]

Bracing and reinforcing is a good idea, will work and don’t have to do as much work, always best option

 

[cdbias]

Family is military and moving, I don’t know specifics but they bought this a year ago and he was deployed shortly after so it’s never had water in it.

Stand is tube steel, welds are really nice, but the lack of center bracing is a bit concerning. They are PCSing out end of next week and offered it to me for $500. What do you think?

I consider it an oversight for a steel stand (or any other) not to have leg levelers.

 

[mike550]

@Kurant I’m not a structural engineer but I’m also not the guy that uses 2x4s on everything. I come from a wood frame perspective so welding may be a lot different. But two things come to mind. First, just looking at the pics, the legs seem thin for the load. If it’s a 125 then with water thats over 1,000 lbs. It looks like the frame is welded to the legs, but I can’t tell if the frame is resting on the legs or if the legs go up to the tank and the frame wraps around the legs. Second, I’d be more worried about the frame racking and coming out of square. If you could add a couple of cross braces across the back and maybe diagonals on the sides that would add a lot of rigidity.

 

[piranhaman00]

No you don’t need center brace however that stand will wobble if you bump it full of water.

 

[PotatoPig]

These tanks span from one end to the other. They’re basically a U shaped beam made of glass. If they have one of these in your LFS full of water have a real close look at the base - it is very likely not in contact with the shelf along the whole length.

For the weight of water the legs are probably OK, but I would be worried about stability. Something knocks it hard, or if you’re somewhere that sees earthquakes, I would be worried it would buckle the legs.