Howdy all
Been quite a while since I posted here. Pretty busy these daze.
Anyway, I was wondering wondering if anyone knows of a good place to
get plans for an aquarium and aquarium stand? I'm thinking of a
pretty large size (around 50-75 gallons). I've seen a VERY few on
internet searches, but thought someone here might have better
resources than I could find.
Thanks ahead of time!!!
Homer
[email protected] wrote:
> Howdy all
>
> Been quite a while since I posted here. Pretty busy these daze.
>
> Anyway, I was wondering wondering if anyone knows of a good place to
> get plans for an aquarium and aquarium stand? I'm thinking of a
> pretty large size (around 50-75 gallons). I've seen a VERY few on
> internet searches, but thought someone here might have better
> resources than I could find.
>
> Thanks ahead of time!!!
>
> Homer
This subject has been tossed around a couple of times in the last year,
check the archive in google.groups.
Be aware that 75 gallons of water weighs about 600 pounds, add to that
all the glass, hardware, stored objects, and accouterments that may be
in or on the stand and you're looking at a sixable load on your floor.
The above in mind, the last thread on this subject caused the builder to
make a stand that seemed to me to be over engineered. I got curious
and looked at several large tank stands in different pet stores and
found
that the commercial stands look to be way too flimsy to bear the weight.
Obviously that's not the case, since I've not heard of anyone having
their
stand collapse. Most wood is strong in compression mode, so as long
as the stand can't rack I guess that half inch termite barf and glue
panels
covered in woodgrain paper is strong enough.
Take a good look at some commercial stands and take notes. The stands
I looked at didn't provide continuous support for the bottom of the
tank,
just support around the edges of the bottom of the tank. At the time I
thought this to be quite strange since several people have commented on
the need to support the entire bottom surface without any stresses. I
just ran a quick calculation and a tank 24" deep will apply less than
ONE
pound per square inch to the tank bottom. Make your own decision on
this one.
Make sure whatever you build is water resistant.
Get the tank first and then build the base, making sure that tank will
fit
even if you have some movement of the wood. The previous stand
builder learned this lesson.
I hope there's a kernel of wisdom somewhere in the above.
Good luck
ARM