aquarium plans

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