Custom 55 gallon stand

[jimmyt]

I have finally begun construction of my custom stand for a 55 gallon tank.  My design is basically an offshoot of darkdep's killer stand.  Many thanks to darkdep for providing an awesome guide!  The only differences so far is that I used pocket screws instead of angle brackets and I ran the top and bottom sections through a sander to get a perfect level!  No planing necessary   My question now is - what if anything should I put between the tank bottom and the 3/4" plywood top - I had originally thought styrofoam - but am now leaning towards a 1/4 poly vinyl type material (like a thin mat) .. any thoughts?   I hope to have the skin done this weekend and begin trim and stain work next week.

thanks

jim

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[yellowtang]

with the way you have built that stand!!!
you would not have a problem standing an elephant there!!
it looks very sturdy and heavy.
cheers

[audioslave_36]

I run 1" pink Styrofoam sm under all my tanks, IMO it is a must have.

[jimmyt]

yellowtang - yep you can park a buick on it   - The cost is not much so I thought why not way over-engineer it!  The nice thing is my brother has a full woodworking shop with all the tools and toys.  That sander was awesome - it made the top an bottom frames straight as an arrow - then for the vertical members we lined them up in a pannel saw and cut them all at once so both ends were "prefectly" parallel to the ends.. the only problem has been some slight bowing of the wood which is not that bad. A friend of his has a "shop bot" which is a computer controlled saw - we just put the plywood on the unit and punch in the dimensions for the skin and it is damn near perfect!  I have enjoyed the process - I hope to get some more pics up in the next few days!

audioslave - do you glue it down? and how much does it compress?  (that way I know how high to build the trim to cover all of the black base on the tank)

thanks

jim

[alexv]

audioslave - do you glue it down? and how much does it compress?  (that way I know how high to build the trim to cover all of the black base on the tank)

I put 0.5" extruded styrofoam (the pink one) under my 225 gal. It doesn't compress at all. The foam is Cellfort 200, which is rated at 20 psi. With the area of 12 sq. feet under the tank (1728 sq. inches), it will hold 34,560 pounds... I guess my tank is just about a ton, roughly 2,000 pounds, so that's 1/17th of the weight it can hold... No worries here

Even the white one will hold a lot of weight...

[audioslave_36]

no you don't have to glue it down, I just sold my 220g tank which has been sitting on 1' pink sm for just about a year now and when we took it off the stand last Saturday it had only left a one sixteenth of an inch imprint in the foam. so don't worry about it settling.

Dave

[jenn_zep]

for what reason is the foam used,

[pminister]

for what reason is the foam used,

To what i have read n heard from people, the foam is used for many reasons such as:

-to provide even weight distribution, and not to put to much strain over whatever platform the tank is sitting at. especially if the stand is not levelled properlly

-also to protect your stand from scratches.

n i am sure there are other reason. but those are two main reasons, with the one at the top being important.

-seb

[Quatro]

for what reason is the foam used,

Assume for a moment that there is a piece of gravel on your stand.  If you set the tank on it and fill with water then the pressure point will crack your tank.  The foam would absorb the gravel and remove the pressue point.  This is an extreme example and probably wouldn't happen but basically the foam removes the worry of pressure points.

[alexv]

Assume for a moment that there is a piece of gravel on your stand.  If you set the tank on it and fill with water then the pressure point will crack your tank.  The foam would absorb the gravel and remove the pressue point.  This is an extreme example and probably wouldn't happen but basically the foam removes the worry of pressure points.

Yes, that's the main reason. To remove tiny imperfections in the stand (and the tank) and distribute weight more evenly. However the foam won't fix general "unlevelness" of the stand or some big unevenness of the stand surface (like warped top, etc). Generally the stand must be quite close to perfect (true and level). The foam helps absorb tiny imperfections like sand, etc.

I'm sure it would work without the foam too and a sand particle would be just pressed into the wood surface of the stand, but maybe it's more important for rimmed tanks. If the tank has a plastic trim on the bottom, then it would sit on the thin plastic along the perimeter and the whole bottom would be suspended in the air and not supported by the stand.. Foam would generally give in that area until the whole tank bottom comes in contact with the foam and equalize the pressure throughout the base.

I hope this makes sense.

[audioslave_36]

I'm sure it would work without the foam too and a sand particle would be just pressed into the wood surface of the stand, but maybe it's more important for rimmed tanks. If the tank has a plastic trim on the bottom, then it would sit on the thin plastic along the perimeter and the whole bottom would be suspended in the air and not supported by the stand.. Foam would generally give in that area until the whole tank bottom comes in contact with the foam and equalize the pressure throughout the base.

I hope this makes sense.

this is not the case, the foam will not give way to allow the tank to sink in, the foam will support the rim of the tank, my 220g tank was a rimmed tank and it sat on the foam for almost a year and only left a one sisteenth of an inch imprint in the foam, the foam is only there to compensate for any minor imperfections in the stand and or tank bottom.

[alexv]

this is not the case, the foam will not give way to allow the tank to sink in, the foam will support the rim of the tank, my 220g tank was a rimmed tank and it sat on the foam for almost a year and only left a one sisteenth of an inch imprint in the foam, the foam is only there to compensate for any minor imperfections in the stand and or tank bottom.

I checked mine while it was still not filled. I does sink in (even without water) so the bottom lies completely on the foam. When we removed the tank from the foam (to move it onto the stand), the foam somewhat restore its shape and looked like just having a very slight dent from the trim. Well, at least that was my experience. YMMV...

[audioslave_36]

well then we are talking about two different foams.

[groupie02]

opinions differ on the usage of foam under tanks. See the following threads:
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=1606.0
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=20307.0
and from a quote in one of those...
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=12283.0
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=19416.0
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=19527.0

[jimmyt]

some updates.. hope to add trim and stain this week - finally!

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[markw]

I always glue my foam to the plywood top to prevent the foam from sliding off center when positioning the tank. A 55gal. isn't that heavy but when you're setting big tanks you need to push and pull alot to center it, and then the foam moves with the weight of the tank.

[jimmyt]

Some updates...  hopefully I will finish the puddy in the next day or two and will be sanding and staining this weekend!

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[jenn_zep]

your stand is going to look pretty good, now it can hold up an elephant with style

[jimmyt]

More pics - doors mounted and puddy done - ready to sand and stain!

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[jimmyt]

I decided on black   sanded the stand down with 150 grit and then moved up to 320 grit.. smooth as a babies behind!  the stain is water based.  I will probably hit a light sand, then add a second coat of stain as the wood really soaked it in.  After the second coat of stain, 1 coat of gloss, then sand with 320, then a coat of semi gloss, then sand with 320, then finally some shelac to finish the job!

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