Stand Reinforcement

[GanderGreg]

I have my tank shimmied and level. When it's empty its solid but when the tank is full and I press laterally on the top of the stand, it moves a little. I have the 45* support on the back verticals and 5/8" panels mounted on the sides to the box frames. Nothing extra on the front. Should a take it down and start again or try to reinforce it? Attached are pics for reference. TIA!

 

[Kjmsmith]

I think you need to rebuild this for best stability. Currently it looks like the weight of the tank is transferred down the 4 corner 2x4’s to the floor. Ideally the weight is transferred down the corner 2x4’s onto horizontal 2x4’s to distribute weight across the floor - see pic below. This will also help with leveling. To keep the stand from twisting or rocking, it actually helps to ‘skin’ it. While you have a diagonal 2x4 to help stabilize, adding a thin plywood skin on 3 sides makes it solid. I designed my own stand using the method in this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1169964
Give this a read - it is very long but after the first couple pages of the forum you’ll get the idea.
Good luck!

 

[gowyn]

Look up king of diy on YouTube

He’s a very energetic fish keeper in Nova Scotia

He’s made many videos all very helpful

Several on building your own stands

 

[GanderGreg]

I went with Aaron's aquarium for the stand when I built it. Looks like I should have chose Joey. I'm not looking forward to emptying the cycling tank and trying to re scape the rock puzzle.

 

[derrick orosz]

Better safe then sorry ... and hey, aqua scaping is fun

 

[Pistol]

you could add some gussets to the corners, triangle blocks of 2x4, pre drill the holes for the screws to go thru so they don't crack and use glue for added strength