Would You Trust This Stand

[z28pwr]

I just got the "skeleton" stand for my new tank and I'm a bit worried to say the least. I have no doubt in my mind that the stand will hold the tank, but I fear that it will not hold it very flat, specially with the tank being 10FT long. My girlfriend says I'm overexagerating and to just have the guy replace the obviuos errors in the stand since if you put a level on the stand it shows it's pretty darn level, but I'm worried about the whole stand since he mixed 4x4's with 2x4's packed with 1/2" plywood and I'm guessing the plywood is going to compress and the 4x4's aren't which will give me some fluctiuations throughout the stand.

What do you guys think?

[RayAllen]

In my opinion if you pay for something and expect good workmanship you should get what you paid for. Thats not exceptable. Maybe if your tank was 6ft long and you used foam on top that would help to keep the tank level, but if u have a 10ft tank, definately no.

[Bill S]

No way.

Mine is an Oceanic stand - and EVERYONE is amazed at it's construction. It has only 8 legs, and they are just 2x4s. Mos tof the rest is plywood.

[hobogato]

i know it is hard to get things exactly the same on such a large project, but that last picture is definitely unacceptable. the first two - may be ok, but im not sure.

[seamonkey2]

Holly cow Jose, whom ever built it for you did not know what he was doing, that is a big NO GO

remember the "foam" is to level small differences, that is a HUGE GAP, with the tank on top of that and lets see 720ga of SW it may be a problem

have him remove the short legs and put in the correct ones

you know in your mind you are thinking "this is not wright" I am just sayind it out loud

Jose

[Instar]

From what I can see it is tall, only has verticle boards and has no cross bracing. What will keep it from just collapsing side to side or more likely, front to back? A 10 foot tank laying on your viewers toes is quite the treat. Oceanic uses a side that is about 3/4 inch ply wood over the verticle supports for bracing on much smaller stands that this one. What may be acceptable to a small house framer for construction variation gaps like that but it is not acceptable in tank stands. What is the point of having a 4x4 that does not support the top 4x4? Is that just a feel-good piece? If so, it's not working for me...

[Bill S]

The Oceanic stands use a LOT of HEAVY plywood on the sides - I believe it's marine plywood. Structurally, it works great for bracing.

[cbianco]

@ z28pwr

The construction of this stand was obviously poor. My first reaction would be that you request that the builder fix their mistakes.

If not, would is be appropriate to suggest that you hammer some hardwood shims into the gaps? Would this hold and be secure enough?

Christopher

[z28pwr]

Thanks guys, I think I will replace the floating 2x4's and will try to replace the floating 4x4's which may be hard since they are glued into the 6x6's, put some crossbracing on the back and on the sides.


Jose you are right I have the feeling that it's just plain wrong, which makes me just want to throw it in the garage and use it as an expensive ugly workbench. The tank going on there is only going to be a 600 gallon, since the 720 was sold to Alamo a while back, but still that's close to 7,000 lbs when you include the weight of the tank and the 600lbs of rock going in it.

[JeremyGlen]

If you paid someone to do it, you should either get your money back or force them to fix it. You have a legal complaint if you paid for it.

[TexasTodd]

That thing's just plain SCARY! Good for this time of year though!

Todd

[seamonkey2]

[quote="z28pwr"]The tank going on there is only going to be a 600 gallon

LOL only a 600ga thats funny

thats almost both of my systems combined

what happen to the metal stand you were looking for?

you know I overbuild everything just for the piece of mind, that stand is haloween scary

Jose

[murkywaters]

I'm new to aquariums but I am in construction and I'd be nervous about setting a tank on that. At the minimum shim the gaps at the legs so that you don't have weight pushing on an unsupported area. I am with the group that "supports" overbuilding.

[Instar]

The 4x4's are treated lumber for exterior use. Better make absolutely sure no salt bridges occur to that. It is highly toxic to fish and coral.

It is hard to tell from the picture, but if that is white pine verticles, the density of that is different than the yellow or treated pine on the other verticles. Good luck with that thing. White pine is just way too flimsy for my heavy projects. Good, well thought out reinforcing may help but you need to be sure the stand is equally supported vertically on all sides or the weight is somehow distributed to the supporting pieces with that bracing. It will be even harder with different kinds of lumber in the vertical posts considering the gaps.

[Gator]

if you plan to put a 600 gallon tank on a stand that is not suporting all of the weight on its desired legs then i would be worried what is going to happen after a couple o f months and it has stressed. If you can slide anything between a suport then he should have built it out of 1x1 becasue mabey that is all the suport it has, i say to go and have someone else build a stand you would hate to have your tank break becasue you saved a few dollors on a stand. Did you ever get a price from the guy who built my stand i was just wondering what he quoted you, i think people think i am joking when i tell them what i payed

[Ram_Puppy]

Z28,

I have built stands of my own in the past, and I would not trust that one, not w/ those gaps. that's just the shoddy construction yuo can SEE.

If I might make a suggestion. If you are going to end up buying a new stand again anyhow, I have a friend that owns a metalworking shop. I can get his contact info for you and he can probably weld you a nice stand and powder coat it or something. maybe at least look into it. you would definately have a more 'open' stand w room to work underneath it. and I gurantee it would be far better than what you have.

He'd just need dimensions and weight bearing capacity. hes a degreed engineer, he use to fix the machines out at PACE before it got sold off.

[Gator]

with the adjustible legs you can adjust the tank with some water in it after it has cruched your carpet and styrafoam, the adjusters in the pic are rated for 8k each and i used four i think you should get your money back and have a difrent carpenter build it

[Gator]

if

[z28pwr]

Gator, he quoted me ~ $1200 to do the stand out of 2" x 2" x 1/4" . What is your made out of and who did the powdercoating? You think I could come take a look at your stand?

Ram, can you send me his contact info.

[Instar]

Gator, that's not a stand, it's an oil drilling platform rig. :lol

[Bill S]

The only problem with steel is that no matter how well you paint or coat it, it IS going to rust.

[caferacermike]

Gator Why did your guy not include some steel plates to put under the feet? I'd be afraid of that much weight bearing down on those little 1" pads. Placing a 12"x12" 1/2" plate under the adjusters would help disperse the weight. It does look well built.

[blueboy]

it looks as if that stand also lacks any kind of diagonal bracing. without "triangulation" there's nothing keeping the stand from just folding up. once all that weight is on there, you could just push it over!

[Gator]

cafemike i did place 12x 12 1/4 inch steel plates to help disperce the weight. the pics are just the stand without the tank i placed those once i got it installed in the right location