180g stand design question

[clownfish4]

I'm building a stand for my 180 and am looking for some input on whether it will support the weight. I am building a bookshelf/entertainment center with the 180 stand in the middle of it. The below image is the 180 stand portion. I'll build separate units that go on the sides and then have a canopy for the 180 spanning between the shelves on either side. Since this is going below my tv, I only have 40" of vertical space, so the stand is 11" tall. But I want to have room for plumbing, reservoirs, etc, so I turned the 2x8s on their sides. I know @RocketEngineer design goes down to 2x4s with for a 24" span, but will a 2x8 on its side with a max 16" span support a 180? There would be 10 2x8 legs total, 5 front and 5 back, with 3/4" plywood on top and a plywood wrapping. Thoughts or better suggestions?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Screenshot from 2020-09-11 09-32-57 by Mike Burns, on Flickr

 

[Reefer40b]

Just remember the weight is distributed around the edge of the tank, not sure where all your equipment will go... also Im not sure about the legs you speak of, that's a lot weight to put on legs... best to distribute the weight evenly across your floor.

 

[clownfish4]

Just remember the weight is distributed around the edge of the tank, not sure where all your equipment will go... also Im not sure about the legs you speak of, that's a lot weight to put on legs... best to distribute the weight evenly across your floor.

Thank you for the input. The legs are the vertical posts between the top and bottom rails. The only difference between this and rocketengineer's design is that the horizontal rails are on their sides instead of upright, so there shouldn't be any issue with weight distribution on the floor, just whether the top rails can support the weight on their sides.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Actually, there’s a big difference between them being vertical vs on their sides. Honestly, you would be better replacing the top and bottom frames with 2x4s sitting vertically as they are about the same strength as a 2x8 on its side like you show. With plenty of legs like you show, it will be okay using smaller lumber.

 

[clownfish4]

Actually, there’s a big difference between them being vertical vs on their sides. Honestly, you would be better replacing the top and bottom frames with 2x4s sitting vertically as they are about the same strength as a 2x8 on its side like you show. With plenty of legs like you show, it will be okay using smaller lumber.

Thank you for the reply @RocketEngineer! I will modify my design to use 2x4s. The main draw of the 2x8s on their sides is that it gave an 8" opening and my dosing container is 8", but I can get around that by sliding it in sideways then using a funnel/tube to fill it. And just to clarify, you mean use 2x4s for the entire thing, including the legs correct?