4 Foot Stand for 40 Gallon Breeder (3 foot tank)

CJ Monty · Nov 28, 2019

I have a 40 gallon breeder I would like to build a stand for. It is your classic aqueon 40 breeder. I would like to make the stand 4 feet wide so I can have extra room for stuff underneath. From what I read these tanks need to be braced around the footprint of the tank? I was going to follow the very popular Rocket Engineer design. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1169964

Wondering if it is possible to modify to what I want. I was planning on putting a piece of 3/4 plywood on top as well.

nickkohrn · Nov 28, 2019

CJ Monty said:
I have a 40 gallon breeder I would like to build a stand for. It is your classic aqueon 40 breeder. I would like to make the stand 4 feet wide so I can have extra room for stuff underneath. From what I read these tanks need to be braced around the footprint of the tank? I was going to follow the very popular Rocket Engineer design. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1169964

Wondering if it is possible to modify to what I want. I was planning on putting a piece of 3/4 plywood on top as well.

@Billdogg may be able to give you some direction as he’s in the process of building a 52”-long stand for my 40-gallon breeder.

sharpimage · Nov 28, 2019

3/4 inch plywood will make this fine

JoshH · Nov 28, 2019

CJ Monty said:
I have a 40 gallon breeder I would like to build a stand for. It is your classic aqueon 40 breeder. I would like to make the stand 4 feet wide so I can have extra room for stuff underneath. From what I read these tanks need to be braced around the footprint of the tank? I was going to follow the very popular Rocket Engineer design. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1169964

Wondering if it is possible to modify to what I want. I was planning on putting a piece of 3/4 plywood on top as well.

Easily done, just put a cross brace under each end of the tank

you could also do a plywood stand as mentioned above using plywood strips for cross bracing .....

SallyWho · Nov 28, 2019

I built a 6' stand for my 4' tank. I just added cross braces for under the tank itself and topped it with plywood (pic is of stand not quite finished but it shows the bracing across the top). No problems. I use the extra ledges to set random stuff down or to kneel on for tank maintenance and the extra room underneath is a god send.

CJ Monty · Nov 28, 2019

SallyWho said:
I built a 6' stand for my 4' tank. I just added cross braces for under the tank itself and topped it with plywood (pic is of stand not quite finished but it shows the bracing across the top). No problems. I use the extra ledges to set random stuff down or to kneel on for tank maintenance and the extra room underneath is a god send.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Do the crossbeams need to be exactly at the tank edges (Only the edges of the tank touch the plywood since its a rimmed tank). Or just putting one every 12 inches is good enough?

JoshH · Nov 28, 2019

CJ Monty said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. Do the crossbeams need to be exactly at the tank edges (Only the edges of the tank touch the plywood since its a rimmed tank). Or just putting one every 12 inches is good enough?

Easy enough to throw them directly under the edges of the tank and is advisable to do so

CJ Monty · Nov 28, 2019

JoshH said:
Easy enough to throw them directly under the edges of the tank and is advisable to do so

Easy enough. But just curious the plywood on top would not disperse the weight to the cross beams if it was off?

redfishbluefish · Nov 28, 2019

You certainly can put supports under the location of the tank, but topping it with 3/4 plywood would be sufficient to support a 40B on a four foot stand (Rocket Engineer style). So over engineered!

Billdogg · Nov 29, 2019

CJ Monty said:
I have a 40 gallon breeder I would like to build a stand for. It is your classic aqueon 40 breeder. I would like to make the stand 4 feet wide so I can have extra room for stuff underneath. From what I read these tanks need to be braced around the footprint of the tank? I was going to follow the very popular Rocket Engineer design. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1169964

Wondering if it is possible to modify to what I want. I was planning on putting a piece of 3/4 plywood on top as well.

As others have said - it's a relatively easy project using the RocketEngineer plans.

nickkohrn said:
@Billdogg may be able to give you some direction as he’s in the process of building a 52”-long stand for my 40-gallon breeder.

And here I am!

SallyWho said:
I built a 6' stand for my 4' tank. I just added cross braces for under the tank itself and topped it with plywood (pic is of stand not quite finished but it shows the bracing across the top). No problems. I use the extra ledges to set random stuff down or to kneel on for tank maintenance and the extra room underneath is a god send.

As the picture shows it, there is a serious flaw in your design. The top frame, that carries the entire weight of the tank, is supported by the uprights that appear to be attached to the frame only by screws. There really should be additional supports between the top and bottom frames so that the load is carried straight to ground. Relying on just screws is asking for trouble sometime down the road - screws really are not designed to hold in shear.

I'm not saying that it will fail, just that it could, and with the simple addition of those 4 pieces you can be certain that it will not.

In addition, the braces across the bottom serve no purpose at all other than to waste valuable space inside the stand. You would be much better served by placing a piece of plywood on the bottom. This offers the advantage of increasing inside space and will also allow you to create a waterproof catch basin for the inevitable spills that happen down there.

jm.02

redfishbluefish said:
You certainly can put supports under the location of the tank, but topping it with 3/4 plywood would be sufficient to support a 40B on a four foot stand (Rocket Engineer style). So over engineered!

I couldn't agree more. That being said, I am planning on a couple cross braces on Nicks stand just for my own piece of mind. That, and because I have several otherwise wasted lengths of 2x4 from the original cut list for the stands!

SallyWho · Nov 29, 2019

Billdogg said:
As the picture shows it, there is a serious flaw in your design. The top frame, that carries the entire weight of the tank, is supported by the uprights that appear to be attached to the frame only by screws. There really should be additional supports between the top and bottom frames so that the load is carried straight to ground. Relying on just screws is asking for trouble sometime down the road - screws really are not designed to hold in shear.

I'm not saying that it will fail, just that it could, and with the simple addition of those 4 pieces you can be certain that it will not.

In addition, the braces across the bottom serve no purpose at all other than to waste valuable space inside the stand. You would be much better served by placing a piece of plywood on the bottom. This offers the advantage of increasing inside space and will also allow you to create a waterproof catch basin for the inevitable spills that happen down there.

jm.02

You're absolutely right- those would be weaknesses in the design. This picture was taken during the process, and I posted it just for the purpose of showing the OP the crossbraces on the top. I finished it up, and the only difference between the finished product and your suggestions is that I left the crossbraces in the bottom. They're truly not needed? For future builds, I'll keep that tidbit in mind- extra room under the stand is hard to come by!

CJ Monty · Dec 1, 2019

@SallyWho and @Billdog change in plans. Building it for a 4x2x2 tank. I think I got it though. I am going to build about 4' 6" - 5" feet. In addition to the frame around the edge I will cross brace it every foot the actual stand is sitting. So if it is 5 foot long stand (tank will be centered with 6 inches on each side) Measuring from the left corner I would cross brace at 6", 18," 30" etc.. That seem right?

I notices the cross braces are 2x4s instead of 2x6s. I assume 2x4 can be used because its a short span?

I also heard the guide pieces the uprights in @SallyWho photo are not needed if you drill pocket holes for the load bearing pieces (the ones @Billdogg thought were missing). Is that true?

That is smart at the bottom that cross braces are not needed giving you an extra 3.5"! Still want to put plywood down to protect the floor. My thought with that is when I get the stand in its final spot I could just drop a piece of plywood inside the stand, silicone the corners and maybe paint with some waterproof stain.

Thoughts?

Billdogg · Dec 1, 2019

You should put the plywood on the bottom as part of the initial construction. Size it so that it is the same footprint at the outside measurements. Glue and screw it to the bottom of the 2x's. Trying to cut a piece to fit exactly on the inside is way too difficult, and would be very difficult to then seal around the perimeter - especially if your stand will be on carpet. You can even cut it oversize if you don't have a tablesaw and then use a simple jigsaw to cut it flush.