Anyone put a Fragtank (24x48) or aquarium on casters?

[JohnnyKnuckles]

I would like to put a 24x48 frag tag on casters. I did a quick forum search and couldn't find anything. Has anyone been brave enough to do this or am I going to be the first to fail?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I recently saw a build that had casters....I'll see if I can find it.


EDIT TO ADD:
Found it.....HERE it is!

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

The tank will be on a custom table with the sump directly below so I thought it would be great to have the ability to move it from the wall. I figured someone had to have braved this by now.

 

[Roosterjack]

The sloshing might present troubles.

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

The sloshing might present troubles.

With the lowboy you don't have a whole lot of give but if you move it slow, I would hope it could be done without a whole lot of sloshing. And it wouldn't be moved often...but the ability to move it would be the advantage.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

I feel like the weight is the biggest problem. Most stands are flat bottomed to spread the weight of the tank across a larger area. With it on casters, that focuses the weight on 4 very small points.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Shouldn't be a problem reinforced well enough

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

I have the casters covered as far as weight. The food service industry has casters for equipment weighing more than what we will need. But just as you suggested, all of that weight will be focused on those four point. Does that mean the table will have to be an engineering work of art like a bridge. Or can we do a traditional table it we use a set of casters in the middle. If we only used four casters, will it sag?

Unfortunately this is not my forte...I was in the military on a submarine...I can make things sink and operate and operate and amazing pressure. But this table seem to be kicking my rear.

 

[Forshurley]

Look at Title Gardens new barn build on youtube they have 10 foot tanks on casters. They look very heavy duty.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

I'm not sure on the building part of it, but weight distribution should definitely be kept in mind. In kitchens, we don't have anything that weighs the 1700lbs my tank and stand weigh. Their generally on very solid concrete foundations as well. No give to the floors, (ask my feet). All that being said, if you were to diy it, it's better to over engineer than to under

 

[Redleg]

I've got an old oceanic rimmed tank on a stand with casters. I bought it this way. I'll get a couple pictures of it in the morning. I've only moved it once in the 18 months it's been set up. I wouldn't recommend making a habit of moving it around. The only reason I moved it was so l could swap out the sump.

 

[redfishbluefish]

First off, thank you for your service.

If you build a structural stand, the four point caster won't be a problem. On the subject of four casters....why not more. You don't mention the height dimension of your 4 x 2 tank, but I'd consider adding more casters. I've added casters to a number of projects around the house....a coffee table and four cushion containers around the pool. What I've done is to purchase Harbor Freight moving dollies when there on sale for about $8. It's cheaper buying these dollies than individual casters. I'd unbolt these casters and install them on whatever project I was working on. These small dollies supposedly hold 1000 pounds....so using simple math (and I don't know if this holds true), eight casters should hold 2000 pounds.

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

Look at Title Gardens new barn build on youtube they have 10 foot tanks on casters. They look very heavy duty.

I'm trying to find the episode but every time that guy starts speaking, I instantly want to sleep. Only way to search thru is with the sound off and a red bull on stand by!

 

[Daddy-o]

I put wheels on our 100 gallon tank. I wanted the ability to move it twice a year (it was near the fireplace and I would move it away during burn season and roll it back in the spring) I used 2 Home Depot rolling furniture dollies ($19 each) and built a cabinet out of 4"x6" posts and 3/4" plywood right on top of them. Glued and screwed. We even added a skirt so you could barely see the wheels. It worked great! My house is 1940's with old hardwood floors. I would drain the tank about half way and move it slow, avoid the water sloshing around.
Cheers! Mark

 

[DCR]

I once put a 75 gallon freshwater tank on casters on a tile floor, which is similar weight. I just glued two sheets of 3/4" plywood together, surrounded it with 1x2 trim to cover the edges, attached the four casters to the plywood near the corners, and then set a conventional wood stand on top of it. I generally removed at least 2/3 of the water before moving. It worked fine

Your weight is probably only around 600 lbs (excluding a sump) which should be manageable. You could get by with HD/Lowes type casters, although the larger casters will roll easier.

If you want the casters attached to the end of the legs, then you just need to provide extensive cross-bracing between the legs to deal with the lateral loads from moving the stand with the tank on it.

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

First off, thank you for your service.

If you build a structural stand, the four point caster won't be a problem. On the subject of four casters....why not more. You don't mention the height dimension of your 4 x 2 tank, but I'd consider adding more casters. I've added casters to a number of projects around the house....a coffee table and four cushion containers around the pool. What I've done is to purchase Harbor Freight moving dollies when there on sale for about $8. It's cheaper buying these dollies than individual casters. I'd unbolt these casters and install them on whatever project I was working on. These small dollies supposedly hold 1000 pounds....so using simple math (and I don't know if this holds true), eight casters should hold 2000 pounds.

It was an honor to serve and thank you for your honoring us.

The only problem with using more than 4 casters is on the initial push to get things moving.

In our print shop we have a 60"x120" table that we use for cutting down large format graphics. Its was made at 42" tall which was perfect but was heavy as heck. So that we could move it, we had six casters installed. The problem with six was that when we would go to push the table, if all casters weren't pointed it the same direction, you had to use a great deal of force to get all aligned to start to move. We had the middle casters removed and all was great for about 6 months. Then we could tell the table was bowing because we could see gaps under our 56" straight edge rulers. They had to remove all the casters and now we have eight positive wood points from the table top to the ground to get it back to shape. Plus its no longer moveable.

Im still thinking if the design was better as far as bracing or just the build in general, we could have still acheieved being straight with the original four casters. I don't want us to make the same mistakes again and come into a cracked tank due to a sagging top.

 

[redfishbluefish]

If you us a RocketEngineer style frame, you won't have any "sagging" from a 4x2 tank on a 2x4 framed stand. These stands are so over engineered, no problems at all.

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

I put wheels on our 100 gallon tank. I wanted the ability to move it twice a year (it was near the fireplace and I would move it away during burn season and roll it back in the spring) I used 2 Home Depot rolling furniture dollies ($19 each) and built a cabinet out of 4"x6" posts and 3/4" plywood right on top of them. Glued and screwed. We even added a skirt so you could barely see the wheels. It worked great! My house is 1940's with old hardwood floors. I would drain the tank about half way and move it slow, avoid the water sloshing around.
Cheers! Mark

Thats promising! You had no sagging at all in the middle?

I once put a 75 gallon freshwater tank on casters on a tile floor, which is similar weight. I just glued two sheets of 3/4" plywood together, surrounded it with 1x2 trim to cover the edges, attached the four casters to the plywood near the corners, and then set a conventional wood stand on top of it. I generally removed at least 2/3 of the water before moving. It worked fine

Your weight is probably only around 600 lbs (excluding a sump) which should be manageable. You could get by with HD/Lowes type casters, although the larger casters will roll easier.

If you want the casters attached to the end of the legs, then you just need to provide extensive cross-bracing between the legs to deal with the lateral loads from moving the stand with the tank on it.

I think the cross braces are going to be the trick, only problem with that is I basically have to put the sump in place on the table build or make it accessible from the side.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I would like to put a 24x48 frag tag on casters. I did a quick forum search and couldn't find anything. Has anyone been brave enough to do this or am I going to be the first to fail?

Last year I did it to a 17 gallon plexiglass tank and I moved it for the first time after putting in it on casters that year and a seam came apart and it started leaking.

 

[JohnnyKnuckles]

Last year I did it to a 17 gallon plexiglass tank and I moved it for the first time after putting in it on casters that year and a seam came apart and it started leaking.

Doc, You had to bring the bad news to the party. It was looking like a home run.....and then......