Cabinet Size - Question about expanding the top surface

[RaymondL]

Currently I have an aquarium specific cabinet that measures 24 inches wide and 16 inches depth. The aquarium that I am thinking of getting is the Waterbox 35.2 Gallon. It measures 23.6W" x 19.7D.

Would it be okay if I put a piece of plywood on the top surface that measures 24" x 20.0"D so that the extra 4 inches supplied by this plywood(2 inches at the back and 2 inches at the front) will make up for the aquarium's 19.7 depth.

If so, can I just place the board on top, or would I need to secure it via screws?

Thanks

 

[mann1139]

I would be nervous that even that 2in of overhang is going to stress the tank.

Could you extend the stand backwards with 2x4 to make it the full 20 instead?

 

[UncommonSense]

Plywood isn’t really intended to support load while cantilevered; it will bow over time and structurally act like the front/rear 2” are completely unsupported…

What you can do/might look nicer, is extend the same plywood sheet 4” off the back of the stand only, with that 4” supported by the ground; probably one 2x4 segment laid horizontally along the bottom of the plywood overhang, two 2x4s going down to ground from the horizontal 2x4 as legs… — I’d screw the two legs to the back of the stand, and maybe to one-another with a horizontal 2x4 down near the ground if you want to go nuts!

 

[RaymondL]

Thanks! The odd thing is that I see some cabinets at LFS that has the top panel larger and extended out from the base...so it's floating as per what I thought my idea was to do the same.

Also, I noticed that all cabinet and aquarium sets such as Redsea...Waterbox the front of the tank floats from the cabinet to accomodate for the door so that it looks flush when the door closes.

 

[UncommonSense]

Thanks! The odd thing is that I see some cabinets at LFS that has the top panel larger and extended out from the base...so it's floating as per what I thought my idea was to do the same.

It’s possible to do wirh some engineered sheet materials, but the majority of sheet materials degrade when exposed to water… these styles of stand are not the safest bet…

Also, I noticed that all cabinet and aquarium sets such as Redsea...Waterbox the front of the tank floats from the cabinet to accomodate for the door so that it looks flush when the door closes.

I’ve noticed this too, Fiji Cube does the same on at least their bigger tanks…

While the front/rear panes are technically just hanging in shear from the silicone seams in this design; most of the force on the seam is still water pressure, outwards!

I personally am not a fan of this, still… I like to distribute the tank’s weight across as many square inches of surface area as possible; less pressure on any one point means less stress on the glass, and possibly silicone, if the stand is twisted even a bit!