help.. Metal or Wood Stand?

Mtlgallardo · Oct 2, 2019

Hey Everyone,
I have a 124"x28"Highx40"Wide Glass Tank incoming.
can someone help me with the Stand design?
Does it have to be metal or Can I get away with Wood?
Thank you for any input.

Dragon52 · Oct 2, 2019

You should be able to use wood just fine. The main issue is support.
Check out this. Also there are plenty of people that built their stands here on R2R. Including me. Do a search here on the site to see them.

Smarkow · Oct 2, 2019

My glass 210 is on a wood stand of this design x5 years, has not moved an inch. Be sure to get high quality foam between stand and tank and work hard to level, address floor safely (ie weight), and plan for spills (detection systems, etc).

I used this same video to plan my build.

Dragon52 said:
You should be able to use wood just fine. The main issue is support.
Check out this. Also there are plenty of people that built their stands here on R2R. Including me. Do a search here on the site to see them.

Blue Tang Clan · Oct 2, 2019

I used extruded aluminum from Framingtech and it's amazing. Wood is also completely fine -- but you really need to build it well. 4x4 posts can help, along with 2x6 supports. There are some great designs here on R2R.

The extra dollars you spend on overbuilding a stand are negligible compared to the value of what you are supporting.

Smarkow · Oct 3, 2019

Having just left binging his thread, aluminum stands do look *really* nice
@Blue Tang Clan

ca1ore · Oct 3, 2019

Agree that a properly built wood stand is just fine. I built my own. Much cheaper because I don’t have the facility to work with metal. I personally recommend staying away from 4x4s. Too prone to twisting and warping. When I ‘apprenticed’ years ago the master carpenter always said sister 2x4s instead. So I always do.