Metal Stand Questions

[Johnd651]

I was searching through the forums on my phone earlier, and could not really find the information I was looking for. I know how to build with wood, but I do work with a couple of sanitary welders (purge stainless welding) that could help and have been tossing the idea of metal stand around in the back of my head. Well, I have no idea where to get started. I am sure if I asked the welders to weld it, they would, but I would need to provide materials, plans, etc. So... questions?

How do you determine what material to use? Is it aluminum, stainless, etc?
What thickness?
Bracing? Vertical supports? For example, on a 5ft, 150 gallon, how many supports?
Top and bottom framing in terms of weight distribution? Am I still using some plywood?
How would you skin it with plywood to look like furntiure?
What type of welds?

Im sure im missing stuff...

 

[Flippers4pups]

Bump

 

[theatrus]

How do you determine what material to use? Is it aluminum, stainless, etc?

If Aluminum, you should just go with 8020 or similar extrusion. No need to weld anything. Stainless would be a fast way to end up with a small car's worth of steel, but look glorious if polished or brushed. Most stands I've seen have been cold rolled or hot rolled tube stock.

What thickness?
Bracing? Vertical supports? For example, on a 5ft, 150 gallon, how many supports?
Top and bottom framing in terms of weight distribution? Am I still using some plywood?
How would you skin it with plywood to look like furntiure?
What type of welds?

Im sure im missing stuff...

Some inspiration. I'd just poke Google for "site:reef2reef.com steel stand"

Steel Stand Strength

Hi, I have a 150 gallon glass rimless peninsula that I will be building my first steel stand for. The tank is a 48" x 24" x 30" with 5/8" glass. It's a rimless with small diagonal braces up top, which I plan on adding additional eurobracing to. I live in San Diego and the tank will be on top of...

www.reef2reef.com

Your fabricator friends probably have a better handle on what to use material wise, and whats readily available at a supply house. If you do end up with steel, powder coating it would be my pick.

If you have a general idea of materials and a drawing, I'm happy to point it at a quick FEA sim to see deflection and loading.

 

[Jeeperz]

416 stainless would be awesome and awesomely expensive.

I want a steel stand except I would use por15 instead of powder coat. My preference, not that there is anything wrong with powder coat, I've just had bad experience with commercial powder coat coming off.

 

[Johnd651]

Send 'em this, with your tank dimensions, and how tall you want it. Specify 1.5" 11 gauge square tube steel.

Hold anything you might want to put on it.

Came across this in a different thread. Still hold true for a tank that's 60L by 24W. Stand height of at least 36"?

 

[Greybeard]

Can't imagine that design wouldn't be strong enough. It's rock solid under my 60x30x18" tank, even with me (and I'm no lightweight!) standing on the surround trying to hang a light.

Properly welded, you could park a car on that stand. Be just fine.

 

[Johnd651]

Can't imagine that design wouldn't be strong enough. It's rock solid under my 60x30x18" tank, even with me (and I'm no lightweight!) standing on the surround trying to hang a light.

Properly welded, you could park a car on that stand. Be just fine.

I can guarentee the welding they do will be top notch, but they don't design stuff like this and I had no idea where to even start.

Ps @Greybeard thanks for the design pic

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

As long as the stand is strong enough laterally to not collapse, A center brace is not needed. The guys over at tidal gardens were just using concrete blocks and foam.

I built my stand out of 6" aluminum channel and love it. It's 72"x24"x42"tall and holds up a 220 gallon with a granite counter top. There is more info on it in my build thread in my signature.

The only reason I put in the bars/pipe on the bottom was to have a place to hold a pvc liner.

 

[Greybeard]

A good friend picked up a 250g DD (60x36x24) this weekend. He's going with 2" x 3" 11g welded steel, with the front and back faces separable by sliding joint, so it can easily be moved through a standard sized door.

Facing will be live edge cedar planks. I'm really looking forward to assisting with the build.

 

[Johnd651]

How are you securing the paneling to the metal? Just wood/sheet metal screws?

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

The skin on my tank is 4 separate panels that are held to each other with magnets embedded in the wood. If you had a metal stand, you can just use the magnets to hold panels directly to the stand.

 

[Johnd651]

Also what about weight distribution to the floor. It's going to be a 1 st floor with basement.

 

[Johnd651]

Came across this in a different thread. Still hold true for a tank that's 60L by 24W. Stand height of at least 36"?

Also could I flip this upside down...it will be a 40b sump on the bottom. Or would I just add more pieces to the bottom

 

[BarSnackz]

I personally would build a stand out of carbon steel and weld her up with some 7018 filler metal - it's all fillet welds for the joints, so simple enough. Go with something like 2x2 square tubing and throw a vertical brace half way down the the length of the tank and you'll be all set. Steel will most definitely hold your tank just fine. The only problem I have ran into making two of my stands before was warping from heat input - but, that can be mitigated with time and patience between passes.
As for skinning it - I would probably suggest you make wood panels that are magnetic and can be taken off easily for sump maintenance.

 

[theatrus]

Also could I flip this upside down...it will be a 40b sump on the bottom. Or would I just add more pieces to the bottom

The upside of a custom stand is you can place the feet and columns to align with joists if you're sure on the placement.

 

[Johnd651]

Just wanted to update you guys and thank you all for the input. I talked with both of them and got the same answer....why. Lol...they said that for the size tank, the material compared to wood would be expensive (~$300), but the wood stand would be just as strong.