Metal Tank Suggestions

[DLHDesign]

A friend has offered to build me a metal stand for the new 180 tank I'm adding to the new house. I'd planned on a wood stand, so this is awesome! I'll pay cost of materials, he'll fabricate the stand, and then it'll get sent off for powder-coating.

The tank is 72x24x24 (~180gal) and will have a ~50gal sump + other gear beneath and will be located on a concrete slab. Both the tank and the sump will have 3/4" ply and a 1/4" neoprene pad between it and the metal frame. My current assumption is that I should use 2" x 2" x 1/4" steel bar tube.

My goal is to have it as open as possible in the back. I don't care about anything blocking the front.

Here's my current design - which I'm sure is way over-engineered (looking at the back):

I don't trust that our concrete floor will be leveled by the builders, so the bottom of the stand will have leveling feet (though I don't know how many I will need)...

And with the wood and neoprene shelving:

(The wood overhang on the back and sides is for an "illusion box"; I don't expect that it'll factor into the stand design beyond the extended upper shelf size shown here.)

Thoughts? Suggestions on how I could cut it back some and still be well within the safety margins?

 

[Mandelstam]

I don't know how much the beams will deflect but looking at the design I would keep the vertical middle support in the back, same as on the front. If space is needed to get sump etc in the support could be made removable with a bracket maybe so it could be removed from the stand when it's not under load...? I just would feel more comfortable if the tank had equal support on both sides. If the doubling of the beam in the back counters the lack of middle support fully I can't say, I'm sure an engineer can do that. So this is just my gut feeling.

About leveling, an option to leveling feet is to level the floor under the stand with self leveling concrete. Easy to do and would make fabrication of the stand a little less complicated.

 

[siggy]

Look @ 3"x 2" sq tube instead of 2@ 2x2 ...for your headers, if you put your gussets in all four corners you can omit the center posts, my @2Cents
http://metalgeek.com/static/deflection.php

 

[Mandelstam]

Look @ 3"x 2" sq tube instead of 2@ 2x2 ...for your headers, if you put your gussets in all four corners you can omit the center posts, my @2Cents
http://metalgeek.com/static/deflection.php

Excellent link! Saving that. Thanks!

My thought is that you'd want as minimal deflection in the frame as possible as the glass sides (acting as very tall narrow beams) are going to be extremely stiff and if the stand is deflecting more it is putting stress on the bottom silicone seam.

 

[DLHDesign]

About leveling, an option to leveling feet is to level the floor under the stand with self leveling concrete. Easy to do and would make fabrication of the stand a little less complicated.

This is a new house, so I'm sure that the flooring will start off level, but I'm more worried about the settling that will happen in the years ahead. I'd like to be able to make adjustments as that happens in order to keep the tank level. Could use shims and such, of course, but it seems easier (better?) to have something attached to the stand.

Look @ 3"x 2" sq tube instead of 2@ 2x2 ...for your headers, if you put your gussets in all four corners you can omit the center posts, my @2Cents

Cheers! I was going to look into other tube shapes for the headers, but it was late and I got lazy with the drawing... ;-) I'll swap in the 3" x 2" for the front. I don't mind having the center posts in the front of the tank as there will just be a wall there anyways (this is an in-wall build).
In terms of the gussets - I can do that easy enough. Do those need to be 2" x 2" tube as well, or do you think 1" x 1" tube would work?

 

[siggy]

keep materials uniform for clamping up during fabrication. I see a lot of people here with steel stands, I think I would talk to more than a few about any issues they had design wise. FWIW i just seen a build last week with a steel stand and he had 6 leveling feet, not hard to weld a nut on the bottom, your fab guy will handle it. just pick out stainless ones 3/8" or 1/2"....that's a Nickels worth
@Greybeard did a steel stand

 

[DLHDesign]

that's a Nickels worth

PM me your email and I'll Venmo the money. ;-)

 

[Greybeard]

Love my powdercoated steel stand I probably will never again build a wood stand for a large aquarium.

I wouldn't change a thing. I used some plastic shims to level, but this is on carpet, over wood subfloor. I was afraid a screw in adjustable foot would just sink into the wood, eventually.

Stand is holding ~140 gallons, and more than strong enough. 1.5" 11 gauge steel.

The model:

And in place, with the top done:

As I get the time, I'm building bookshelf units for under the stand...

 

[DLHDesign]

Thanks @Greybeard - I ran across your stand during my research and it was a great help to see your design. Cheers!