MuddyPeaks
New Member
I recently realized I had only been lurking and had made no posts, so I want to share with you my stand and how it was reinforced.
First, I know some people are very weary of Ikea furniture, so let me say- I am biased. I love the versatility of it, and that it can be "hacked" as well as taken apart if need be for a move.
I will however also recognize that it is not perfect.
(The tank. You can see it's a newer tank- things still need to grow in and kinks worked out in terms of my maintenance)
Now this starts when I moved states with my tank- I was lucky to be given a few (free!) pieces of furniture among which came the Besta cabinet. It was welcomed because I wasn't able to bring my old stand with me and I thought this would fit the bill.
However, while the dimensions are well suited for my small apartment, the weight capacity of this baby is a mere 44 lbs
Also as some of you might know, some Ikea furniture is prone to tip unless fixed to the wall. The Besta is very much in that category but as a renter, I don't want to make holes in walls if I can avoid it.
After going through my options several times and weighing in the fact that I had no tools and minimal woodworking skills (nor knew anyone in my new city who did) I decided to reach out on a facebook group for someone with both those things that would charge me a reasonable amount- one that would stay lower than or within budget of what it might cost to buy a sturdier piece of furniture /Or/ what it would cost me to buy both tools and materials for the project.
I requested what is basically a frame within the cabinet- one that would hold /at least/ 100 lbs. This calculation was based on 8.33 lbs for each gallon of water, about 7 lbs for rock, and 4 lbs for sand- because I keep less rock and sand than most rule-of-thumb recommendations. (My sand bed is maybe 1 inch or less of coverage)
I also wanted to keep a shelf for organizing the UPS battery backup that everything is connected to, and testing, and dosing miscellaneous.
The end result was pleasantly solid
(The person I commissioned for the job sent me this picture of them testing the stand lol)
I didn't take pictures of the empty inside before I moved the tank onto it, so you'll see here everything on it and a few pics where I moved things aside to show the structure of the frame (which was painted black and blends into the dark interior really well)
(Next pictures were taken with flash so you can see the structure better.
Also, the ato is a cheap solution for now that will get upgraded later down the road)
I hope this was/is helpful to anyone else thinking about an Ikea solution for their tank- I attempted to search online for ideas hoping someone had a solution when I was still thinking of what to do, and was able to find a German YouTuber and 1 or 2 online forum posts but not much else, so I hope this fills that gap somewhat.
First, I know some people are very weary of Ikea furniture, so let me say- I am biased. I love the versatility of it, and that it can be "hacked" as well as taken apart if need be for a move.
I will however also recognize that it is not perfect.
(The tank. You can see it's a newer tank- things still need to grow in and kinks worked out in terms of my maintenance)
Now this starts when I moved states with my tank- I was lucky to be given a few (free!) pieces of furniture among which came the Besta cabinet. It was welcomed because I wasn't able to bring my old stand with me and I thought this would fit the bill.
However, while the dimensions are well suited for my small apartment, the weight capacity of this baby is a mere 44 lbs
Also as some of you might know, some Ikea furniture is prone to tip unless fixed to the wall. The Besta is very much in that category but as a renter, I don't want to make holes in walls if I can avoid it.
After going through my options several times and weighing in the fact that I had no tools and minimal woodworking skills (nor knew anyone in my new city who did) I decided to reach out on a facebook group for someone with both those things that would charge me a reasonable amount- one that would stay lower than or within budget of what it might cost to buy a sturdier piece of furniture /Or/ what it would cost me to buy both tools and materials for the project.
I requested what is basically a frame within the cabinet- one that would hold /at least/ 100 lbs. This calculation was based on 8.33 lbs for each gallon of water, about 7 lbs for rock, and 4 lbs for sand- because I keep less rock and sand than most rule-of-thumb recommendations. (My sand bed is maybe 1 inch or less of coverage)
I also wanted to keep a shelf for organizing the UPS battery backup that everything is connected to, and testing, and dosing miscellaneous.
The end result was pleasantly solid
(The person I commissioned for the job sent me this picture of them testing the stand lol)
I didn't take pictures of the empty inside before I moved the tank onto it, so you'll see here everything on it and a few pics where I moved things aside to show the structure of the frame (which was painted black and blends into the dark interior really well)
(Next pictures were taken with flash so you can see the structure better.
Also, the ato is a cheap solution for now that will get upgraded later down the road)
I hope this was/is helpful to anyone else thinking about an Ikea solution for their tank- I attempted to search online for ideas hoping someone had a solution when I was still thinking of what to do, and was able to find a German YouTuber and 1 or 2 online forum posts but not much else, so I hope this fills that gap somewhat.
