Thoughts on 8020 aquarium stand design

Silvas · Jul 12, 2021

I currently have a 90g 36x24x24 rimless tank with center overflow, and a 26x13x15 acrylic sump. I wanted a stand that could hold it, but also be able to hold a 48x24 footprint tank in the future if I decide to upgrade. Current tank would sit centered on top of the stand. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Unfortunately the program I'm using is somewhat... limited... in its selection of fasteners and panels so I couldn't put panels or doors on it, but basically what I'm going for is a 48:x24Wx36H stand (height is including leveling feet or leveling casters and minimum 3/4 inch thick top which is required for my tank's warranty), doors, side and back panels, bottom shelf and top shelf.
The notch out of the rear of the top frame is for access to the bulkheads and plumbing. The tank mfg has plywood and mdf stands that they do this with, they have a notch cut out of the top and back going in roughly the size of the overflow on the top and down about 6-8 inches on the back that's all open. I liked that aspect of their stands (but didn't like plywood and mdf for an aquarium stand) so I tried to copy it here. The cross brace on the rear is just to give something for the back panel to attach to in the center where it's notched down for plumbing access, everything above that cross brace (and between the uprights) on the rear and behind the cross brace in the center of the top will be uncovered by panels.
Thoughts? Is it not enough, is is stupid levels of overkill, any glaring issues I'm missing?

T-J · Jul 12, 2021

I haven't built with 80/20 yet, but that's basically the way I would design it. Well, I probably wouldn't do the notch in the back. I don't know how that effects the integrity of the stand and also if it effects the tank at all with that part not being supported.
I build my stands out of wood, using a very similar design. Here's a video on it:

Silvas · Jul 12, 2021

T-J said:
I haven't built with 80/20 yet, but that's basically the way I would design it. Well, I probably wouldn't do the notch in the back. I don't know how that effects the integrity of the stand and also if it effects the tank at all with that part not being supported.
I build my stands out of wood, using a very similar design. Here's a video on it:

The part that's unsupported is only the overflow area, and that's unsupported on the mfg's stands as well, so I'm taking it on faith that it should be ok. I mean, after all, I would assume the tank mfg wouldn't sell stands for that tank that have the overflow unsupported, and still warrant the tank, if they didn't trust it... right? The stand integrity is a good point though, I'm not sure what affect that would have

theatrus · Jul 15, 2021

Silvas said:
I currently have a 90g 36x24x24 rimless tank with center overflow, and a 26x13x15 acrylic sump. I wanted a stand that could hold it, but also be able to hold a 48x24 footprint tank in the future if I decide to upgrade. Current tank would sit centered on top of the stand. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Unfortunately the program I'm using is somewhat... limited... in its selection of fasteners and panels so I couldn't put panels or doors on it, but basically what I'm going for is a 48:x24Wx36H stand (height is including leveling feet or leveling casters and minimum 3/4 inch thick top which is required for my tank's warranty), doors, side and back panels, bottom shelf and top shelf.
The notch out of the rear of the top frame is for access to the bulkheads and plumbing. The tank mfg has plywood and mdf stands that they do this with, they have a notch cut out of the top and back going in roughly the size of the overflow on the top and down about 6-8 inches on the back that's all open. I liked that aspect of their stands (but didn't like plywood and mdf for an aquarium stand) so I tried to copy it here. The cross brace on the rear is just to give something for the back panel to attach to in the center where it's notched down for plumbing access, everything above that cross brace (and between the uprights) on the rear and behind the cross brace in the center of the top will be uncovered by panels.
Thoughts? Is it not enough, is is stupid levels of overkill, any glaring issues I'm missing?

Nothing to complain about - looks like you're using the milled in fasteners from the picture, which are one of the strongest, but most of the load is just transferring straight down.

Use the opportunity to design in some shelving or a separate electrical section in the stand internals. You can always use the roll-in T-nuts to add more fastening spots without tearing apart the whole stand, but its helpful to at least pre-think a partition, either on the side or as a top-shelf. My latest project uses a shelf brace and some thin sheet aluminum as a shelf.