Proposed Stand

[mobius9oo]

I will be moving into an apartment next year and was planning on having a 55g tank. It isn't drilled and I wasn't going to drill it and the thought of a HOB overflow scares me somewhat. So I designed this stand briefly to hold probably 2-20g long tanks. In the picture they are the blue rectangles and then the white rectangles would be shelves for books or DVD's, something of that sort. There would be room above each tank to get in and do maintnence. The thing I was worried about, with oen tank being higher up, would it be top-heavy? Can someone give me ideas to help this proposition out?
Thanks,
Don

[BLUESMAN]

I need more info before I could answer your question. Not sure what you are thinking of doing.
Blue

[mobius9oo]

I want a stand to hold 2-20g long tanks, I will have it custom built. In the attatched file, is a diagram of what I would like. The blue rectangles are where the tanks would be, and the white ones are possibly shelves or something of that sort.

[AZDesertRat]

A 20G is really not all that heavy compared to larger sizes (200lbs +/-) . If the stand is constructed of good quality solid lumber you should not have a problem. Note I say solid as particle board, MDF or even plywood if it is not Marine Grade will deteriorate due to the moisture. You are always going to have splashes, drips, bubbles and overspray no matter how hard you try to prevent it. A 20H has a 24" span and a 20L is 30" and neither of these is too much for a piece of 1x oak or even pine for that matter if it is supported across the back and sealed or urethaned to resist the moisture. I am partial to oak myself.

[Trackz]

Obviously, anytime you put something heavy up there, it will be top-heavy. I obviously don't know exactly how high you are talking, but head level or so shouldn't be a problem. If you are thinking it is in a high traffic area or likely to be bumped, affix it to the wall with a strap. You wouldn't even see it. I do that for bookcases in my kids' rooms.

[sdmike]

Originally posted by mobius9oo
I will be moving into an apartment next year and was planning on having a 55g tank. It isn't drilled and I wasn't going to drill it and the thought of a HOB overflow scares me somewhat. So I designed this stand briefly to hold probably 2-20g long tanks. In the picture they are the blue rectangles and then the white rectangles would be shelves for books or DVD's, something of that sort. There would be room above each tank to get in and do maintnence. The thing I was worried about, with oen tank being higher up, would it be top-heavy? Can someone give me ideas to help this proposition out?
Thanks,
Don

No offense, but you do realize that 20L tanks are 30" long? A 55 is 48"... You're going to have to stack them one on top of the other by about 6."

Since 20Ls are the same width, you're going to have to make the stand a little wider than the 55.

Why not just build a sump out of acrylic? Then you can build it 47" long by 11" wide... I just built one (one, mind you) and it wasn't too difficult.

Mike

[mobius9oo]

I'm not to sure what you mean Mike. I understnad that its going to be over 60 inches long. As well the 20l is the same width as a 55.... I didn't know if you thought I was going to have a sump, but I dont think I am. So it would just be the 2-20 longs in there.