DIY Dual Aquarium Stand

[RazzleFish]

Hello,
Currently I have a 30 gallon aquarium and a 45 gallon aquarium on a single cast iorn stand. The stand was designed to hold the two tanks as they both have the footprint of 36" X 12". The only difference is the height. The stand came with the two tanks and I hate it. On top of being ugly, the slightest bump causes it to wobble. The tank is on carpet which may play a part in the unstability of the stand. I can't remove the carpet and I don't want the look of 2-by-4s or plywood under the tanks. So what can I do? Build a new stand of course! I would consider myself pretty handy but I have never done a stand before and would rather not have 75 gallons of water all over the floor. I can't build two seperate stands because of space so I need a dual stand. The only problem is I cannot find very much info out there on how to do this. My main fear is the top tank (45 gallons) not being supported well enough. So that being said, has anyone ever built a dual stand before? If so how? Any tips or suggestions I should know before starting?

Thanks for any help,
Razz

 

[SubluxT7]

You can always ancor the stand into a stud into the wall for stability. I will try to find a link for some dual stands...

 

[dbosman]

Set your metal stand on some small, painted, round pieces of wood nailed to the floor, through the carpet. Use small nails and pre-drill the nail holes in the wood rounds. Thin screws would be simpler, but nails won't damage the carpet like a wayward screw can.

The stand may be slightly out of whack. Diagonal bracing bolted in place could help.

A standard wood tank stand, made wider to accomodate the lower tank is simple enough. But, painted 2x4s or 2x6s aren't going to look much better than a slim metal stand.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1169964 is a great starting point.

 

[MickRC]

Check out my plans here for a quad tank stand (4-29G or 2 55G). You can pretty it up anyway you choose. I just plan on paint for mine the next time I move tanks. For now it's bare wood but I don't mind. It's been in use for about 5 weeks so far. I have two similar stands each holding a 55G and a 40G Long. I plan on building some more double stands so I can fit more tanks in the basement.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...k-and-cheap-stand-for-4-tanks&highlight=stand

For right now there are two 20G high on top and two 29G on the bottom. I put kitchen bulbs in two of the hoods - easy to see the difference in color. I will have to get around to painting the backs of the tanks. These are quick pictures from my phone so I couldn't get the entire stand in one picture. If you look in the plans you'll see that I decided to make sure that I had lots of room above the bottom tanks.

 

[Chrisinator]

Would you mind having the bottom tank sitting on the floor? or maybe putting a painted (black or something) plywood under it so it looks like it's part of the stand?