are glass aquarium stands safe

M

MYname

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Mar 28, 2010
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so i have a 20 gallon with 3 SMALL goldfish
im going to need to upgrade them to a 55 gallon i have sitting in the garage however the 55g came with this awkward looking stand made out of glass and held together with silicone
it wabbles when you bump into it because it dosent realy have much of a base to it its realy just 6 pices of glass glued together in sortove what you get when you put two Ys end to end with a flat surface on top but other than that its pretty sturdy
but is it safe to put 500lbs on it?
 
sounds like a glass COFFEE table
 
My guess would be No. In fact it sounds quite insane. Not the glass so much--it can have a great deal of strength if laid out properly--as the silicone holding it together. And the wobble you speak of does nothing to raise confidence in the object's structural strength. Yes there are designs that gain strength as load is put on them...but this just does not sound like one of those.

Only one way to find out for sure...provided you are willing to risk a major mess if The Worst happens. Me myself, I would start haunting trade-ins at an lfs, or craigslist or the like. Or a used-furniture store, they might have a low chest or cabinet that could support the weight and also be functional.

sorry, just mho. And am not a structural engineer. Nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so opinion may be of no value whatsoever. :)
 
XanAvaloni said:
My guess would be No. In fact it sounds quite insane. Not the glass so much--it can have a great deal of strength if laid out properly--as the silicone holding it together. And the wobble you speak of does nothing to raise confidence in the object's structural strength. Yes there are designs that gain strength as load is put on them...but this just does not sound like one of those.

Only one way to find out for sure...provided you are willing to risk a major mess if The Worst happens. Me myself, I would start haunting trade-ins at an lfs, or craigslist or the like. Or a used-furniture store, they might have a low chest or cabinet that could support the weight and also be functional.

sorry, just mho. And am not a structural engineer. Nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so opinion may be of no value whatsoever. :)
Click to expand...

:iagree:100%
 
:thumbsdown: don't use that. Got any pics of it? If you got the tools I would make my own or check Craigslist you can find sometimes pretty good deals on stands by it self if you find a metal one you can cover it with wood and make it more appealing. :thm:
 
its definately a fish tank stand and its definately iffy sorry i dont have a camera but is sits flush with the 55 and has fish painted on it
thanks for all the input ile get looking for a wooden one
 
Not able to see what the glass supports look like I can only guess how it is made but the first thing I would consider is if I could use the glass panels of the stand to make another tank LOL. I certainly would not use any stand that was wobbly not matter what it was made from unless I could stiffen it up.

Like I said since I cant inspect it I can only assume I would be able to disassemble that glass stand and re-assemble it with new silicone and some stiffener supports, other then that as long as the stand is stiff and the load is vertical it should be doable.
 
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