word of caution.
furniture not desigend to hold an aquarium may not be a good idea.
chest of drawers may not be able to support the tank safely.. I tried it on a chest of drawers and discovered the drawer area is really not designed to hold the weight.. after filling up a 10 gal tank I tried the drawers.. they were being pinched by the tank and were a little hard to open. the area where the drawers are is NOT supported as it is the opening for the drawers..the wood flexed in this case creating issues opening the drawer.. which points to sturcturl integrity issues.
I would advise in the case of cheap alternatives to build a DIY stand or look for something on CL(btw furniture is not cheap and an aquarium stand would prob be cheaper to make of buy)
It really depends on how much larger the "stand" is than the tank. If the weight of the tank, which is at the sides, is over or close to the structure of the furniture than it will work. If however you have a 30 x 24 piece of particle board furniture with a 10 gallon on the middle then I agree. It won't stand the test of time. A used piece of wood/plywood (most cabinetry is not actual solid wood and for good reason) furniture sized correctly will work just fine.
In the following link http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/diystandscabinets/ss/diyaqstand_2.htm, why would I use one layer of 2 x 4's and one layer of plywood? Why not just two layers of plywood? Not that it really matters, I'm just curious. And what size aquarium and up would call for a middle support cinder block row?
