First "big" tank
- Thread starter weldon
- Start date
Nice start. How tall is the stand? Is that a mix of birch and oak plywood that you are finishing it with?
I'm not a structural engineer but and I tend to overbuild everything but 150 gallon tank with water and substrate and decorations will be close to 1500 lbs. Are you planning on adding more vertical support than the 1" plywood?
I might be worrying about nothing because I normally build things to support an elephant. My chicken coop I built as a teenager held up a 80 foot poplar after a windstorm knocked it into it. Just put a little dent on the roof. Not a one chicken was injured. Now the barn I built..... you won't believe it anyways.
I'm not a structural engineer but and I tend to overbuild everything but 150 gallon tank with water and substrate and decorations will be close to 1500 lbs. Are you planning on adding more vertical support than the 1" plywood?
I might be worrying about nothing because I normally build things to support an elephant. My chicken coop I built as a teenager held up a 80 foot poplar after a windstorm knocked it into it. Just put a little dent on the roof. Not a one chicken was injured. Now the barn I built..... you won't believe it anyways.
the stand will be 36" high so that the bottom of the tank is above the back of the couch. It's a bit high for the norm, but I like that I won't have to stoop down to look at the fish. I might have to use footstool when I use the gravel vac though.
The wood is mostly birch cabinet grade plywood with 1/4" for the inset panels. It will be painted with a burnished antique black finish. There's some MDF for bracing and cleats too. I think it will be plenty strong as I looked closely at the stands being sold in fish stores and my approach provides similar strength.
The hard part is going to be the inset doors. But for my first project I think its coming along fine.
The wood is mostly birch cabinet grade plywood with 1/4" for the inset panels. It will be painted with a burnished antique black finish. There's some MDF for bracing and cleats too. I think it will be plenty strong as I looked closely at the stands being sold in fish stores and my approach provides similar strength.
The hard part is going to be the inset doors. But for my first project I think its coming along fine.
I have a ghost knife and they like small fish for Breakfast, lunch, dinner etc. But are great with larger fish. My Ghosty has grown to about 13in but I have not found ours to be any trouble at all, Actually he sleeps with the loaches, it is quite funny to see the loaches stack on top of the Ghost knife at nap time.
Have fun with the larger tank.
Cheers
Debbie
