Stand construction help

[grantman]

I am going to employ 2 ~2 gallon carlson surge devices on my 180 gallon 6 foot tank. The last tank I had I built the stand out of 2x4's and simply screwed the whole thing together.

With the water motion in the tank going from side to side I was wondering if I had to make the stand more sturdy to combat the motion of the tank? Over time will the tank actually sway back and forth and transfer that motion to the stand?

Thanks for any help.

[motorslave]

havent heard that one before! Good point. heres how I built the stand for my 150. No surge device but I think it could handle a bit of motion!

Robert

[grantman]

Are you going to post a link or instructions? LOL

[motorslave]

oops hti the post button too fast! Heres a pic or two...I used all 4x4 on it and cut 45s to make the brace pieces in each corner. I can jump up and down on it and it doesnt budge. I dont weigh as much as a 180 but I am 220 so its pretty stout!

Robert

[Geoff]

if you cross brace it enough you should not have a problem. if you lap joint all of the 2X4's so that they are all flush to each other, you can then glue and screw 1/2" plywood skin on all sides. this should hold strong for any motion the tank will create. i would try and keep access holes on the smaller sides just in case. you will also need to put skin on the back since the two long sides will be taking the brunt of the motion. you can still put access holes on the back for power and plumbing, but the skin does need to be there.

G~

[grantman]

I was planning on just a frame because this is going to be an inwall. Please inform me as to what a lap joint is. You still think I need to go with the 1/2 inch playwood?

[grantman]

never mind read the whole post. I guess I need to skein it.

But I still don't know what a lap joint is

[Geoff]

argh, tough thing to explain without showing you may hands.

ok here is a definition.

using 4X4" would be stronger. since it will be in wall you will be able to tie the stand into the wall itself. i would still skin the stand as much as possible.

Roberts stand will also work quite well. all of those corner pieces will keep things from shifting.

G~

[grantman]

Well I can do a lap joint easily, Wouldn't a half lap be better than a full lap? I thought that an inwall tank had to have the stand tied into the wall. Doesn't the tank sit flush with the wall?

[grantman]

Does anyone know the force of the water as it moves across the tank? Actually I did the calculations and it is probably going to be 1 ~6 gallon surge device.

[mitchelWB]

off the top of my head, and believe me, I ain't no arithmatician... isn't force = mass * accelleration?

So take the number of gallons and multiply by the weight of water (~8lbs/gal?) and probably not a whole lot of accelleration really. then divide that by the surface area of the tank, and I think you'd find a pretty low number and really not something to be too terribly concerned about.

similar tangent: I was telling someone about my new 120gal with 30gal sump. He asked where I put it because that would be a lot of weight on the floor joists. I did the math... Assuming 1200lbs just for water, then a llittle extra for stand, tank, rock, sand, call it even 1600. Tank is 2' x 4' so that's about 200lbs per square foot. 144in square in a square foot, so 200/144 = 1.39psi. Not exactly heavy. Average adult male probably exerts more force on the floor than my tank. Tank is on a cement floor anyway.

[fchidsey]

I would recomend x braced in the back of the stand take two 2x4's miter it so they form an x and lock into each other and then either intall inbetween the uprights or screw to the back across the whole stand.

I hope that i explaned myself OK.

The x will look like picnic table legs.

[grantman]

All explanations have been adequate and appreciated. I have enough information to proceed. Thank you.