# my simple 55 gallon tank stand



## gammahermit (Feb 13, 2009)

This is my very simple tank stand I made 3 weeks ago. It is made from a single 12' 2"x12" piece of douglass fir. I cut it in half planed the sides put in some dowels then glued the 2 pieces together in a butt joint. I stained it with a dark stain I don't remember the name. Then gave it 4 coats of polyacrylic. It sits on top of two 3' step ladders. I had originaly planed to use wooden barrels but couldn't find any at the local stores. I also have an old 2"x12" board going across the lower step to make a shelf. the total cost was about $80 not counting the stain & varnish & glue since I already had that stuff. I have a bit of a motif going im my apartment since my desk is just a 4'x7' door on top of 2 file cabinets. they may not be pretty but they are simple cheap and functional which are my main priorities. So what do you think of my setup, have any of you made a simalar stand?


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

lol, id be worried about the pressure points on the 8 legs. if you think about a normal stand its weight is distributed along the length of the wood.
anyways its interesting and different but i personally wouldnt be doing anything similiar any time soon.

and welcome to the forum!


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## FordMan (Jan 18, 2009)

Does that stand come with a car on cider blocks? You know your a red neck when.. hahaha jk bro


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## gammahermit (Feb 13, 2009)

each step ladder is rated at 300lb so it should be able to hold ~600lb and the water, gravel, & tank are only about 470lb from my ruff calculations so it should be able to with stand the weight easily.


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## jdm free (Feb 15, 2009)

not something i would do but i guess it works.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

When I was 18 I did a DIY of cinder blocks. It wasn't pretty but it worked


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

the over all will most likely support the weight, my thought is that each leg comes to a "point" so to speak. granted the weight is basically even throughout so you might be alright im just thinking out loud.

put it this way. stand on 1 nail. now stand on 1,000 nails put close together. the 1 nail will puncture your foot because the weight on the small surface area creates a pressure point, the weight on the 1,000 nails will prob. not hurt because theres more surface area and the weight is spread out. your chair legs are like 8 nails, a reg. rectangular tank stand would be like 8,000 nails. again im just thinking out loud but i hope that makes sense.


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## gammahermit (Feb 13, 2009)

onefish2fish: what you are saying is true but the total surface area of the 8 legs is ~19.5 in^2 so that means each legs has 24 lb/in^2 (psi) which is not a problem for concrete and where the top of the ladders meat the wood it is 3.6 lb/in^2 (psi) I don't know the breaking strength of the wood is but I am quite sure 3.6 psi is very safe.


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## Katydid (Mar 15, 2009)

It isn't gorgeous, but if you wanted to make it more visually appealing you could easily put some sort of shower curtain, table cloth etc over it.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

We use what we have available. I might however ,get the electrical plug in up off the floor and create a drip loop ,so that any water that is inadvertently spilled over or behind the tank ,doesn't run directly into the outlet.;-)


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

You just need a simple front to hide the ladders. A cheap piece of paneling cut to size would work wonders. You could probably just Velcro it to the boards.

DO i like it? You're talking to a guy who used a 30 gallon storage tote as a saltwater aquarium for 6 months! If it holds water and is not toxic...


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