stand help

[tigerslacrosse4]

I'm building a stand in the near future for my 10 gallon nano reef. I plan to have a sump refugium and skimmer in there as well. My question is what is the general rule of thumb for height to width to length ratio so that the stand is stable and sturdy. For example you wouldnt make a stand with a width less than half your height because it would become top heavy correct???? I'm just wondring what I should do before I start drawing and marking up the materials that I plan to use.

TIA

Sheldon:.

 

[mak3mydae]

I'm not sure if i can post a link to another forum, but MOD's please remove if i'm violating any forum rules

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1169964

They dont have may posts about nano's, but i assume the rule is about the same. Around page 3 or 4 theres a formula on height to width to length ratio kind of thing.

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

thank you!!!!

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

so according to the guy that posted on RC I can make my stand basically as high as I want.... I disagree I don't want my tank tipping over so I'm going to go with a stand wider than it is taller the tank its self is around 10" wide... so bare minimum it would be 10 in wide I'm thinking a little wider at the base say 15 inches so the stand has a platform that it sits on top of maybe only an inch or two tall. I would really like to have the tank high enough so I don't have to bend over to look at it so I think I'm going to make the stand 30 inches high maybe a little less but I just want the stand to be solid and hold all my equipment... I'm going to check online to see if theres some sort of calculator for stands for tank measurements like put in my nano's measurements and have it give me the ideal length height and width of the stand I'm going to continue to read up on making them and see what the best approach is going to be. Thankfully I wont need it to be able to hold a small car so bracing wont be so key because the tank is light simply because its small... anyone make one here on BRS that can give me some advise??? Please feel free to chime in and help if your handy and good at woodworking or are better yet a carpenter!!!!

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

30"tall 15" wide 24" long that should allow me to fit my sump in there and everything!!!! we shall see!!! here comes a build thread!

 

[The Ng Thing]

I'm in the process of building a cabinet for my 10g nano as well. I recently did my 40b. Maybe we could trade tips/tricks or work together !

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

Sounds like a plan!!!! I need a way to make it so the tank sits on the stand without much overhang on each side and still fit my sump the sump is actually bigger than the display in all but one dimension lol This is not going to be easy!!!

 

[mak3mydae]

Well, the Idea of that specific lay out is so that you can rest the edges of the tank right onto the top pieces. if you make the top where you are going to place the tank much bigger than the actual width of the tank, you'd be placing the tank where there is no support... So... The red and yellow pieces should be roughly if not exactly the same dimension of tank so it can sit on the red and yellow pieces for better support. The only reason it should fall over is if the pieces snap, and according to that thread, 2x4's are extremely strong.

Anyways, I'll be joining you on your journey to building a stand, for i need to build on too for an 18g ADA tank.

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

I'm confused can you explain what you mean???

 

[mak3mydae]

Haha The tank is suppose to sit on the beams on top. If you make the width of the top of the stand too wide, then the tank wont be resting directly on support

Someone else chime in if I'm getting this wrong?

Btw, what are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

L W H
20x10x12

 

[mak3mydae]

Does your tank have a rim?

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

yes it does that's why I thought I could make the stand slightly longer

 

[The Ng Thing]

You can construct a stand that is bigger than the footprint of the tank. The tank doesn't necessarily have to be on the 4 main vertical supports. As long as you can transfer the load onto the 4 corners you can have a small tank on a big stand.

To do this you'll need the stand to have horizontal beams which lay on top of the 4 vertical corners. A flat piece of wood will help but won't do the job on it's own. I think if you made the stand similar to this it will work. It will only work on a small scale because the spacing of the wood isn't too far. This wouldn't work for larger tanks, you would need some middle support. It depends how much space you need below. The one I drew below I made a 4" lip. The tank is cut in half for clarity.

If you can tell me how big of a sump you have, I can draw up a design. The one I drew below would be too wobbly if you constructed it lol.

 

[mak3mydae]

You can construct a stand that is bigger than the footprint of the tank. The tank doesn't necessarily have to be on the 4 main vertical supports. As long as you can transfer the load onto the 4 corners you can have a small tank on a big stand.

To do this you'll need the stand to have horizontal beams which lay on top of the 4 vertical corners. A flat piece of wood will help but won't do the job on it's own. I think if you made the stand similar to this it will work. It will only work on a small scale because the spacing of the wood isn't too far. This wouldn't work for larger tanks, you would need some middle support. It depends how much space you need below. The one I drew below I made a 4" lip. The tank is cut in half for clarity.

If you can tell me how big of a sump you have, I can draw up a design. The one I drew below would be too wobbly if you constructed it lol.

Would you need any support on the bottom of that stand to stabilize it?

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

My stand is going to be enclosed if I give you the specs of the sump you can make me a frame drawing???? I'm going to have finished ply and trim on the stand and paint it black its gonna be sharp trust me!

 

[The Ng Thing]

Would you need any support on the bottom of that stand to stabilize it?

Absolutely, I was focusing more on the top part. I would definitely add a bottom "square" to lock the 4 corners together. Depending on the size of the wood I would also add something in the middle, halfway up the tank. You add it as needed.

 

[The Ng Thing]

My stand is going to be enclosed if I give you the specs of the sump you can make me a frame drawing???? I'm going to have finished ply and trim on the stand and paint it black its gonna be sharp trust me!

Sure, tell me the dimensions of the sump/ how much space you want around it for plumbing and I can draw something up with a parts list. It would just be the inner part, you could add face panels/doors to your liking.

 

[jayman10134]

you could just attach it to the wall its up against with a small bracket like people do with tall book cases

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

good idea jay! Yeah that's probably what Ill do sorry I haven't been on in a few days haven't really had time. the sumps dimensions are.. well I don't know off the top of my head I'm gonna go measure it now.