Tank Stand Height

[Thorn-Blade]

So I have been reading for couple months now trying to take in all the information everyone has posted on RC in preparation for a reef tank. I need to move my 55g fresh water tank to make room for it, so I figured I might as well go ahead and build a proper stand for it.

After drawing it out, I am concerned about the height vs. depth. I am wondering if this height will be to top heavy or is it not as bad is it looks on the drawing?

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/murphrjo/55G-Front.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/murphrjo/55G-Back.jpg

[uncleof6]

Anything, where the height is greater than the width is going to be top heavy. This depends on where the vertical center of gravity is. The lower the center of gravity, the more stable. With your design, the center of gravity is rather high. The extra width decreases the risk of the tank tipping towards the wall, but does not improve the risk of it tipping forward. With the tank sitting in the middle of the stand (as designed in this case) the tank will be more stable in the forward and a little less in the backward direction. But in general, it would be more stable. I am not saying this is going to tip over, I am simply looking at relative risk.

Jim

[SCiMMiA]

my stand is 36" high with a 120g 60" x 18" x 26"

so top of the aquarium is at 62" ... 2" over urs.

and i can jump in front of it with not too much waving.

(sorry for my english)

[uncleof6]

my stand is 36" high with a 120g 60" x 18" x 26"

so top of the aquarium is at 62" ... 2" over urs.

and i can jump in front of it with not too much waving.

(sorry for my english)

Load it from the back towards the front-- and see what happens. :hmm4:

Jim

[NanoReefWanabe]

Load it from the back towards the front-- and see what happens. :hmm4:

Jim

Of course Jim meant that rhetorically...

without anchoring your stand to something i would be nervous of the height..perhaps a couple heavy duty nylon furniture straps on the back to the studs....or just a couple good lag bolts would do it even better..

[Nick@ACS]

How big is the sump that's going into the cabinet ?

As the weight of the sump and water it holds will help act as an anchor for the stand :)

I don't see any cross bracing on the legs of your design, I'd be a bit concerned of the stand legs twisting/ bowing and even folding with the movement the water circulation pumps would generate in the tank.

Hope this helps :)

Nick

[Thorn-Blade]

Actually this one will be for a fresh watter tank so no sump. I need to get this tank out of the way so I can go back in this spot with a larger reef tank. I am in the process of modifying the drawing to see what it would look like with an extra 3 inches on the back and front. That would put the tank at 13.5 deep with the stand being 16.5 deep.

I see tanks on here at 40" +, but these tanks are around 6" deeper than mime. When you look at height vs weight, 6" really isn't that much though. I can also see where a sump would also help, but I can't see it helping that much in the over all scheme of things. The sump is at the very bottom of the stand wich would be near the piviot point of the over all unit if it were to fall over.

Maybe I just need to think about it again. Make it so it is eye level with the couch and chairs in the room.

Thanks....

[reefermad619]

6" doesn't sound like much, but when filled with water it is. Add 6" to your tank and you would have a 75 Vs. a 55. That's about a 35% increase in volume. Thats seems substantial to me. The stand I built for my 80 is about 40" tall. It will be secured to a wall stud via heavy duty furniture straps (2 of them). I think anchiring to a wall stud will be your best bet to prevent this top heavy girl from falling over.

[iamwrasseman]

we build the quite often and have never had and serious problems with tipping . if there was a floor in the stand along with a sump you would be much more stable . i do however like the idea of anchoring it to the wall with a strap of some sort and it should be done at the top of the stand if possible IMO .i personally have some 39" tall stands and they are very stable but your is just a bit different as the tank is on the front 2/3 of the stand .anchoring to the wall seems like a good thing here for sure and it should be easily done .

[uncleof6]

Actually this one will be for a fresh watter tank so no sump. I need to get this tank out of the way so I can go back in this spot with a larger reef tank. I am in the process of modifying the drawing to see what it would look like with an extra 3 inches on the back and front. That would put the tank at 13.5 deep with the stand being 16.5 deep.

I see tanks on here at 40" +, but these tanks are around 6" deeper than mime. When you look at height vs weight, 6" really isn't that much though. I can also see where a sump would also help, but I can't see it helping that much in the over all scheme of things. The sump is at the very bottom of the stand wich would be near the piviot point of the over all unit if it were to fall over.

Maybe I just need to think about it again. Make it so it is eye level with the couch and chairs in the room.

Thanks....

The 20 gallons extra volume = ~160 pounds. I would say in terms of "load" not significant. In terms of landing on your head-- very significant. ;)

[uncleof6]

Please understand, that i did not imply that the OP's tank was going to tip over. In speaking of relative risk, the taller an object is, and the higher the center of gravity, the higher the relative risk will be, in relation to the original risk. So a tank sitting on the floor is arbitrarily 0. (actually not zero because you can tip the tank over, would just take a great deal more force) So at three foot off the ground, the relative risk would be greater, but does not take into account what it would take to tip the tank over.

With mathematics, it can be determined very accurately at what point all you have to do is breath on it and it will tip over. Mathematics can also perdict the risk factors, rather than just relative risk.

The concerns are valid. If you have a concern, bolt the tank to the wall.

Jim

[Thorn-Blade]

I went ahead and get the drawing down to 30" with a 3" lip in the front and back. After Googling earlier, it appears that most of the premade stands for this tank are around 30 to 32inches. It will also make cleaning it easier without having to use a stool. Now to stopy by Lowes on the way home from work tomorrow to get the few things I don't already have.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/murphrjo/55-front-v2.jpg

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/murphrjo/55G-Back-v2.jpg

[RcToners]

Is this for a 55 gal tank? If so you will be just fine.

[reefermad619]

I would stick with the original plan. Taller tanks are better for taller people. I'm about 6'1" so a taller stand for me was a nice way of telling everyone else "This tank is ment for me!" The reason I would worry about a taller stand tipping was because I used to have a 40L on a 36" stand. When I would wipe down the front of the tank, if I did it too hard, the water in the tank would swish back and forth. and I could feel the tank moving as well. Just my experience with shallow tall stands... FWIW.