340 Gallon Acrylic against wall w/ window build
 

Hello all,

I started this in the DIY section, but I was advised this may be a better spot to have this post.

I purchased a 72x30x36 acrylic aquarium which I'm working on building a stand for.

Currently the aquarium is on top of my stand on my patio. My patio isn't perfectly level for water run off. But the stand I built is level. So I put the tank on the stand, and filled it with water slowly to test out the stand. Overall the stand has held up perfectly fine over night. What I don't like is if I stand in front/behind the tank and shake it the stand seems to shake. I'm attaching pictures to try to show how I built the stand and you can see the video below of the stand swaying. Its not falling over, but I don't like the sway.

Is there anything I can stiffen up more to eliminate this side to side sway?

https://youtu.be/CKVHuxUScSk

If you've got sway, and/or it isn't perfectly level (because it can sway) -- you're asking for a big wet mess. The pressure of a 300+ gallon tank on the sides is pretty massive.

Did you use screws or nails?

I used screws

My hope is that the stand is a little bit untrue, or just not sitting completely flush on the patio. See if you can find any points where the stand is not in complete contact with the ground, then shim them. The stand looks pretty darn solid to me so I would not guess that it's shifting at all (i.e., the pieces actually moving). Is the tank sitting perfectly flush with the stand?

Tank is perfectly flush with the stand, yes. Its sitting on white wood I believe its called; looks like particle board to me.

I just went outside with a piece of paper, and there are definitely some areas that the paper will go under the bottom board and some it will not. This is very likely due to the concrete of my patio.

So you guys think once I move it inside it will be solid? is it worth all the effort and water expense of moving it inside to test then back outside to finish the build? Or can I just shim it when all said and done?

Attaching pics to show the level

Also if you need pics of any area of my stand please let me know. Is there anywhere else you think I should strengthen this?

Thanks again for your time!

The stand looks like you built using rocketengineers template or similar? Racking should not be an issue with that design IMO.

More than likely it's just your patio out of level. Set it up in it's final location and shim it level on the floor.

I would also put a foam sheet between the tank and the stand.

Should I still do foam with acrylic? What kind of foam specifically?

Do you have a link to rocket engineer's template? I looked up some youtube videos and just built my stand to how I think would fit best.

Thanks!

The stand thread is located here:


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


Most people use sheathing or foam insulation, yoga mats I've seen as well. You can always check with your tank manufacturer, see what they recommend.




Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Told ya... lol

I'm using the 1" thick pink rigid foam that you can buy at HD. Tank maker said that or the white 'open' pore stuff that the tank was shipped with.

I had a tank just like that except it was glass. The sway was simply width to height ratio in my case. It took some effort to sway and it was minimal but I ended up securing it to the wall behind the tank for peace of mind.. good luck rockscaping and cleaning it. I loved the look but ended up parting ways with it because of the height. Good luck

What was wrong with the height?

Did you find those black suction cups to work on acrylic? Where did you get them from?

I did :) got from amazon

I guess they really do sell everything. Thanks.

Welcome :)

Here's link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What he mean is the height is not easy to do maintainance. Cleaning the sand, picking up a frag from sand bed is an effort. Also lighting to reach to bottom

Hey there!

Yes; so I place more cross beams connecting the verticle braces and that seems to have eliminated the little sway I have had.

I also cut the opening in my wall and begun to frame it out.

Hoping to have the stand/tank in place in the next few days. Only hold up right now is I'm staining it. I haven't done a great job documenting this but here are some updated pictures of what I do have.

Here's the stand being stained with the wall cutout

Here's some updates on my build:

I got water in the tank, rock, tank is successfully cycling. Still need to build the doors for the stand/canopy