Trying To Plan A 75 Gallon Stand That Will Also House A 29

I tried to upload a simple sketch and i'm hoping it works. It's the first time I've ever tried uploading a drawing.

Anyway,

1)the 75 gallon will sit on the top
2)the 29 gallon will be on a centered shelf on the bottom
3)I will have cupboards on the left and right of the 29 gallon to house my eheim canister filters for my 75 gallon tank and for a tid bit of storage
4) The bottom where the legs are needs to stay open b/c it'll be sitting over a cold air return.

I have a hard time describing things so, does any of this make sense? Do you think it'll work? Opinions please

--edit
I'll prob use 2 x 4's. and then cover the frame w/some good wood panels that I can stain. I'll buy the cupboard doors premade from Menards and I'll just have to stain them.

Dont see any probs with that providing the stand/cabinet is sturdy enough to take the weight.
Regards
BigC

I was thinking of using 2 2 x 4's in each corner w/a corner brace. So that would be 8 support boards...I'm hoping that'll be enough. I don't want my tanks crashing down in the middle of the night

We could put a couple support legs underneath where the 29 gallon would sit to ensure that board would be able to hold it.


Ok, I confess. I'm not a builder or an engineer

OK, so we have a dead weight overall arround 468kg in water alone. With an allowance for decor and items in the cubord, lets over-estimate a weight of 600kg and plan arround that... That's a heavy tank so, I'd advise speaking to a structural engineer before starting, to confirm that the floor can actually take the weight. (in reality it will come in at about 500kg; large car weight)

Assuming the floor will take it, you need to build a frame that will spread the weight evenly, so I'd opt for about 8 legs on it, each cross braced and corner braced. This will stop the tank being able to make the stand "bend" arround, placing the seams and bace under stress. It will also give a moderately even weight distirbution. I'm mebe consider a sheet of ply on the base, if sitting it on carpet, to avoid damaging your furnishings. Ply actually does little to spread load onto the floor, it just reduces the pitting the legs caurse in the carpet, as the load will warp the ply, making the dips larger and thus less noticable. The same applys for wood floors. The stand has to be ridged and strong, due to the weight. Flex is not good

You also want a ply top, about 1 inch thick should suffice, to spread the load of the tank onto the frame without stressing the base pannel. You can then use your usual tank seting method; base polestirien e.t.c. to iron out bumps in the stand top.

Can't realy help with timber thickness, as I'm not very well up on the weight each thickness will support. A structural engineer again will be able to confirm the thickness required to make it strong enough

HTH some
Rabbut

use 4*2 then it wont even move... haha no 2*2 should be fine. maybe some 1*2.

I will draw something up for you, you dont have to copy it but its there. by the way it will not be 100% great as i cant draw that well

So here i am again but wit"bad" pics.



Its ment to be shelf

I did try

Thanks Eigdoog

You will want an extra member across from a top corner to a bottom corner, going diagonally on each side section, to stop that twisting. That frame won't last long with that much weight on it, considering that it will be "top heavy" You will also want the front and back beams running the lenght of the cabinet to prevent the two sections from comming apart and the stand collapsing. Twist and the sides comming apart are both going to be disasterous given enough time for it to happen.

Otherswise Eigdoog's diagrams are good.

All the best
Rabbut

EDIT to add, another diagonal pice from a top back corner to the front bottom corner would also help to prevent twist.