Time for a change?

Hi, I have had my tropical tank (4x2x2) running for the last few years.
I have recently completely pulled everything apart for cleaning and a total reset but am wondering why there are no real different base designs?
Currently I am working as a cnc plasma programmer and have access to steel, all the steel.
Is there some reason I cant find any nice designed steel stands for a large tank?
Everything seems to be a big rectangle shs box.
can someone point me to some good designs or a reason why steel is not used widely.

something like this, but with closed sides and room for my filter ang uv light undernesth.

nzmagoo said:

can someone point me to some good designs or a reason why steel is not used widely.

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Cost, mass production and the desire for everything to be shipped flat packed
Haven't seen any designs for anything that looks good though.

I like the look though!

It looks cool to me.

What would you think a tank stand along those design lines would cost?
I have sold a few flat pack BBQ designs, Flat packing isn't tooooo hard.
Would it work?

I've seen some in the past, not in steel but varienty of materials that are curved and more unique. They ususally come with a very gimicky aquarium - strage size or very specfic equipment that just does not do the job long term.

I think seangee is right its just down to how many they can sell and what the big brands do - the Fluval Flex springs to mind at the moment but there have been others in the past that just dont seem to last. I think the weight of steel is also a big issue for people and size, a lot of LFS are not that big so storing 10 flat pack boxes will take up the space of 1 steel or metal one.

Really interesting project though - I saw someone on youtube the other week that had built quite a normal steel stand but had encased it in a huge piece of root wood, all varnished up, the tank was designed so it looked like the roots were running through the glass it was really amazing!

Wills

I would like to have a look at that design project.

nzmagoo said:

What would you think a tank stand along those design lines would cost?
I have sold a few flat pack BBQ designs, Flat packing isn't tooooo hard.
Would it work?

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You would require some maths. Its far too many years since I studied stesses and materials for me to remember where to start (decided I did not want to be a mechanical engineer after all ) but that angled upright would have to withstand a significant torsional force with the weight of the glass, substrate and water. You would also need to distribute the stress on the glass evenly. On rimless tanks this means across the length of the front and rear walls (which is why 2x4s are so popular for homemade stands). I suspect that for steel you would want a second (mirror image) upright going to the front as a minimum, and probably a cross brace between the two.