50 Gallon fish tank stand

@Slaphppy7 design looks pretty good. If you were going for anything larger than 30 gallons I would probably use 2x6 for the cyan exterior boards. It is the junction between cyan boards and the yellow boards that will provide the majority of the lateral support. The design has good distribution of the weight along the floor and on the top. Closing in the back and sides with plywood would make the stand essentially indestructible.

Uberhoust said:

@Slaphppy7 design looks pretty good. If you were going for anything larger than 30 gallons I would probably use 2x6 for the cyan exterior boards. It is the junction between cyan boards and the yellow boards that will provide the majority of the lateral support. The design has good distribution of the weight along the floor and on the top. Closing in the back and sides with plywood would make the stand essentially indestructible.

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Joey the DIY guy does something very similar, including the plywood cladding.

Uberhoust said:

@Slaphppy7 design looks pretty good. If you were going for anything larger than 30 gallons I would probably use 2x6 for the cyan exterior boards. It is the junction between cyan boards and the yellow boards that will provide the majority of the lateral support. The design has good distribution of the weight along the floor and on the top. Closing in the back and sides with plywood would make the stand essentially indestructible.

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Yep, built this exact stand for my 40B, decided to leave it open to access my canister filter underneath, but walls and doors can certainly be added.

VERY sturdy construction, but a bit heavy, the bigger you go...good thing is, you can build them to accommodate any tank size.

My floor is a bit uneven (old house isn't exactly level), so didn't attach the top portion until the rest of the stand was in place, to ensure the tank would be perfectly level.

Here is a stand I build a few years ago. It isn't finished, it was supposed to have a shelf on the bottom. It is tung oiled cedar, the top and bottom are 2x6. The uprights are boxed in on 3 sides, it is glued and lagbolted, with all lagbolt holes pre-drilled to prevent the wood from splitting. In this case I thought it was sufficiently strong with a single upright on corners but for larger tanks tanks I might go for boards like the magenta and green boards in @Slaphppy7 's post. It is supporting about 350 to 400 pounds of weight with a 37 gallon aquarium. It is essentially Slaphappy7's design except I moved the top and bottom cross braces to the edge of the uprights to help with the stability of the uprights because I never intended to sheet it in, and added a center cross piece so that I felt it would be able to support tanks from 20" long to 36" long.

Uberhoust said:

Here is a stand I build a few years ago. It isn't finished, it was supposed to have a shelf on the bottom. It is tung oiled cedar, the top and bottom are 2x6. The uprights are boxed in on 3 sides, it is glued and lagbolted, with all lagbolt holes pre-drilled to prevent the wood from splitting. In this case I thought it was sufficiently strong with a single upright on corners but for larger tanks tanks I might go for boards like the magenta and green boards in @Slaphppy7 's post. It is supporting about 350 to 400 pounds of weight with a 37 gallon aquarium. It is essentially Slaphappy7's design except I moved the top and bottom cross braces to the edge of the uprights to help with the stability of the uprights because I never intended to sheet it in, and added a center cross piece so that I felt it would be able to support tanks from 20" long to 36" long.

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Nice...one tip that needs to be mentioned, it's good to have a piece of foam board between the tank and stand, the foam board will "forgive" any imperfections on the stand top, and prevent stress on the tank bottom...I didn't even have a (wood) board on top, the tank sits on the top frame alone (on foam board)

@Slaphppy7 good points about the leveling and the foam board under the tank. If my floors were unleveled I was considering making a platform separate and making the stand with leveling feet. The platform would have been 1" ply with a 2x4 framework underneath. Your approach to make the stand the same size as the tank gives a cleaner looking design, I am not happy with the shape of the 37 gallon tank and have always been in the mind to replace it with something like your 40B.

Uberhoust said:

@Slaphppy7 good points about the leveling and the foam board under the tank. If my floors were unleveled I was considering making a platform separate and making the stand with leveling feet. The platform would have been 1" ply with a 2x4 framework underneath. Your approach to make the stand the same size as the tank gives a cleaner looking design, I am not happy with the shape of the 37 gallon tank and have always been in the mind to replace it with something like your 40B.

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I'll try to remember to get you a pic of mine when I get home from work...plain and simple, painted black...it's a misconception some people have of needing a flat board top on the stand, because they don't realize that the entire weight of the tank is on the bottom trim, not the bottom glass, which is recessed within the trim...design the top of the stand dimension the same as the tank dimension

Slaphppy7 said:

I'll try to remember to get you a pic of mine when I get home from work...plain and simple, painted black...it's a misconception some people have of needing a flat board top on the stand, because they don't realize that the entire weight of the tank is on the bottom trim, not the bottom glass, which is recessed within the trim...design the top of the stand dimension the same as the tank dimension

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@Uberhoust

Crazy busy when I got home yesterday, totally forgot to get a pic of the stand, I'll try to remember tonight, and PM you a pic....apologies