DIY Tank Stand for 55 or 90 gallon tank

I am thinking about potentially upgrading my 55 gallon tank to a 90 gallon and building a stand for it myself, but making it a double tank stand, 90 gallon on top, 20 long on the bottom. I have two ideas in my mind and want to make sure they will work before I run them by my mom to see what she thinks (my bedroom where the tank is is also the guest room and my mom is very specific about what looks nice and makes a pleasant space for guests).

Idea 1
cinder blocks stacked with plywood on top and a plywood shelf somewhere towards the bottom of the stack. The cinder blocks would be painted white and the wood would either be stained or painted white as well.
- What kind of paint is needed to paint cinder blocks?
- How thick does the plywood need to be?
- Do I need styrofoam between the tank and the wood?
- Is this alright without any support in the center? It is a 4 ft tank.
- Are the cinder blocks alright just resting on the carpet?

Idea 2
stand made of 2x4s, super sturdy. Same design as the one in this video, but the dimensions to fit a 90 gallon. 2x4s and 2x6s instead of 2x6s and 2x8s. (you can skip to the end of the video to see it) (if I am not allowed to post a youtube link, sorry, just let me know and I will delete it)


- What are "all y'alls" thoughts?

Will your floor support all that weight? That's a lot of weight if on an upstairs floor. You'd have to have it checked out by a contractor familiar with weight loads. Floor may need beefing up to hold all that weight. Water alone would be 880 lbs. Then add the stand weight, tank weight, rocks, driftwood, substrate etc.

Fishmanic said:

Will your floor support all that weight? That's a lot of weight if on an upstairs floor. You'd have to have it checked out by a contractor familiar with weight loads. Floor may need beefing up to hold all that weight. Water alone would be 880 lbs. Then add the stand weight, rocks, driftwood, substrate etc.

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I am on the ground floor of our house, it is concrete under my carpet

OliveFish05 said:

I am on the ground floor of our house, it is concrete under my carpet

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That's very good. Go for it. Just be aware if you have a big leak, your carpet may have to come up.

buy a water sensor alarm

You might want to check your home contents insurance small print too (or give them a call) and find out where you stand on claims if things go wrong....many a claim has been refused due to what the insurance company sees as an "improper aquarium stand"

I learnt that the hard way.

Fishmanic said:

That's very good. Go for it. Just be aware if you have a big leak, your carpet may have to come up.

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If I have a very big leak, can I use the carpet shampooer to get the carpet as dry as possible? I will definitely look into a water sensor alarm!

wasmewasntit said:

You might want to check your home contents insurance small print too (or give them a call) and find out where you stand on claims if things go wrong....many a claim has been refused due to what the insurance company sees as an "improper aquarium stand"

I learnt that the hard way.

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Oh no! With my bedroom being right beside the bathroom (and the tank right against the shared wall), if there were a leak, I would think the extent of the damage would be the carpet gets wet and needs to have that edge pulled up for drying/cleaning and the water damages some of the wall shared by the bathroom, right? Even if the water pooled over into the bathroom, the bathroom wouldn't likely sustain any expensive damage as the floor is those click in place waterproof vinyl planks, overtop concrete, and bathrooms are like, made to get wet, to some extent?

Give your insurance company a call and ask them, and make sure you get it in writing too incase the worst does happen and they put up a fight about any claim you make....getting it in writing that they will cover it, gives you ammunition to use if they start getting picky

What paint is best for painting cinder blocks?
Do the blocks need to be connected, or just stacked?
How thick should the plywood be?

I talked to my mom and she didn’t like either idea she said she likes the stand I have now, and doesn’t want one with larger legs because it’ll be harder to fix the indents in the carpet if we ever decide to move or take the tank down. She says the one I have now she can just set an ice cube in the indents and it’ll fix them. So I’m stuck with ice cube size legs then!

So I was wondering if there was any way to make this stand’s bottom shelf hold a 10 gallon tank or a 20 gallon long.

excuse my messy floor, I am working on getting my room clean enough to vacuum right now

Could I use PVC pipes to give support under the shelf/tank and be able to put a second tank under there? I am by no means looking to do anything large. I was thinking something like the shelf is dispersing the weight over the pvc pipes, and the pvc pipes are the supports. It is like 3 inches off the ground. Looking over the tanks info, it isn’t made to hold a second tank, because these would be holding all the weight and they obviously aren’t made to. The shelf gives nothing to the structural integrity of the tank

Cut a 3/4" piece of plywood to fit the bottom frame, paint it black, bolt the plywood to the frame using those 2 holes on the end pieces of the bottom frame.

Slaphppy7 said:

Cut a 3/4" piece of plywood to fit the bottom frame, paint it black, bolt the plywood to the frame using those 2 holes on the end pieces of the bottom frame.

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Should I glue anything to the bottom of the frame for support? I think all the weight of the tank would be on the 4 bolts holding the bottom frame to the stand.

I have a ton of 3/4 inch PVC pipes on hand, but I could use wood or something else stronger. Would this make it so I could have a second tank on that stand? Would I need to silicone the supports to the frame? I can draw up a picture so you can see what I mean if needed.

For a 10G tank (or even a 20), I really don't think additional supports are necessary, for a footprint that size

Slaphppy7 said:

For a 10G tank (or even a 20), I really don't think additional supports are necessary, for a footprint that size

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How does the footprint affect it? Even though it isn't designed to hold that weight? I was just afraid all that weight would be on those bolts on the corners that hold the frame to the legs. I suppose I could fill it and see how it goes. Thank you!