African_Fever Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 With my new tank just about ready to go on the bottom of my stand, I had someone else bring it to my attention that my stand 'may' not be strong enough (Dad worrying about my floor). The tank has a footprint of 71.5" x 26", and will fit inside the vertical legs of the stand with less than 1/4 clearance. The stand is 1" x 2" steel beams (aligned vertically), and I believe they're about 3/32 thick. This is pretty heavy steel; the top of the stand currently has 4 - 20's and 1 -10 gallon tank across the top with no noticeable bowing. There are no middle supports to the 71.5" span of the stand (meaning only 4 legs on the ground, no legs in the middle), b/c I thought at the time of constrution that the thickness of the steel beams would be sufficient (this stand feels strong enough to support a car). I could probably put some cinder blocks/plywood under the middle of the span if I thought that there were going to be any issues. I had initially planned on this stand having two ~72"*26" tanks stacked on it, but after not being able to get it into the house (a bit of a miscalculation), it had to be cut in two (top and bottom), with plugs in the legs used to align the top half with the bottom half, and I'm not too sure about the strength of the top to support a single large tank with the legs joined the way they are (I've thought about my options for this as well, from welding it in place to bolting extra support beams to the stand). If anyone knows of any beam strength calculating sites, or has any experience with this, I'd appreciate the input. TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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