240 DIY Stand, second opinions please

[mutley29]

Hi all

After seeing Louey's tank i knew my tank envy was not going away so have purchased a 240 gal tank with LI front pane.

Just after second opinions on the stand and whether it will take the weight of this 8ft glass coffin.

All wood is pressure treated.
Uprights are 4X4's bolted to 6X2's with 1/2" carriage bolts.
Though not visible in the pics there are 6 6X2 braces running front to back under the 2 sandwiched pieces of 3/4 marine ply that the tank sits on.

The whole structure has been Kilzed to death.

Will i need to add bracing to prevent sideways or back to front motion, i'd like to cross all the T's and Dot the I's before even thinking about putting water in this thing.

Any all advice welcome

Anton
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[Anonymous]

Mutley wrote:

Will i need to add bracing to prevent sideways or back to front motion,

You definately want to do that. I even braced my stand between the last post one each side and the wall next to the them (one both end).

After seeing Louey's tank i knew my tank envy was not going away so have purchased a 240 gal tank with LI front pane.

Good call. Glad I helped push you over the edge :mrgreen:

Now hurry up and post pics all along the way.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Tell me there are two different stands there and I am not just going nuts....

 

[mutley29]

No your not going nuts,

I finished most of the stand and finished off the room side before i tore down the old wall behind the stand.

Next step is to frame up the back wall of my fish room and then add a bedroom with a full bath to the room behind my fish room.

Should keep me from spending too much time and money at my LFS'

Hopefully will get a site up and running with pics and such as soon as my wife does her web design course.

Thanks everyone


Anton

 

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why the legs don't support the upper frame? You should have notched or cut off the legs so they were under the upper 2X6's. Now all the weight is on the bolted joints. They way you built the tank leaves them in shear and the bolts may elongate the hole in the wood members. To handle a heavy load you want to build with a platform framing method. IF you look at a home support wall, they don't nail the top plates to the side of the studs for the same reasons. The upper member should sit on the vertical legs. That way the weight is handled by compression vs. shear. Don't be suprised if you get high spots over the legs after a while, because that is where all the weight will be carried!

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Good catch cwa

I see a couple legs that have 2X4's in front of them under the ledger in the second pic, but those are the only ones I see.

I think there should be pieces under the 2X6's also....