Enough support for tank? Or do I need more.

[Tinfoil_Anemone]

So I built this stand to hold my new either 40 gallon or 25 gallon, (bought both one I will actually buy a stand for as I don’t want to make another stand) and I decided to go with leveling legs for ease of adjusting.. the stand is made of solid oak and 3/4 veneer plywood. My question is since I’ve never really built anything is this stand going to be able to hold a 25 gallon or 40 tank on just those four raised legs??? The legs support 2k each apparently but the area in question is the long rails in between the feet that are unsupported (circled in red). They will be free floating because of the feet and I am worried it would buckle it or sag overtime. I am new to wood working so I’m not sure if the frame and sheathing I put onto it will hold the weight of that just fine on those 4 legs. Photo is of bottom with feet and inside of cabinet to show the framework.

 

[JPG Corals]

Looks solid to me

 

[SnowyFox]

Do you recall what the weight rating was for the leveling feet you used on the stand? I have a feeling that those may be the weakest link. 40 gallons of water weighs 320 pounds by itself. Depending on what safety factor you're comfortable with, you'd likely want the stand to be able to support 1200+ pounds to be on the safe side, and the entire weight of everything (stand, aquarium, water, rock, etc) is going to have to be able to be supported by those 4 feet and their connection to the bottom of the stand.

Almost all of the weight should be transferred to the floor through the 4 legs you mentioned. The circled runners between them (along with the side panels) help to keep those legs locked in place to prevent twisting / racking. Those runners will also support whatever is placed on top of them via the floor of the stand. Those loads should be pretty low compared to what the runners on the top of stand are supporting with the tank above.

Did you glue everything together as well? That would also help to strengthen everything vs just the pocket screws alone.

 

[Jasonak]

So I built this stand to hold my new either 40 gallon or 25 gallon, (bought both one I will actually buy a stand for as I don’t want to make another stand) and I decided to go with leveling legs for ease of adjusting.. the stand is made of solid oak and 3/4 veneer plywood. My question is since I’ve never really built anything is this stand going to be able to hold a 25 gallon or 40 tank on just those four raised legs??? The legs support 2k each apparently but the area in question is the long rails in between the feet that are unsupported (circled in red). They will be free floating because of the feet and I am worried it would buckle it or sag overtime. I am new to wood working so I’m not sure if the frame and sheathing I put onto it will hold the weight of that just fine on those 4 legs. Photo is of bottom with feet and inside of cabinet to show the framework.

Nice looking build. For someone who doesn't work with wood you could not tell. Looks very nice. I agree with poster above me that the adjustable feet is what would have me concerned. As long as those are secured to the frame of the stand correctly I would say your good. But ive never used anything like that so couldn't say for sure.

 

[Tinfoil_Anemone]

I did use glue quite a bit on everything, really slathered it all on there and then pocket screwed it. Ok that’s what I was kind of worried about.. they say altogether they hold 8000 lbs so that’s 2000 a foot.. but they just seemed so dainty to me haha. Maybe I’ll throw two extra ones on there just in case, or do you guys have maybe another idea? Would it be best with stands like this to just have it resting on the rails?? Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[SnowyFox]

Those leveling feet sound pretty good. May need to look into finding a similar set for the stand I'm working on. Even if you went without the leveling feet, you'd still have to level the tank and stand with some shims, which would likely have a similar effect as the feet would. If you really wanted to, adding a second set of feet so that each corner had 2 of them would be the route I would go if you wanted to more evenly distribute the load on the 2 different boards each leg is made out of, but it is probably ok. I'm not a structural engineer though...

 

[motortrendz]

I would think your fine. But it can't hurt to add 2 more fee one n the center of each red circle for peace of mind.

 

[Tinfoil_Anemone]

Ok sounds good, thanks for all the feedback guys, I appreciate it I’ll probably add two more in those areas just to be extra careful, I suppose, if I don’t need them I don’t have to lower them at all so no harm.