Hi!
I've been taking a look at this post from 2018 about a wood stand for a very big and heavy aquarium.
I'm currently trying to design a stand for my own glass 600L (160 gal), with dimensions 200x50xH68cm (~78x20xH27 in). Rated capacity 600L, so in the ballpark of 1800/2000 lbs when full and dressed.
As I haven't got the first clue about structural analysis and the bearing capacity of wood, I thought I would ask for some help here instead of making potentially catastrophic mistakes. Taking as a starting point this final revision from that post, I am considering the following changes:
As a side question, what does "skin the stand to keep it from racking" mean, in practical terms?
I've been taking a look at this post from 2018 about a wood stand for a very big and heavy aquarium.
I'm currently trying to design a stand for my own glass 600L (160 gal), with dimensions 200x50xH68cm (~78x20xH27 in). Rated capacity 600L, so in the ballpark of 1800/2000 lbs when full and dressed.
As I haven't got the first clue about structural analysis and the bearing capacity of wood, I thought I would ask for some help here instead of making potentially catastrophic mistakes. Taking as a starting point this final revision from that post, I am considering the following changes:
- The structure needs to be 56cm (22") high
- I need to build it with locally available wood sizes. The most common diy wood in my area is fir, and the closest thing I found to dimensional 2x4 and 2x6 (i.e. 1.5"x3.5" and 1.5"x5.5") is 35x95mm (1.38"x3.74") and 35x145mm (1.38"x5.71"), so a bit less thick and slightly wider. Do you think this significantly changes the weight bearing capacity? (I'm quite a bit lighter than the other user's aquarium)
- It's perfectly ok for me to have a center beam in the front, and 2-3 beams in the back. Does this mean I can use the smaller size wood for the entire build, now that the horizontal beam runs for max. 1m (~40") continuous instead of 2m (~80")?
- The structure will sit on a slight slope of 1.1° along the 50" dimension. Which translates to a 1cm (~0.4") height different between the back and the front of the aquarium. This is not a lot, but I would nonetheless like to compensate for it. My idea is to have the long base beam in the back cut to 1cm/0.4" less, and the 5 short base beams to have a sloped cut along the bottom to follow the slope
- Given the slope, I would think that it's a good idea to also have a plywood sheet under the stand, to distribute the load evenly and have maximum friction. Is 0.35" a good thickness for that? And do you think I can go with 0.35" for the sheet under the aquarium as well?
- I will also probably brace the entire structure to the wall, just to be on the safe side.
As a side question, what does "skin the stand to keep it from racking" mean, in practical terms?