Wb25 peninsula stand made from cellular pvc, plausible?

[Treehrtsme]

I have a ton of cellular pvc and I've messed around with using it for stands a little. I made a one for a 22g bookshelf stand using 1" and 3/4" PVC but the stand itself is a little over a foot tall sitting on a desk.

Next I'm considering using PVC to build a
16x24 stand but I want it about 40 inches high. Peninsula style, using 1" Cellular PVC for the front and back, with a top horizontal panel for the tank supported by vertical beams, and another horizontal support supported the same way about 12 in below to connect a 12-in or so vertical support to connect on my controls too and uses a shelf, and then a solid horizontal piece on the bottom with potentially some angle supports to keep everything structurally sound, would this actually work?. I don't think I'd have to worry about the material warping, but compression over time maybe a concern. Everything would be cemented and screwed together but I can't find any information as to whether this type of material is mental hold any sort of compression weight. We're only talking a little over 200 lb maybe at the top, but still would it be possible to engineer a tank stand like this. I've made the same design out of 3/4 plywood, but eventually any sort of plywood is going to have trouble with the salt water and having a stand that is entirely waterproof, or at least resistant would be something new.

I highly doubt this would work with a larger tank but with the nano tank could cellular PVC board be used to build a stand like one would build a plywood stand?

The stand I'm aiming for would be of similar construction to this custom stand, but with more support and thicker material if necessary

 

[reefsaver]

I have the same tank and made this design which can always be extrapolated off of to do what you want.
I think your best bet would be aluminum T-sot extrusion.

 

[Paulo Hanashiro]

IKEA metod kitchen base cabinet has exactly the same footprint and is cheap.
You can get the internal shelves and use to reinforce it. Using for a couple of years with no issues.

 

[Treehrtsme]

I have the same tank and made this design which can always be extrapolated off of to do what you want.
I think your best bet would be aluminum T-sot extrusion.

Are you suggesting just making a frame out of aluminum and covering it with PVC, or using aluminum to reinforce the PVC? Either way theoretically I can get aluminum or steel for free

 

[reefsaver]

I would suggest just making it out of aluminium alone with brackets and braces to increase strength and stability. An aluminium stand is super strong, it will never rust, very light and T-slot extrusion is usually the industry standard when aquarium businesses build stands for long-term use.

 

[Treehrtsme]

I certainly didn't disagree but I figured it would b be interesting aesthetically and I'm am going to have to cover it in something for the cabinet doors and large controller board.

I do have experience from a few jobs, but not an expert, will building a t-slot require precise welding. I certainly know that everything needs to be as square as it can be

 

[reefsaver]

No welding with t-slot, there’re a phenomenal amount of different types of connectors that you use to connect it together. Internal and external brackets, connectors and bracing. You can order all the parts, have it pre cut before shipping or cut it yourself including the connections from the same vendor and put it together at home. I had the thought of just buying some T-slot aluminium extrusion off eBay, connectors and corner brackets, maybe 4 adjustable feet and cut it with an angle grinder myself just to save money on cutting. But it’s already overkill at like 3030mm wide extrusion with just connectors and corner brackets to hold a Waterbox25 and really low profile. I eventually scrapped this idea and built a stone top stand for my water box 25 but I do have other tanks I’m interested in building some high quality aluminium extrusion stands for but it’s expensive really which is why I’ve procrastinated so long for my other tanks. In summary my personal opinion is T-slot aluminium is the best aquarium stand material. If you ask a shop that stocks extrusion they might also help you with what it might need.

 

[Treehrtsme]

Biggest question is how much the stuff costs. I can do the cutting myself though. Would it be cheaper to buy online?

 

[Treehrtsme]

At the end of the day a do I have an unlimited supply of high grade play work, oak and popular so maybe I'll just go back to the basics

 

[reefsaver]

I would probably revert to the same. I built my waterbox stand with only things I had on hand. A stone offcut from building a kitchen counter-top that I cut to my waterbox 25's size, and a steel heavy duty low profile stand that I removed two legs from and cut down to hold the stone top. I don't think it looks as perfect as it would have if it was just aluminium extrusion, and over time it will rust although I do really enjoy how it was kind of jerry rigged together, and the stone top is kind of awesome giving a nice rich look to the tank. If it does rust I can clean it and paint it easy and it's survived a 3.0 earthquake hehe.