aquarium cabinet

**perthnovice** · 11th June 2008, 11:47 AM

i have a 48Lx18Wx24H aquarium and at the moment i have a purpose built steel stand with four feet one in each corner 40mm square.

now at the end of the month we will be moving from Perth to Esperance and the house we are moving too only has floorboards.
I am told that my steel stand will punch four nice holes straight through the floorboards now obviously i have had a different version of what i should do from every person i have spoken too everything from make a steel rectangle to put the stand on and that will spread the weight to as long as you have a solid top for the tank to sit on and a solid base then you should be ok
(not keen on the should bit)

My idea was to make something similar to a kitchen unit with a 40mm top and have it sit on a square plinth type of base and then to have either one piece of timber under that say 40-60mm thick or several pieces say three 16mm with a 5-10mm thick sheet of poly either side of the centre piece.

The other information i got was that i would have to go under the house and brace the entire area that the tank will sit on with jacks now i really do not want to go down that path so any help or advice that i can get is going to be invaluable.

I shall await your replies

thank you in advance
neil

**brizylad** · 11th June 2008, 03:22 PM

Even though the tank would come in at about 350kg the chances of it punching through the floor board would be remote, unless they are dodgy to start with.

If you are talking about a particleboard style flooring, then that would be a different matter.

I would suggest that if you make sure the legs are directly over (or as close as possible to) a floor joist, you won't have a problem.

Stuart J.

**brinesharks** · 11th June 2008, 03:54 PM

Some older floors might struggle to take the weight if the boards are damaged (ie. borers or rotting). I have heard of people having their tanks go through the floor, but it's been because the floor is old or faulty. If you can, check underneath the floor to see that the boards are ok. By changing from four points to a larger area (the steel rectangle) you are reducing the chance that one floor board would give way. brizylad is right about the joist, place the feet over the strongest part of the floor.

I think the 'should' was stated because of the wide variety and age of wooden floors out there. I live in an old Queenslander that I could feel the boards flexing every time I took a step - no good putting a 350kg tank on them! New floors are usually stronger - it's a case of inspecting it and deciding if it's strong enough.

**Ianab** · 11th June 2008, 09:23 PM

Only concern is the point loading if the stand has small feet.

I have a 48x15x18 tank on a steel stand, but the top AND bottom is framed all the way round with angle steel. So the weight is spread over the whole 4ft length.

You could probably sit your current stand on a piece of heavy ply to spread the weight more evenly.

Any floor that wont hold that size tank spread over 4ft has bigger problems than just your fish tank.

Ian

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