• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Need to reinforce bottom of aquarium stand

manbern

Members
Hey guys. So I'm in a bit of a dilemma here......

I have a 110 gallon tank w/fish and water already in it, sitting on top of a pre-fabbed wooden aquarium stand. I'm not worried about the stand itself, as it was engineered specifically to hold the weight of a full 110 gallon tank. But I don't think much thought was put into the bottom portion of the stand that's gonna house the filters, food, nets, etc...

Well, I have two beefy canister filters (Fluval FX6 and a JBJ Reaction EFU-45) sitting on that flimsy plywood "floor" at the bottom of the stand. It hasn't crashed through it, but I can tell that the flimsy ply is "struggling", it's bending pretty good.

Is there any way I can reinforce that floor without having to drain the tank, relocate the fish, and remove the tank? Maybe put on top of the existing "floor", a thicker piece of plywood with some smaller strips of plywood glued/screwed to one side to make like a criss-cross/grid pattern. So weight could be more evenly distributed?

I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks.
 

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Thicker piece of plywood sitting atop the bottom frame of the tank should work fine. Alternatively, get a reciprocating saw and cut out portions of the bottom luan that was built into the stand from the factory. Sit your sump, etc directly on the floor.

From a basic structural prospective, the thin luan across the bottom doesn't serve much of a purpose for the stand's strength. A piece across the back or sides would be different as it prevents the tank from wracking (this would be considered a "diaphragm"). Because all the load on the bottom frame is all in one direction and there is no significant lateral loads, the piece across the bottom is just for convenience (or inconvenience in your case).

Hope this helps.
 

manbern

Members
Thicker piece of plywood sitting atop the bottom frame of the tank should work fine. Alternatively, get a reciprocating saw and cut out portions of the bottom luan that was built into the stand from the factory. Sit your sump, etc directly on the floor.

From a basic structural prospective, the thin luan across the bottom doesn't serve much of a purpose for the stand's strength. A piece across the back or sides would be different as it prevents the tank from wracking (this would be considered a "diaphragm"). Because all the load on the bottom frame is all in one direction and there is no significant lateral loads, the piece across the bottom is just for convenience (or inconvenience in your case).

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input! I didn't think about cutting out that bottom part altogether. It is just for cosmetic aesthetics anyway. At the very least, I could just cut out the sections where my canister filters will be sitting.
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
+1 on Tony's advice, especially if there are doors on the stand that hide the underneath. Take some pics either way!
 
Top