5 foot stand with no center leg?

sula

Member
I need to build a 5 foot stand and would like it to have no center leg to accomodate my sump. I'm just wondering whether this will be a problem? Also, would building it using 2x4s suffice or do I need more?
What I am trying to deal with is a tank with a 60x18 footprint and a sump with a 36x18 footprint...
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks :happyfish
 
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bigben

Guest
Look at what I just posted. Title 1st time DIY Tank stand pics
 

sula

Member
BigBen: yes I saw your thread - looks like a great stand. But I have no way of making mine out of metal. You can feel free to send that one to me if you'd like
 
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bigben

Guest
Yea, its helpful to have access to a manufacturing facility. I have no input on wood.
Ben
 

big_money

New Member
I just built a 60x18 with a center leg (my first attempt). I used 2x4's and 4x4's (for the outside legs) in constructing mine. The long width's have a center leg (2x4) on both the front and back. My stand seems really stable (and heavy) with mostly 2x4 construction. However, if I was going to try to redo mine without a center leg (on just the front), I would probably still go with 4x4's for the outside legs and beef up the top with 2x6's. I used 3/4" plywood for the top and bottom "bases" and 1/4" plywood for the skin (front/back/left/right). I would probably stick with those thicknesses for plywood. I used 3" screws and also used metal angle braces (with nails) on most of the joints.
Perhaps you could make the front center leg "removable" some how?
Another option would be to have one center leg on the back and have two legs on the front, but have the front two legs far enough apart to fit the 36" sump in (maybe 38" apart???). If I went that route, I think I would stick with just 2x4's (not make the jump to 2x6's).
 

scsinet

Active Member
I have one that's holding a 120 gallon perfecto tank... 60" x 18", so maybe it's the same tank.
I used 2x4s as the legs, 5 of them. One in each corner, and one in the back center. I don't think you'll run into trouble doing the same. If you are concerned about the strength, then I'd use a second 2x4 in between the top and bottom perimeter frames, glued and bolted to the first one. I put a link down lower to a different stand
that I built, that shows detail on what I'm talking about.
For the bottom perimeter frame, 2x4s will be fine. Be sure that the legs are resting flat on the ground so the weight is on the floor, not on the fasteners.
The top frame I made from 2x6, with a doubled up 2x6 in the front to allow me to not have a center support.
For fasteners, I used liquid nails on all joints as well as a combination of other methods. On all butt joints for the top and bottom frame, I used 3" deck screws. To secure the legs to the top and bottom frames, I used 1/2" galvanized carriage bolts (2 on each leg at the top, one on the bottom).
This stand I did not document the construction of, but another stand I built I did, it's on my website here. Hopefully, you can get some ideas from this.
BTW, if you have access to a table saw or jointer, it would behoove you to rip about 1/8" off the 2x4s or 2x6s that form your top and bottom frame along the top edge (top frame) and bottom edge (bottom frame) so that the surfaces that sit on the floor and that the tank rests on are perfectly smooth and flat. It helps tremendously to make a really nice solid stand. I didn't do this on the first few stands I built and now I do it on all of them, and it really makes a difference in giving the tank a nice true surface to rest on. If you don't have one of these tools, do NOT try to do it with a circular saw, etc... you'll never get a true enough cut, and end up making it worse.
 
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