diy stand question

shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Hey... I am going to be building a stand pretty soon for my tank but I am confused on something... once you build the top and bottom braces and you go to attach the legs between the 2 braces... how do you screw in the legs w/o the screws hitting the screws that attach the braces? I'm not sure if this makes sense. Thanks for helping! And any other tips and help are very welcomed!
 
deeze

deeze

Member
When I built mine I used 6" lag bolts. The bolts that went down from the top were just eyeballed to miss the ones going in from the side. I used 4x4 fence posts for the frame so I had room for flexibility.

 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
deeze... it appears to me that for the top and bottom pieces at the corners and you only used 1 screw.... is this all that is needed?? btw all this is just for a 30g so its not gonna need to be super enforced... Okay soo lemme try to explain again... I see how I think deeze used only 1 screw on each corner for the top and bottom frames and then it looks like deeze used brackets for the legs... Since my tank is only a 30g and brackets can get expensive I was wondering how you screw the legs in without hitting the screws that are holding the corners together for the top and bottom base... I guess also you do not need to screw any of the screws directly into the middle.. But I was thinking about using more than one screw for the base and the legs... I guess if all that is needed is 1 than its not that hard. Is this all I need?

Is there some sort of rule like the vertical screws (for the legs) should be on the outside of the horizontal screws (for the top and bottom base)? or does it not really matter??
Oh btw.. if you were wondering I was just going to use 2x4's and have a box shape for the top and bottom base and then just the 4 legs... I was told that I would not need any middle braces in the top and bottom base or the legs due to it only being a 30g.. does this sound okay?
Thanks all... sorry for the huge post. :happyfish:
 
threed240

threed240

Member
That would be ok. But being that the center brace would only be around 10" or so long, Id throw it in there between the two outlying braces, midway.
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
So you would put a center brace leg?? what about for the top and bottom braces?
And how many screws for each attachment... such as use... 1 screw for all of the pieces to be connected for the top and bottom braces and 2 screws for the legs.. or??
Thanks.
 
threed240

threed240

Member
I would put a horizontal brace, running from front to back. And I might put a leg (vertical) in the middle of the back of the stand. So you could have one large door in the front. 30g is going to weigh in at around 300lbs. Not counting for rock or sand, but those also take away from the amount of water. I would make the top and bottom of the stand out of 2x4's. As far as the legs go, you could use 1x2's. That is if you brace them from moving side to side. You can glue, nail, or screw plywood around the out side of the legs and it will hold up with no problems. And I would use 2 screw ( 2-3" deck screws) pre connection. This will prevent the boards from rolling, or twisting.
 
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