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Shelf mounted 200L tank

GraemeVW

Member
Joined
27 Jun 2022
Messages
150
Location
Chesterfield
I'm waiting for my new 980x400x500 to arrive and im now second guessing my 'stand'.

It's basically a shelf, in an alcove, so screwed to 3 walls.
I made a frame from 3x2 timber but with 4 side to side pieces. It was a very tight fit in the alcove (needed beating in with a big hammer) and was fixed to the wall with 7 6 inch long screws.
The top is 18mm mdf screwed to the timber frame all over. The front, unsupported timber, has a 50mm 1.5mm steel angle fixed on top for a little insurance against bowing.

The tank is only 10mm narrower than the alcove so the weight is all pushing directly down on the timbers. Can't see it going anywhere unless it snaps the screws, which are 8mm.

I was going to put 5mm neoprene foam rubber sheet under the tank.

There is no support down to the floor.
Not sure what the overall weight will be. 300kg?

I work in the building trade so I look at the shelf and think, would I put 12 bags of plaster on it? And I would, without question, evenly distributed.

But doubts are creeping in....

I had a 200l fluval tank years ago. Stand was just a few bits of chipboard and seemed increadibly flimsy. I didn't trust that at all, but it never collapsed.

Any thoughts?
 
Ah, I'm still learning the forum layout.
Have I accidently tried to put this in sticky?
Can a mod move it?
 
Over All view, with some batton simulating the tank while I mock up potential branches
20220629_214042.jpg
 
Underneath, you can see the steel angle at the front.
I screwed a batton to the wall first, then the frame to the batton. Did that so I have gaps for pipes etc.
 

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I did a similar thing, slightly smaller, at 170 litres. I used 2x2 battens, and these fixings;
Fixings
The screws are thinner than yours, as the fixing goes into an 8mm hole, so maybe 6mm actual screw diameter.
Three screws across the back and two on each side (into good sound bricks of course). Never gave me any worries, and was still there when I moved out.
hth
 
I did a similar thing, slightly smaller, at 170 litres. I used 2x2 battens, and these fixings;
Fixings
The screws are thinner than yours, as the fixing goes into an 8mm hole, so maybe 6mm actual screw diameter.
Three screws across the back and two on each side (into good sound bricks of course). Never gave me any worries, and was still there when I moved out.
hth

That's reassuring, thanks.
 
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