638g
 

I ordered the glass today :wink: ( 96X48X32 ) Starfire front :cool:

get it hopefully in 2 weeks ... have to start building the stand right away ... anyone have suggestions as to what type of wood joints to use as I will be making the stand from 4X4 with a 1" plywood top and 1" foam under the glass

whatever you do, you -HAVE- to take a picture of you lying down in it in your swim trunks with a rubber duckie!

:lol:

Wish I could offer advice on what kind of wood joints you need, but I don't know much about that sort of stuff. By Googling "build your own aquarium stand", I found this on the net, though ....

http://bennett.com/blog/index.php/ar...quarium-stand/

Do hope you do the rubber ducky thing AND post pics of it :biggrin:

You may want to look at a metal stand with additional bracing eg: fish plating, 4x4's are strong and if I was supporting that much weight on wood I think I would use a dowel joint or wedged mortise and tenon joint. My opinion only but others may well know better.

i'd use heavy duty angle iron, welded professionally...unless you are a welder...then add wood to it afterwords..unless you like the metal, you can get some very nice, very sturdy dectrotaive wrought iron stands...no i don't mean the ones sold in fish stores...i mean a custom one.

I would use a combination of 2 x 6 just like building floor joists and 4 x 4 supports or go here http://www.garf.org/

strong stand ...........
 

Have not had chance to locate earlier post on stands and search feature seems frozen at the present time but I strongly recommend looking into the torsion box type of stand . This is tremendously strong and rigid especially if bolted together with 3/8th "or1/2" threaded rod. I have made a bench this way which is almost immovable but could be taken down if required in the future .A frame of 2x4 with a glued and screwed skin of plywoood on both sides creates the ' box'. Stresses are then distributed along the long edge of the plywood instead of just the legs. Using large washers and nuts threaded rods can be tightened with a wrench to great effect.
Just a thought..........................
Dave.

Start a thread for your progress on this monster! Have any specs for what you are going to run this beast with?

I think you need a pic with full diving equipment on!

oh yah baby ! I may have some fish that could go there...:lol:

Thanks for all the suggestions ... and I will definately do a progress thread ( with pics :wink: ) as it progresses

@ woodcarver ... any pics of what a stand like that looks like ?

@ Deb ... I may take you up on that :smile: ... if you remember my old 330 this will basically have 2.5 ft more swimming room up front with the same size reef as before at the back ( bit more open rockwork though )

When i did mine on the old 280 i used 4x4's and 2x6's
1st I notched the 4x4's to fit the 2x6'sthe went around the base of the tank,

email me at mtw@MTS.NET AND i WILL SEND YOU SOME PICTURES of the stand that i have ok..

Hell I would go with Engineered beems...they sell at rona for $6 a foot!

Stand
 

I think you should go metal, an overflow or spill will make the wood take off or twist and over 8 feet x 4 feet a slight twist can put your tank out 1/4 inch from end to end, and from what I have been told anything over 6 feet you better make sure your bang on and stay that way. Just my 2 cents, but I would do it once, spend the money and sleep well every night.
Those stands that you see at revy and home depot, I use those in my fishroom. I bought a 8 foot long x 2 foot wide and 6 long with 2 shelf brackets for 200.00, bet you could get a 4 foot wide for 250.00 and you could park a bus on it.
Mark

Or you could just cover the stand with waterproofing epoxy and it would probably cost less then a metal stand.

My 2 cents would be to go with metal....You could then have wooden sides stick on with magnets so access would be easy

Great to hear!!
 

hey thats awesome !!!
Keep us informed

Stanley

I would go with metal as it will probably be cheaper and take up less space. Its all covered up anyway so why mess around?

Like Krazy Kuch said,engineered beams or steel .You wouldn't want any warpage or twisting. Also is this going on a concrete floor? This is going to weigh as much as a 73 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser station wagon. I know, my dad had one. Would you park one in your living room?

I would go with a welded stand on this one.. way to big for a wood stand and still get a good nights sleep.

Steve