kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[kien]

Originally Posted by inkslinger

sweet lookin setup kien, just one question...i see there is no center bracing(very observative of me) any issue of that thus far...everyone stand i see has both a front and back center brace and i wanna redo my stand under my 100g and really dont want the center braces allowing access to a neater sump design... anyway, any problems with yours.

That is one concern that I definitely had with the stand. I followed the same plans that just about everyone else on the web uses to build their stand, found here. The guy who came up with the plan says the centre supports are not needed. I've been keeping an eye on it since I filled it and I am getting no deflection at all. I realize that this doesn't mean I will *never* get any deflection though. At any rate, I am not as worried as I used to be. I think it helps a lot that I used a 2x6 for the top supporting rails (actually a must if you are running 72 inches) and on top of that there is a thick 2" slab of very rigid MDF that the tank rests on. I do have 2x2s cut already that I might put in, each 12" from either side so that the long span is no more than 48 inches. I don't plan on putting a centre brace right in the middle of my 72" span though.

If you build your own stand, be sure to use wood glue. It makes the whole thing much sturdier.