Aquarium Cabinets

[Andy P]

This may seem like a stupid question but are aquarium cabinets stronger than sideboards you find in 'proper' furniture shops?
I know some people may say they are designed especially to withstand the weight of an aquarium full of water but in all honesty looking at the construction of my Rio 400 cabinet (which is essentially chipboard held together with screws) I cant see anything that special about it.

The reason I ask is I'm looking to upgrade to a 6' tank and the wife says she would like it to sit on something a bit more pleasing to the eye than the usual chipboard / MDF which is usually overpriced for what it is IME.

There is an oak clearance centre near us where I can get a solid oak 6' sideboard for £240. The only problem I can see is making sure the wood doesn't come in contact with too much water & warp (shouldn't be too hard to avoid) and maybe adding a centre leg to spread the load (it's only on stubby feet, not long legs)

Any thoughts / comments appreciated!

Cheers

 

[mixmaster jay]

well mine is taking 825L of water roughly 825 kilo about 80 kilo of slate and rock 60 kilo of sand and 50 kilo of halide lights and about 30 kilo of wood framing for the light so i would say very strong
side boards nowadays are very strong i use a side board for my jewel 300 with no probs at all

this side board is from focus and just under the drawer openings its open legged

i have had the tank full to the top for 2 days to see if it leaked too so it probably took about 360 kilo in total

 

[raptorrex]

This may seem like a stupid question but are aquarium cabinets stronger than sideboards you find in 'proper' furniture shops?
I know some people may say they are designed especially to withstand the weight of an aquarium full of water but in all honesty looking at the construction of my Rio 400 cabinet (which is essentially chipboard held together with screws) I cant see anything that special about it.

The reason I ask is I'm looking to upgrade to a 6' tank and the wife says she would like it to sit on something a bit more pleasing to the eye than the usual chipboard / MDF which is usually overpriced for what it is IME.

There is an oak clearance centre near us where I can get a solid oak 6' sideboard for £240. The only problem I can see is making sure the wood doesn't come in contact with too much water & warp (shouldn't be too hard to avoid) and maybe adding a centre leg to spread the load (it's only on stubby feet, not long legs)

Any thoughts / comments appreciated!

Cheers

if you are looking at, older, furniture. its, vastly stronger than the "average" tank stand. but if you buy from say Argos/Kmart. it would be hard to say they are worse than stands, but they are built to very low standards using the cheapest muck that can be stuck together.
unfortunately, affordable, quality, dedicated stands are rare. they are built to a price, often only just being up to the job. even so, its the design, as much as the material, that gives strength. strong stands can be made of the strangest wood (chipboard). they work by forming a series of squares. which when added together, make the stand.
i would vote OAK!

 

[mixmaster jay]

i agree or find something that is solid wood not chipboard rubbish as it doesnt do well if slightly wet lol

 

[Andy P]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Well, I've just bought the tank (72"x18"x32" ) so now all I have to do is find something substantial & cheap to put it on thats got a cupboard big enough to take my Eheim 2080

Wish me luck...

 

[Tropical_Fish]

I've got my fish tank on a solid oak sideboard. My tank is only smallish at the moment but I wouldn't hesitate at putting a much larger tank on it. It's quite a chunky sideboard so the sides and top are 2-3" thick - it won't go anywhere!

The only thing I would warn is that the Oak side boards are **** heavy! But if you're moving a 6 foot tank around you should have some help around to move the oak sideboard. I think we nearly killed ourselves getting our sideboard in. We had to take it round the back as well to come in the french doors

 

[coldcazzie]

I'd actually feel safer with it being on an oak sideboard than on a purpose built stand! In fact when we move I want to have a large sideboard with a couple of 2' tanks on it and will be buying with that in mind.

The only thing, as said, would be trying to ensure the wood is kept dry, but I think that would be easy enough with a piece of perspex or something? That and fill/do water chagnes with a hose not a bucket - but you'd want to do that anyway with a large tank.

 

[raptorrex]

The only thing, as said, would be trying to ensure the wood is kept dry,

if an oak cabinet got so wet it collapses, or even warps. you would have so much water on the floor, it would be hard not to notice (lol, never mind the empty tank). as well as the fact, most, if not all, are polished or varnished.
in truth, the same goes for chipboard and MDF, stands. both are, usually, finished in a plastic coating/laminate. so again, unless they are standing in it, there is little chance of water causing problems.

i would suggest you remove any legs the, proposed, item has. they are a weak point and getting as much area, on the floor, as you can, will help. if nothing else, it will make it more stable.

 

[Tolak]

Long ago a cheap composition wood stand is what made me get into building my own. Filter overflowed due to a blockage while I was out of town for a couple of days. About 5 gallons of water on the basement floor, no big deal, or so I thought.

After a couple of more days the stand started to "melt", turning into something like a cellulose based oatmeal. 55 gallon tank with one end a good inch lower, and sinking fast, not pretty. Got a cheap metal stand as quick as I could, and have built my own since then, with one exception. Free stand, with tank, commercially made. I would be imbarrased to admit I made something that cheaply. It is solid wood, if it weren't I would build my own.


Older well built solid wood furniture will do for a stand if it is a reasonable size tank. I've outfitted the basement family room with mostly older solid wood furniture, that can and has been pressed into use as a stand.

 

[jmkgreen]

We were not impressed by the cabinets sold by Hagen when we were tank-shopping. The juwels where slightly better. I have an existing Juwel 70L who's stand holds up fine despite the number of small splashes against the front it's suffered over the years (no visible signs).

In stark contrast the stand that ND built and delivered is far better. Unlike the Hagen/Juwels which have no backing, this has solid chipboard (a contradiction terms some might argue) throughout with sealed holes through the rear for pipe work. Can't argue about the quality but time will of course tell.

 

[ROSSCO22]

I made my Cabinet out of 18mm block board and used the block board as the back glued and screwed together and gave it 4 or 5 coats of varnish and it takes my 36"x18"x18" tank fine.