New Cabinet...

[tomtomtom1230]

I have a new chest of drawers coming from IKEA and plan to put my 120L tank on it. The dimensions are correct and the tank will have approx 10cm all the way around of free space (from the base of the tank to the edge of the drawers.


Hope this chest of drawers of IKEA is good. It was cheap are far as chests of drawers go and it looks sturdy enough. I'll have to stand on it first. I think, the aquarium will weigh as much as me plus a few kilos.

If I weigh approx 95-100kg and at 20 degrees Celsius, 1 litre of water weighs approx 1kg that's around 120kg + approx 10kg for the weight of the tank it's self and then another 10kg for the substrate.

Hhmmmm... I'll have to put the drawers up and then maybe put the tank on a wide plank of wood to help spread the weight out to the corners of the chest of drawers? In my head this works, but would it help alleviate some of the stress that the drawers will have to take in theory? I fully believe it can support the weight of the tank on it's own but ideally, I'd like to just spread the weight of the tank a bit more - for my piece of mind.

Any thoughts or advice?

 

[HUFC]

I have my 75l on a set of cheap ikea drawers, i know the tank isnt as big as yours but mine only has about 5cm of space round the sides and it holds it perfect
It should hold yours easily enough

 

[Dazzler666]

I had a 90 litre on a cheap Argos (I think!!) drawer set that was more like a small kitchen storage space with baskets in and it held it! .
Think once you put the tank in it, empty of course you will get an idea how sturdy it is then just take it from there. Alternatively you could just sit on them.
Hope it goes ok .... Will keep my fingers crossed for you buddy!

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Thanks guys! I'll give it a go

 

[Proxo]

I've had my 240L tank sitting on a piece of living room furniture that has 4 legs that are about 6inch high instead of a flat bottom for roughly 3 years with no problems .
I stuck another in the middle for little bit of extra help though.

^ Might make you feel a little better

 

[samorkel]

I'll have to put the drawers up and then maybe put the tank on a wide plank of wood to help spread the weight out to the corners of the chest of drawers? If you can stand on it and you weigh approx 95kgs it should stand especially since the surface area of your feet is smaller than the tank its self if you are worrying about it caving in.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Yeah that's what I thought, too. It'll come flat packed but I'm fairly handy where woodwork is concerned (not professional but I can put some shelves up and build a wardrobe). Rather than the sheet of plywood/chipboard they supply as the back panel, I might have a go at inserting a thicker, more sturdy back panel. Should increase the rigidity of it a little.

I suspected as much Samorkel, it works in my head but just needed it confirmed xD

 

[OldMan47]

Something to keep in mind is that each 1 litre of volume is 1 Kg of mass added to that stand's load. Many times a chest of drawers is not designed for much load except the load of filling the drawers with clothing.