Will This Take The Weight?

[Schmill]

Positives:
You say you've already had tanks on it.
It looks like it doesn't have any 'feet' or 'legs' to it, so sits flat on the floor, spreading the weight across the bottom section.
The uprights might only be chipboard, but you do get different qualities of chipboard, (how compressed the chips are in the chipboard), and the uprights themselves seem quite wide in your picture.

Negatives:
As others have said though, with anything chipboard water is your enemy. One it gets wet inside the veneer the chipboard swells and seperates. At that point it's lost, even if it dries out it stays in it's 'swollen' state and is very weak. In my experience though, it takes either a lot of water, or (worse), a little water over a long period of time to cause the chipboard to go. For me it was kitchen cupboards with a slow dripping pipe behind them

Perhaps the best method would be to find a few paving slabs or similar (to be equivalent to perhaps 1.5x the weight of the new tank), and sit them on it for a few days and just see what happens?

Disclaimer: No repsonsibility taken if it all gives way once your tank is on it!

 

[bennett418]

Yeah more than double i think

went to LFS on lunch break and looked at there stands they had a tank which must have been 200+ litres and that only had a chipboard stand........maybe there is a limit on what chipboard can take?

Other option are welcomed though am in no rush

anyone got photos of there stands? mainly with big tanks on them?

 

[tenohfive]

Bear in mind that anything you buy from Ikea (or anywhere else) isn't designed to hold 450kg of weight.

And making a stand is easy, as is tarting it up.

 

[tyyrlym]

Frankly there are some very questionable stands sold at fish stores. Often they try to save money and make it pretty rather than making it durable. A good wooden or tubular steel stand will take whatever you can throw at it and just keep on trucking.

 

[bennett418]

Just called Ikea they have no record of this stand anymore......typical

 

[Tolak]

I agree with many store bought stands sacrificing function for style. When they are made of 1x3 & 1x4 construction it has to make you nervous.

I've built plenty of stands & racks, I just took down the 65 gallon in the living room yesterday, little remodeling project;

Under the plywood are six 2x4 legs, doubled up at the corners, total of ten 2x4's for vertical support. The perimeter is 2x4's top & bottom.

This is a 55 gallon in the fishroom, with two 20's on top. The construction is similar, no plywood skin to dress it up. Six 2x4's for support hold it with no problem;

All you are doing to build a stand that is better than store bought is building a sturdy frame, skinning with finished one side plywood, and finishing, no big deal for anyone handy with tools.


If you have any questions post them, I've built everything from 10 gallon racks to 3'x10' elevated platforms;

I have a real distrust for store bought stands. If I get a chance, since the 65 is down, I'll take some interior pics of that stand, and a store bought 72 gallon stand that I got for free. The 72 stays in the basement, concrete floors with a floor drain.

 

[bennett418]

Thanks for all replies here is what i did last night

Photo with tank on it, also braced the front and added 4 uprights to back on top of horitozial pieces, very strong now 4 of us stood on it and it didt even know it!

also view of horizontal and vertical pieces.

 

[Spishkey]

sorry i still wouldnt trust it.......may be ok at first but a few months down the line you may hear an awful crack, then smash and splash!!! i dont trust ikea furniture non stop, not after one of my kids beds collapsed with my son in it. he was only 16 months at the time so not exactly heavy!



good luck and fingers crossed for you!!!

 

[tenohfive]

Same, steady weight will over time compress the wood and I reckon you're potentially looking at a disaster. Good luck!