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I am planning on buying eith a 75 gallon or a 125 gallon this week. My LFS has them on sale for a dollar a gallon, so i decided to get it now and set it up in the future.

I plan on making the stand this month. Does anyone have any standards as far as support? My grandfather insists that he will need to weld up a metal frame to have it set on. I beged to differ, but he is a stubborn old man. Is there a standard?

I know that the support only needs to be the outer perimeter. I plan on using 2x4s to stud it up, and oak on the outside. Should i put the studs on 16 inch centers? 8 inch centers? Anyone?

thanks

You could make a stand for both out of 2x4 with cross supports and 16 inch centers.

One stud grade (kiln dried fir) 2"x4" standing on end is rated for over 3000lbs verticle load. While you won't want your tank balencing on a single board: the fact is, it could!

The most important part of designing any stand is crossbracing. Crossbracing must be well secured on both ends for either tank you are looking at. My 125 sits on 2x4 shelving build into my fishroom. The previous stand was 4x4 posts for the corners with dado cutouts for the 2x4s that held it all together. The whole thing was assembled with deck screws in the front (visible) and lag bolts for the crossbracing in the back.

For the best looking home built stands, I use 2x4s for the basic box frame then 3/4" thick Oak veneer plywood to make the front and sides (which if properly attached can act as crossbracing). You can even wrap that up along the sides (just ply at this point) of the tank, then cover the top to create a full integrated canopy over the tank. Just give yourself enough headroom over the tank top for lighting and changing filter cartridges. Quite a bit more expensive to build given the ply in the U.S. is $55 a sheet, but well worth it. You could likely build a full canopy stand for a 125 out of 3 4'x8' sheets.

The only real critical feature (and tricky part to build) in any stand, even factory units, is that the tank MUST SIT square and level. Otherwise the torque of the tank sitting on an uneven surface will break a pane of glass when full or stress a seam so much that it gives. BTW: You can use a sheet of pink foam insulation to level off the surface the tank is sitting on.

Edit: This post was just full of misspellings! (likely plus a couple I missed!)