Habitat - Indoor :: Stand A Bit To little.

[Blue Flamingo]

The stand that I have for my new 55gal is a bit too small. The ends of the tank stick out a bit. I will eventually build something that extends to support the ends that stick out. My question is can I fill it up like that and in the future build the extenders.

[jenaero]

Short answer is no. If then ends hang over, when filled with water it will put extra pressure on the glass in that area. It's not a matter of IF it will burst, but WHEN.

[ice]

not if, when. and also, how much it'd suck to clean that up.

my answer is a lot.
the quick fix might be to screw in a decently thick board to the top of the stand so itll distribute the weight. but make sure the screws or nails are all the way down. if they come in contact with the glass, then you put water in it, it'll crack.

[steve]

Can you get another one of those? It could look pretty nice together, though you might want to put a sheet of ply wood over them.

[Blue Flamingo]

Okay I'll definitely not fill it up then. Nope I only have one of those stands. It was an old TV stand. We have a desk that I can put it on, but I wanted something a little bit more narrow, so that’s why I tried to get away with using that. But I guess I’ll just use the desk. Thank for the quick responses.

[kiwigerman]

I have a fish tank on a ledge that was too narrow for it. So what I did was buy a piece of strong wood the size of the tank and place it under the tank to support it. I'm sure if you talk to someone in a hardware shop, they'll find you a board that'll do the job

[DavidY]

Yea, like kiwigerman suggested, you could get a piece of 3/4" thick plywood. Home Depot sometimes sells 4ft x 2ft pieces, you could have them cut one down to 4ft x 13in and that would fit perfectly underneath the tank. It's not necessary to nail/screw it down since the weight of the tank will hold it firmly in place and the extra wood will help provide the support necessary for the edges of the tank that overhang the stand.

[steve]

A tank would be much heaver than a TV, so I would look into something different. A lot of those stands are made from cheap wood particle board and really should not be used for something that heavy. The weight and even a little moisture could easily warp that.

[megcornell]

why not set it up on the floor in the meantime? You may as well get full use of the tank until you can get a stand.

[ajozwiak]

Yeah you could set it up on the floor. I'd be wary of using the desk. I was using one for about a month when I noticed I couldn't get the drawers open anymore. It was bowing terribly in the center and starting to crack down the middle. And that was with a smaller tank! They aren't designed to hold all that weight.

[Blue Flamingo]

Ya, that’s what I was afraid might happen, I was just going to use it for a temporary stand until I got one of those metal ones. I was going to brace the middle of the desk with a piece of wood. The reason I didn’t want to put it on the floor is because it is right beside my bed and I wouldn’t be able to see it very well and it would be harder to clean, but if that’s the only solution I may end up doing that.

[SpotsMama]

Are you on the ground floor of your place? If so you could make a temporary structure of cinderblocks and 2 x 4's. If you were upstairs I'd worry about the weight.

[Blue Flamingo]

I was thinking about that but wasn’t sure how much those things cost. My turtle tanks are both in my room, which is in the basement so there’s no issue with the weight of the tanks. I’ll have to go check out Lowes and Home Depot to see how much those cinder blocks cost.

[octpusgirl8]

I can't imagine they would be expensive. I have a bunch of them under my deck and i can't imagine my cheapskate landlord would have left them there if they were at all valuable.

[DavidY]

They're probably like a buck or two a piece. You can find them for free at construction/demolition sites.