# 10gal on an IKEA Expedit bookcase...Safe?



## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Anyone have experience with the ikea Expedit bookcase? I bought my wife the bookcase with the dual purpose to place my 10gal growout tank on it. When I assembled it, i noticed that the shelves were MDF, but the thicker outer walls were made out of a honeycomb sturcture. I googed it, and apperently the honeycomb is reinforced in the areas where the dowell pins meet the shelves.

I placed the aquarium on the unit spanning evenly across two shelves, therefore having the support of 2 standing MDF boards, and the "thicker" honeycomb in thoses areas aswell. I already have water and rocks and sand in there (dumb to do before i was sure, i know... impatient i guess). I gather it's around 120lbs in total.

Do you guys think it'll be okay? :-? Any advice will give me some peace of mind.. thanks guys!


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

In my experience, MDF and water do not mix, and to overgeneralize, Ikea furniture and water doubly so.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

I agree. I've replaced a lot of sink cabinets made of MDF in my work. When water sits in one place to long it will soak through the paper covering and swell/rot the MDF underneath not to mention how quickly it will swell and weaken exposed edges.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Sorry guys.. I meat fibre board.. 

You know, the same stuff the stands you buy at the LFS are made from and have gaurentees... thats what the shelves are made from... The outer walls are the honeycomb sturcture i mentioned...

I ran to Homedepot and placed a 3/4" sheet of pine the whole length of the aquarium, and the whole depth of the shelf...

That should help more, no?


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

Cento said:


> Anyone have experience with the ikea Expedit bookcase? I bought my wife the bookcase with the dual purpose to place my 10gal growout tank on it.
> 
> Do you guys think it'll be okay? :-? Any advice will give me some peace of mind.. thanks guys!


I would say with a 10 gal you will be fine. You are only talking a bit over 70 pounds, and that's nothing. I bet you can stand on it without problem and I bet you weigh more than 70 pounds.


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## mightyevil (Oct 23, 2008)

Got a picture of the stand?

I was using a bookcase from Target or one of those stores which their stuff is like IKEA's, anyway, I used it for my ten gallon and the top panel where the tank was sitting bowed but never snapped, I recently put the 10 where my twenty was. The bookshelf I have is almost twice as long as the 10 gallon. If the bookshelf is the same length as the 10 gallon, I think you will be alright.


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## bell22 (Dec 23, 2009)

As far as I know, IKEA furniture is good in quality. It's pretty good, so I think you won't have problem with it


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

There are oil based and naptha based sealers that would help protect the stand from water for a while, but they are opaque. If the stand is clear wood color anywhere, you could seal it with a clear polyurethane, but that shows white spots when it gets wet.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

So, just an Update on the stand situation:

So far, so good. As I mentioned, I placed a 3/4" sheet of pine under the 10gal to distribute the weight evenly across as large an area as possible. The shelf is about 2' wide and 6' long. And, as stated previously, I placed the tank along the top where 2 vertical shelves span underneath to take some of the horizontal pressure off of the top side. The pine spans the whole width of the shelf and extends a few inches on either side of the tank.

Also, I received an email back from IKEA (months after I sent it to them). I explained in great detail my situation to them. Their reply was, in comparison, incredibly short: "Don't do it." HA!

I don't get it! Some of the older LCD's or some of the Plasma TV's out there are around the 50-70lbs mark, and the stand that comes with them are roughly the same footprint as 10gals. These things are advertised as TV stands and at the store you see them with TV's on them... :?


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

I think the difference is that the TV's don't contain water... The potential damage that even 10g of water can do is pretty significant.


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## redblufffishguy (Jul 16, 2009)

One gallon of water equals 8.345 pounds. Ten gallon tank about 5 pounds, rocks and gravel about 10 pounds (conservatively) Water displaced by said rocks and gravel, about 1.5 gallon.

So doing the math, 8.5 gallons of water, tank, rocks/gravel: roughly 86 pounds, and that is being really conservative.

However, if you can keep the moisture dripping/pooling on the shelf, you should be fine. My only concern would be lateral stability. IKEA is not know for including shear strength into their furniture.


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

redblufffishguy said:


> My only concern would be lateral stability. IKEA is not know for including shear strength into their furniture.


 Funny you should say that... I was thinking about that last week... I'm thinking of installing these little L-bracket pieces I have left over from other IKEA projects. It has a hole on either end. If you look at the Expedit book case, it has several shelves. I was gonna place a about a dozen or so near the back (so no one sees this silver bracket) and just attach them.. either that, or place 2 "X" braces in 2 of the locations (preferably in the ones that have a basket in them to cover them).


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## paradigmsk8er (Apr 13, 2009)

depends on how far apart the braces are..

My wife has a bunch of **** on hers..but im not sure I would risk almsot 100 pounds of stuff on it, especially considering how fiberboard/MDF reacts to water.


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

With all the concern and with what you've added or plan to add to improve the stability why not just buy a stand or make one?


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

I would trust IKEA on this one, don't do it mate!

It's cheap low quality furniture, not build for the weights of tanks and water spillings.


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