# Have you ever heard of a tank furniture combo collapsing?



## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

I purchased a 104 gallon tank that came with its own furniture stand. It is made of wood. I'm no engineer so I was surprised that this wooden stand will hold the massive weight of the tank. The store clerk said that he sold many of these aquarium setups and never heard of the stand collapsing. So I am curious, have you ever heard of a manufactures tank furniture combo collapsing under its own weight?


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## LeeAberdeen (Sep 4, 2014)

Never heard of it either, no. Have heard of some from smaller manufacturers warping, though, which would worry me lots. The fact it's made of wood shouldn't worry you - wood can be incredibly strong and it depends how the stand's made and how thick the wood is. Usually the wood's about 18mm thick, so good and sturdy, and, as with the 140g I've just bought, there are about six bits of it supporting the tank weight, so the load's well spread. I don't know what else they'd make it out of other than wood - they're not going to build a mainstream tank stand out of bricks or anything. You can guarantee that if there was a problem with it, they wouldn't be releasing it like that, especially with the bigger manufacturers.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

i suppose you could have a stand built out of steel. as long as your wood stand is in good shape i wouldn't worry about it


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

What an aquarium stand needs to be and what people often think they should be are very different things.

I can tell you that all Aqueon stands are built to hold 3x the weight of the largest tank that can fit on it full of water without collapsing or folding and they have to stand up to the UL toddler tip test (hang a 50 lb weight on the end of the open door and see if it tips).

Many home built stands are way overbuilt.

Andy


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Narwhal72 said:


> What an aquarium stand needs to be and what people often think they should be are very different things.
> 
> I can tell you that all Aqueon stands are built to hold 3x the weight of the largest tank that can fit on it full of water without collapsing or folding and they have to stand up to the UL toddler tip test (hang a 50 lb weight on the end of the open door and see if it tips).
> 
> ...


LOL. So true about the home built stands. Most could handle an Abrams tank sitting on them. Many weigh almost as much.


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## chopsteeks (Jul 23, 2013)

BillD said:


> Narwhal72 said:
> 
> 
> > What an aquarium stand needs to be and what people often think they should be are very different things.
> ...


Funny !!


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## atreis (Jan 15, 2013)

The only stand I've heard of collapsing (years ago) was made using a pair of cement blocks set on end, stacked, with 2x4s placed in the low spot on the end of the top blocks. Cement blocks aren't very strong across the inside walls - that's not what they're designed for. The weight of the tank split the blocks in half.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

atreis said:


> The only stand I've heard of collapsing (years ago) was made using a pair of cement blocks set on end, stacked, with 2x4s placed in the low spot on the end of the top blocks. Cement blocks aren't very strong across the inside walls - that's not what they're designed for. The weight of the tank split the blocks in half.


That had to be an awesome (i guess horrifying for the owner) thing to see.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I actually had a stand "collapse" on me. Tank was a 29, the stand was homemade, basic cabinet with wood trim around the bottom. Tank was empty, in a basement which frequently got wet - standing water, as the water table at normal high tide was about 2" below the basement floor. Had a nor'easter which flooded basement. Well, the glue used to attach the trim failed due to being submerged in water, so the trim came off, and the stand settled. Tank hit the wall, and cracked.

I dried out the stand, and rebuilt it and it is in my living room today. I did use better glue on the subsequent build.  Never heard of another stand failing, but given the scenario laid out above (wet basement etc), and seeing stands built with particle board, I can easily see trouble.

Agree with the previous poster about the homemade stands being overbuilt. Sometime I'd like to experiment and make a stand for a 55 using good construction techniques and design, but using wood no thicker than 1/2" just to see. My guess is that with good construction techniques and design, a stand for a 55 could be built with wood thinner than 1/2".


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