Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

Suzie-Q wrote in news:sme617x-360202.05175821032006
@news.west.earthlink.net:

Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
you have to move the acquarium?

Bad idea.

Even if you could make such a structure sound enough to support that much
weight on wheels, the tank itself may not be able to stand up to being
moved around in such a way while full.

Plus water holds a lot of inertia, even if you moved it very slowly it
wouldn't take very much for a little resonance to build up and then SLOSH
SLOSH SPLASH (and possibly CRACK!)... what a mess.

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

"Suzie-Q" wrote in message
...
Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
you have to move the acquarium?

I plan to get a 55-gal aquarium soon.
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

Not good.
Wheels rated for that weight are rollers, which typically travel in one
direction. Pivoting rollers for that weight require some camber so they
orient themselves, and are a more complicated assembly requiring greater
structural integrity where they attach to the stand.

Besides that i) top heavy (somewhat unsafe to push), ii) the moment of
inertia to get it moving might slosh water (as will stopping), and most
importantly iii) aquarium stands are designed for a static vertical load,
and would be unsafe travelling at any speed (horizontal stress is not a
good thing).

What I've done is to put a sheet of carpet under the tank stand (assumes
the rest of the floor is hardwood or similar slippery surface). Then you
can sometimes pull the carpet around, to re-position the tank. Depending
on tank size, you may need to remove a quantity of water, clamp ropes to
the carpet (wrap rope around a 2x4 and then clamp two 2x4s to the end of
the carpet, and then pull on rope). In this manner, the horizontal
stress is much less (tank only instead of tank & floor resistance). hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

Lee Valley lists in their catalog wheels that you bolt on with
plates that are good for 1000lbs each. They lock. If you move the
tank SLOWLY you'll hve no problems.

Actually you can move it QUICKLY, it's not the velocity that
gets you it's the acceleration (and deceleration).

Don't make any sudden moves.

I think it's a cool idea.

--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:01:55 +0000 (UTC),
(Richard Sexton) wrote:

In article ,
Pete Becker wrote:
Suzie-Q wrote:

Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
you have to move the acquarium?

I plan to get a 55-gal aquarium soon.

600 top-heavy pounds, rolling across an uneven floor? Sounds like a
disaster in the making. Move it very carefully.

They make them for cars, and they lock. As long as they're rated for the
correct amount of weight, and lock no problem. In theory.

I can't say I've ever actually heard of anybody doing this, although
I have seen a killi-condo that had lots of small tanks on sliding rails
like drawers.


The right wheels is one thing, the correct frame is another. Cabinets
are designed to stand on the floor, not 4 corners of the cabinet.
Cars and trucks do sit on 4 corners, but the frame is built to work
that way. Also, an improper cabinet will sag between the wheels
meaning the tank frame will not have proper support.

As attractive as the idea is for those that like to rearrange things,
I would be very cautious.

dick

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

In article ,
"Koi-Lo" wrote:

- "Suzie-Q" wrote in message
- ...
- Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
- you have to move the acquarium?
-
- I plan to get a 55-gal aquarium soon.
- ==========================
- That would put all the weight on only 4 points on the floor. A stand
- distributes the weight all along it's length and width. I'll pass on this
- idea.

Well, actually I was thinking about six or eight wheels, or more.

I've given up the idea. Too many negatives!

What do you think about putting a bunch of those "super sliders" on
the bottom of the stand? You know - those [teflon] things that are
supposed to make furniture effortless to move. There are some that are
only about an inch wide, and some that are larger, of course.

You see, I have cats that like to find snakes and things out in the
backyard, then bring them in the house (alive) and then lose them
behind a piece of furniture. I often find live (or dead) creatures
in my house. I'd like to be able to get behind the fishtank if I
smell some rotting corpse in my house and it's coming from behind
the fishtank/stand!

((Anyone who says, "Get rid of the cats," will be considered an
idiot and ignored. ;-) ))
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

"Suzie-Q" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Koi-Lo" wrote:

- "Suzie-Q" wrote in message
- ...
- Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
- you have to move the acquarium?
-
- I plan to get a 55-gal aquarium soon.
- ==========================
- That would put all the weight on only 4 points on the floor. A
stand
- distributes the weight all along it's length and width. I'll pass
on this
- idea.

Well, actually I was thinking about six or eight wheels, or more.

I've given up the idea. Too many negatives!

What do you think about putting a bunch of those "super sliders" on
the bottom of the stand? You know - those [teflon] things that are
supposed to make furniture effortless to move. There are some that are
only about an inch wide, and some that are larger, of course.

You see, I have cats that like to find snakes and things out in the
backyard, then bring them in the house (alive) and then lose them
behind a piece of furniture. I often find live (or dead) creatures
in my house. I'd like to be able to get behind the fishtank if I
smell some rotting corpse in my house and it's coming from behind
the fishtank/stand!

((Anyone who says, "Get rid of the cats," will be considered an
idiot and ignored. ;-) ))
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/
http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/
http://www.intergnat.com/pussygames/

The Teflon pads have possibilities. Make sure they would not come off
when being moved (you don't want to get hung on 5 legs), as it's unlikely
all 6 will be at the same force when being moved along an uneven floor.
I would make a 'rake' to scrape, brush & dust behind furniture, rather
than moving the furniture or getting rid of the cats. jmo.
--
www.NetMax.tk

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

dc wrote in
:

Suzie-Q wrote in
news:sme617x-360202.05175821032006 @news.west.earthlink.net:

Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
you have to move the acquarium?

Bad idea.

Even if you could make such a structure sound enough to support
that much weight on wheels, the tank itself may not be able to
stand up to being moved around in such a way while full.

Partial solution to that (tank failure) is to drain about 3/4s of the
water. You are still looking at a top heavy structure though. And as
was pointed out above and in other responses, the structure of the
stand is another area of concern. Many commercial stands are not built
with enough structural integrity to add wheels/casters. Easier to do
than wheels/casters are teflon funiture sliders ("Super Sliders") that
only add 1/4 inch or 1 cm height to the stand and tank. The sliders
work well on carpeting, but not necessarily on hardwood or tiled
floors.


Plus water holds a lot of inertia, even if you moved it very
slowly it wouldn't take very much for a little resonance to build
up and then SLOSH SLOSH SPLASH (and possibly CRACK!)... what a
mess.


The intertia in this case is a second significant factor. Unless you
rig up some sort of baffles in the tank to limit the distance of the
interial waves generated, splashing is going to be a problem. Even with
the tank drained 3/4s empty the waves will stir up almost all of the
detritus in the gravel making a hideous cloudy mess.
--
Cheers,
Kurt

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

Suzie-Q wrote in
:

What do you think about putting a bunch of those "super sliders"
on the bottom of the stand? You know - those [teflon] things that
are supposed to make furniture effortless to move. There are some
that are only about an inch wide, and some that are larger, of
course.


See my other response. The sliders do a good job, but you will need to
remove at least 3/4s of the water and do things slowly. When I've moved
either furniture, refrigerators, or aquaria and stands, the lower that
you apply moving force (pulling or pushing) the better. The lower the
center of force minimizes the tendency to topple the whole structure.
And go *slow*.

I rather like NetMax's idea of using a sheet of carpeting with wooden
battens clamped on the pulling end.

--
Cheers,
Kurt

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 05:14:03 -0600, Dick
wrote:

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:01:55 +0000 (UTC),
(Richard Sexton) wrote:

In article ,
Pete Becker wrote:
Suzie-Q wrote:

Have any of you ever put wheels on your aquarium stand, in case
you have to move the acquarium?

I plan to get a 55-gal aquarium soon.

600 top-heavy pounds, rolling across an uneven floor? Sounds like a
disaster in the making. Move it very carefully.

They make them for cars, and they lock. As long as they're rated for the
correct amount of weight, and lock no problem. In theory.

I can't say I've ever actually heard of anybody doing this, although
I have seen a killi-condo that had lots of small tanks on sliding rails
like drawers.


The right wheels is one thing, the correct frame is another. Cabinets
are designed to stand on the floor, not 4 corners of the cabinet.
Cars and trucks do sit on 4 corners, but the frame is built to work
that way. Also, an improper cabinet will sag between the wheels
meaning the tank frame will not have proper support.

As attractive as the idea is for those that like to rearrange things,
I would be very cautious.

dick

If using wheels, I think it would still be wise to empty as much water
from the aquarium as possible, empty the cabinet, and get some help.
This is probably no more work that doing the same thing without
wheels. Either way, it's a good excuse to invite some friends over for
a pizza and beer party. Ration the beer carefully until after the tank
has been moved.

-- Mister Gardener

Wheels on the aquarium stand?
 

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 11:23:13 GMT, Suzie-Q
wrote:

What do you think about putting a bunch of those "super sliders" on
the bottom of the stand? You know - those [teflon] things that are
supposed to make furniture effortless to move. There are some that are
only about an inch wide, and some that are larger, of course.

You see, I have cats that like to find snakes and things out in the
backyard, then bring them in the house (alive) and then lose them
behind a piece of furniture. I often find live (or dead) creatures
in my house. I'd like to be able to get behind the fishtank if I
smell some rotting corpse in my house and it's coming from behind
the fishtank/stand!

The super sliders sound a lot safer.

((Anyone who says, "Get rid of the cats," will be considered an
idiot and ignored. ;-) ))

I wasn't going to say that. I was simply going to suggest that you
feed the cats. We've tried it at our house and it works wonders.

-- Mister Gardener