Moments before spontaneously combusting Mr. Gardener at
was heard opining:

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:27:04 -0600, "Koi-Lo"
wrote:
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.

That's been in the back of my mind since this thread began, and for
thirty years I've been setting up aquariums in my 200 plus years
houses. These old post and beams with broad floorboards can take a
lot. And the post and beam construction style has a little wiggle room
built in for the inevitable shifts of the structure from season to
season. They stand up well to hurricanes and tornadoes as well. I've
thought less about the overall support of the floor under the aquarium
as I have about the individual tiny spots that the four legs of a
typical iron aquarium stand distributes its weight. Simply exchanging
the iron stand for a wooden structure with, say, 1x1 or 1x2 legs will
distribute the weight tremendously. All of my aquariums sit on wooden
furniture intended for something else. All of the furniture "stands",
rest on the floor on solid vertical boards wrapped all the way around,
rather than 4 legs. After we got done changing baby diapers we turned
the chest of drawers with the baby changing platform on top into a
perfect stand for a 29 gallon tank. The bureau even has raised edges
around the top, like a dry sink. Perfect. I could overflow the tank
and it wouldn't drip on the floor. Another long time aquarium stand
was originally a storage cabinet for record albums. (Younger readers,
please check with Google for "record player".) When spanning floor
joists near a weight bearing wall, I would think that spreading the
weight over 4 or 6 foot distances evenly would be less stressful on
everything than distributing the weight on 2 little legs 6 feet apart.
My father was an engineer, so when the Oedipal bug hit me at 5, I
decided I would fix him by letting the left side of my brain atrophy.
And the technical wizardry in this message is the result. Eat your
heart out, Bucky Fuller.

-- Mister Gardener
=======================
I have one of those old four footed metal stands for a 55g/top and
30L/bottom. When I was using it it was set on 2x4's that were stained and
polyurethane to help distribute the weight across the floor joists. I think
I'm going to set my 30L up on the large strong commercial coffee table in
the sunroom. I'll have to get rid of some tropical plants. I feel like
I'm playing musical furniture here.... there's never enough wall space for
tanks. :-(
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o