Stand

Hi All

Does anybody know or has anybody ever built a stand out of 2" x 2" aluminum, and if so how much weight will it hold?. I am looking to build a new stand out of this for my 100g tank, I know that the tank full of s/w and lr is about 1125 lbs.

 

If you want to make a stand out of aluminum, it will most likely need to be solid and some type of alloy to maintain strength. Something like aircraft 6061 may work, but I'm not metalsmith, so I can't say for sure. 6061 aluminum is used when making aluminum alloy billet wheels for autos, and wings for airplanes, so it should be strong enough to hold a tank, as long as it's solid and not hollow. Go to a metalshop, I'm sure they will know better though.

 

What wall thickness are you planning on using?

The weight it will hold will depend on how you build the stand to be honest. using 1/8 inch wall 2x2, you could hold up your house if built correctly.

If you do the 2x2 tubing with 6 legs, and good bracing it will hold up the 100 gallon tank without any problems, the bigger problem is getting the aluminium protected from the saltwater so it does not corrode. You would want to have it anodized to protect it.

Kim

 

any metal will erode with saltwater, have it powder coated.

 

How do you plan to put it together? Are you goin to tig weld with aircraft grade alum? Thats an expensive stand.