Fish tank stand

[Dan-CR4]

I have never welded before so this is gonna be a real learning curve for me. Towards the end of the year im hoping to make my own stand out of mild steel box section. But as said never welded before and would like an idea on what welder to buy so I can learn welding the above.

Would like the challenge myself, but not sure if I could trust my work to hold a heavy fish aquarium with 500 litres of water in it. Am I dreaming the impossible and should I get someone to do it instead.

any people in Croydon/Mitcham/Sutton area want a project

 

[octo0072000]

well you need to do it right as 500 litres of water is half a ton

so if you don't get it right it's going to be a big wet mess most fish tank frames seem to be made from angle iron not hard to make but learn to weld first
with glass you need to make sure it's flat no splatter rough edges etc left on the steel my tanks had half inch plywood on the frame with some polystyrene foam glued to the glass base that was two six foot by 18" by 18" inch tank made from 1/2 inch plate glass or 13mm now

 

[Robotstar5]

Welcome to the forum.

Clarke welders have a good repution on here, something in the 150 Amp range would be suitable for what you want.

Have a look at the tutorials followed by lots of practice before attempting the frame

 

[mike os]

I build/built a fait few stands for all sorts of tanks.... generally I prefer box 25x25x3 or 50x50x4 wall depending on the clear span & size.

main requirement is the ability to get a good weld with full penetration and be able to build it flat and upright, so you need practice first

 

[DrNik]

you may be able to design the stand so its mostly in compression, against having welds in shear, that way if your welds aint too good it would hold up to the weight

 

[W.olly]

you may be able to design the stand so its mostly in compression, against having welds in shear, that way if your welds aint too good it would hold up to the weight

I agree with this, if you set the top frame on the uprights ti will be safer, so if your welds are a bit on the errr side and you are not to confident then you will have more chance of it holding, BUT you do need to weld half decent.

 

[strada]

I agree with all that's been said, good tip from DrNik.
I would go with 50x50x5
Have a 5ft x 2 1/2 x2 myself ,so i would over engineer a tad,just to be on the safe side

 

[Springerdinger]

Hi this is a pic of is a 1000 litre tank in my shop built about 25 years ago from angle iron
If I was building this now I would do angle iron legs and box section horizontals.


Bear in mind that these days we build mainly wooden stands because of the extra weight of metal stands. and the strength of timber/ mdf panels

you can go smaller on the metal frame if you are going to clad in ply or mdf
It needs to be sealed and painted but the end result is lighter, strong does not need chuncky heavy metal work

hope this helps