stand with wheels

[sbr262]

considering putting casters/wheels on the bottom of my 55 gal stand so that I can move the tank from time to time. This would make it easier to move. The casters would have locks so that it would not move on it's own. Has anyone tried this? Any issues to think about? The casters are ratedto handle the water weight... Curious if anyone has ever done this?

Thanks

 

[tropicalfish]

Unless the casters can be locked very securely with some lock or wheel chocks, and the wheels will not compress under weight, I would not try it.

 

[GeraldTheMouse]

I know that Takashi Amano's tanks have wheels on the bottom so they can be easily placed in the photography room. Not sure how you would make it though.

 

[tropicalfish]

If I were you, I wouldn't try it. I would just place pads at the bottom to make the tank easier to move.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You're not going to be able to roll it along while full (or probably even half full) anyways...

 

[Balance]

you would probably need a series of casters, not just 4 for the corners. at least 8-10. otherwise you would get bowing from the tank stand.

and they would need to be heavy duty casters, able to withstand the pressure from the 700+ lbs of weight....

 

[FroggyFox]

I guess I'm not sure that I've ever seen a water weight rated castor. Remember that a tank stand is very specifically built. Any piece of the stand that is touching the floor is absorbing and spreading out the weight from the tank. If you have say 4 wheels the point of contact with the floor would be concentrated to those four spots. If one of those wheels felt the need to be weak then it would go lower than the other three, take on more weight for being lower and you'd have a mess. IMO it would not be worth it.

Only way I would ever try it would be if it were a stand that was specifically designed with castors already on it and a much smaller tank, like a 10 or a 20. I had my 10 on a tv stand with wheels for awhile and just that 100lbs or so was too much for the wheels.

 

[tropicalfish]

Just like CAPSLOCK said, I doubt you would even be able to roll it.

If you want a 55 gallon, and it was only filled with water, then the total weight of the tank would be 515 pounds if the water was about 8 pounds and the tank weighed 75 pounds (tank weight info from AGA). That would be 128.75 pounds per wheel if you had four wheels, 85. 84 if you had 6 wheels, 64.375 if you had 8 wheels... Still lots of weight per wheel, I would not try it.