What Do You Think..Yay or Nay?

[TimeOrMoney]

Hey everyone. Years ago I was a part of this community here at Nano-Reef. Long break after an ATO and Cyano disaster. Feels good to be back. 

 

I have a question for you all. I have this nice swivel coffee table. The manufacturing is sound and to me it appears to be of good quality. For a while I was concerned that it would not hold the weight of my 20g AIO. I contacted the manufacturer and they said they stack 3 of these tables on top of one of these tables in their warehouse with no issue (table weighs 86 lbs). I kind of feel like with the weight balanced, it would be ok. I can stand on it and Im 220 lbs...lol. Prooobably would not shift my weight but yeah. 

 

My 20g will weight about 120? Lbs when full. Something like that, plus glass etc. 

 

What do you think? Trust, extra support, shim in the gap, fill it with FW and try it, or not a great idea? I have a feeling your answer will be a resounding hell no, but I figured I'd ask. 

[WV Reefer]

37 minutes ago, TimeOrMoney said:

Hey everyone. Years ago I was a part of this community here at Nano-Reef. Long break after an ATO and Cyano disaster. Feels good to be back. 

 

I have a question for you all. I have this nice swivel coffee table. The manufacturing is sound and to me it appears to be of good quality. For a while I was concerned that it would not hold the weight of my 20g AIO. I contacted the manufacturer and they said they stack 3 of these tables on top of one of these tables in their warehouse with no issue (table weighs 86 lbs). I kind of feel like with the weight balanced, it would be ok. I can stand on it and Im 220 lbs...lol. Prooobably would not shift my weight but yeah. 

 

My 20g will weight about 120? Lbs when full. Something like that, plus glass etc. 

 

What do you think? Trust, extra support, shim in the gap, fill it with FW and try it, or not a great idea? I have a feeling your answer will be a resounding hell no, but I figured I'd ask. 

 

I say try it and find out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[jservedio]

Probably closer to 225lbs full with sand, water, rock, the tank, and equipment. 15 gallons of saltwater is 132 lbs, 40 lbs for sand and rock, probably 50 lbs for the tank and a few for equipment.

 

The biggest issue for me is the glass top - glass flexes A LOT more than you'd think. My biggest worry would be the tank joints less than the table collapsing.

 

If you have good homeowners insurance and trust that box below the tank to prevent flex, give it a try!

[TimeOrMoney]

50 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Probably closer to 225lbs full with sand, water, rock, the tank, and equipment. 15 gallons of saltwater is 132 lbs, 40 lbs for sand and rock, probably 50 lbs for the tank and a few for equipment.

 

The biggest issue for me is the glass top - glass flexes A LOT more than you'd think. My biggest worry would be the tank joints less than the table collapsing.

 

If you have good homeowners insurance and trust that box below the tank to prevent flex, give it a try!

Thx. So the glass is a seperate peice and not actually connected to anything that the tank would rest on. Basically it only rests on the metal swivel..

[rough eye]

if that EVER swivels even a little bit you'll be in big trouble. i'd suggest, as an experiment, get a large pot or bucket, fill with water to within an inch from the top, set it there and give a swivel, and see what happens. 

 

oh and please make video - i want to see too 🙂

[Pjanssen]

I have no idea, but it looks really cool

[jservedio]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:52 PM, TimeOrMoney said:

Thx. So the glass is a seperate peice and not actually connected to anything that the tank would rest on. Basically it only rests on the metal swivel..

Sorry - I'm on mobile so it looked like it was sitting on the glass. So it's basically on a lazy Suzan, right? That seems like a really bad idea and even worse than I first thought. A tank is never going to be close to balanced because of rock, the fact that your back chambers have different water levels, and powerheads push a significant volume to one side of the tank - it'll swivel to one side. Plus the water is in constant motion and changing patterns with something like an mp10. It'd need a heavy duty locking mechanism.

 

If you still plan to go forward, I'd check the swivel and bearings it's sitting on for their weight rating, the construction of the actual furniture, and the swivels attachment. If the swivel is attached with just 4 wood screws, F that. If it's bolted with a beefy metal backing plate and the swivel is good for 500+lbs, that'd be much less insane if you could lock it.

 

You will essentially have 200+ pounds that isn't evenly distributed and constantly shifting balanced on a single post and the whole thing can spin. With 24/7 vibration. That seems insane to me.

 

For a pico sized tank, sure (if it locks to prevent spills) but a nice 20g is really freaking heavy.

 

Why not add blocking to the back and just remove the swivel so the tank is sitting on the swivel box flat on blocking and the glass? Removing the swivels would make it totally fine assuming the construction of the stand is good for few hundred pounds.

[growsomething]

This look reminds me of the Fluval edge tanks from a few years back.  Cantilevered past the base.  Looks good, but I'm sure they put a ton of research and engineering into it.

[Murphs_Reef]

No danger would I put "that on that"

 

It wouldn't fall apart while your there.. it would be a midnight or while your at work job that.. 

 

Nope, no, na! 

[TimeOrMoney]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:03 PM, jservedio said:

Sorry - I'm on mobile so it looked like it was sitting on the glass. So it's basically on a lazy Suzan, right? That seems like a really bad idea and even worse than I first thought. A tank is never going to be close to balanced because of rock, the fact that your back chambers have different water levels, and powerheads push a significant volume to one side of the tank - it'll swivel to one side. Plus the water is in constant motion and changing patterns with something like an mp10. It'd need a heavy duty locking mechanism.

 

If you still plan to go forward, I'd check the swivel and bearings it's sitting on for their weight rating, the construction of the actual furniture, and the swivels attachment. If the swivel is attached with just 4 wood screws, F that. If it's bolted with a beefy metal backing plate and the swivel is good for 500+lbs, that'd be much less insane if you could lock it.

 

You will essentially have 200+ pounds that isn't evenly distributed and constantly shifting balanced on a single post and the whole thing can spin. With 24/7 vibration. That seems insane to me.

 

For a pico sized tank, sure (if it locks to prevent spills) but a nice 20g is really freaking heavy.

 

Why not add blocking to the back and just remove the swivel so the tank is sitting on the swivel box flat on blocking and the glass? Removing the swivels would make it totally fine assuming the construction of the stand is good for few hundred pounds.

Thx I totally get what youre saying. Ive thought it all as well. Sadly. What do you think about what Ive done here? Ive secured it so it does not spin. The swivel mechanism is one solid unit with large bearings. 

 

It's funny, Ive spoken to multiple fish store peeps, and an architect friend, all of whom say they don't see an issue...but reefers know better lol...hence my question...

[TimeOrMoney]

22 hours ago, Murphych said:

No danger would I put "that on that"

 

It wouldn't fall apart while your there.. it would be a midnight or while your at work job that.. 

 

Nope, no, na! 

Sht man, I know... that's what Im afraid of....

[Murphs_Reef]

1 hour ago, TimeOrMoney said:

Thx I totally get what youre saying. Ive thought it all as well. Sadly. What do you think about what Ive done here? Ive secured it so it does not spin. The swivel mechanism is one solid unit with large bearings. 

 

It's funny, Ive spoken to multiple fish store peeps, and an architect friend, all of whom say they don't see an issue...but reefers know better lol...hence my question...

It's still a no from me bob. But I strengthened my purpose built for the tank that sits on it stand anyway.. Im not taken no chances... Not one of the buggers... 

 

90gal of water on the floor is what my wife also refers to as a ZERO TANK HOUSE 😂

[jservedio]

30 minutes ago, TimeOrMoney said:

It's funny, Ive spoken to multiple fish store peeps, and an architect friend, all of whom say they don't see an issue...but reefers know better lol...hence my question...

Honestly, if you have an architect friend who's actually seen the setup in person and specifically saw the swivel's attachment to the (likely plywood) bottom and top boxes, just ask him if he'd be sign off on it carrying a 250lb load with a shifting CoG and constant vibration. If he says it'd be fine - just lock it in place so it can't swivel (there are a million ways to do it) and call it a day. Nobody on the internet who sees that is going to say "yeah it'd probably be fine" because there are so many variables and the idea of having a tank of water on a swivel just seems like a bad idea on it's face.

 

We have no idea how big the swivel is, what it's design is (is it a turntable, is it on a shaft), and how it attaches, so we have to assume it's just meant for light duty as a TV stand or something. On the other hand, I've got a couple of lazy susans in a corner cabinet in my kitchen that are on monster turntable bearings with big steel plates with blocking underneath to transfer the load directly to the subfloor since it's meant to hold a few hundred pounds of cans that aren't evenly distributed. If it had that type of construction. I'd absolutely trust that to hold a 20g tank easily. So, it's definitely possible it can hold the weight, but you'd need someone who knows what they are doing to look at in in person. If it can hold it, you still need to lock it!

[rough eye]

1 hour ago, TimeOrMoney said:

Thx I totally get what youre saying. Ive thought it all as well. Sadly. What do you think about what Ive done here? Ive secured it so it does not spin. The swivel mechanism is one solid unit with large bearings. 

 

It's funny, Ive spoken to multiple fish store peeps, and an architect friend, all of whom say they don't see an issue...but reefers know better lol...hence my question...

sorry i guess i missed the point. taking a swiveling table and making it so it doesn't swivel would eliminate the need of factoring in fluid dynamics (which i'm assuming the average architect doesn't need to allow for in their designs), but then it begs the question: why take a table that swivels, and make it so it doesn't swivel, in order to put a tank of water on it? wouldn't it be better and cheaper to use a table that was never intended to swivel?

[TimeOrMoney]

24 minutes ago, rough eye said:

sorry i guess i missed the point. taking a swiveling table and making it so it doesn't swivel would eliminate the need of factoring in fluid dynamics (which i'm assuming the average architect doesn't need to allow for in their designs), but then it begs the question: why take a table that swivels, and make it so it doesn't swivel, in order to put a tank of water on it? wouldn't it be better and cheaper to use a table that was never intended to swivel?

Only because I think it looks great on this particular table 🙂

[TimeOrMoney]

27 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Honestly, if you have an architect friend who's actually seen the setup in person and specifically saw the swivel's attachment to the (likely plywood) bottom and top boxes, just ask him if he'd be sign off on it carrying a 250lb load with a shifting CoG and constant vibration. If he says it'd be fine - just lock it in place so it can't swivel (there are a million ways to do it) and call it a day. Nobody on the internet who sees that is going to say "yeah it'd probably be fine" because there are so many variables and the idea of having a tank of water on a swivel just seems like a bad idea on it's face.

 

We have no idea how big the swivel is, what it's design is (is it a turntable, is it on a shaft), and how it attaches, so we have to assume it's just meant for light duty as a TV stand or something. On the other hand, I've got a couple of lazy susans in a corner cabinet in my kitchen that are on monster turntable bearings with big steel plates with blocking underneath to transfer the load directly to the subfloor since it's meant to hold a few hundred pounds of cans that aren't evenly distributed. If it had that type of construction. I'd absolutely trust that to hold a 20g tank easily. So, it's definitely possible it can hold the weight, but you'd need someone who knows what they are doing to look at in in person. If it can hold it, you still need to lock it!

I removed the top. It turns out, the swivel is not bearings at all... The glass is bolted in between the wood top and a heavy duty metal arm that goes down into a pvc pipe and rests on a small square metal piece that is bolted to the bottom of the table's base. Soooo.....na. Im over it. Wont work. I removed the top, removed the glass, replaced the top, and probably gonna use this until the blacl NUVO stands are back in stock. 

 

Thanks for the consideration and assistance and honesty broheim!

[Pjanssen]

might as well just wait for the stand if you don't already have it wet.