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Can I remove center wood piece ?


bellaireoaks

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I like to put a sump in my stand but it would not fit because of the center wood brace. My tank is against the wall so i can't put the sump from the back. Can I remove the wood piece or do I have to empy the tank and move the stand?

You can make temporary supports and remove the current center support. Supposedly you can do it without taking out to much water. I have seen pictures online and talked to people who have done it. I'm sure someone here has done this before. I've never done this myself and it would make me nervous.

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I have always understood the majority of a tanks weight is 'transferred' on the corners. I once knew a guy who had 3 55 gals (FW) sitting side by side on 4 pillars of cinder blocks (front and back) so all but 2 of the front 6 corners were resting on 4" of cinder blocks = no center support at all. I am no carpenter but I would think the only concern would be that the wood and fasteners could twist. If you braced it twice closer to the ends my guess is you should be fine. JMO

Bill

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It depends on the stand. I have remove the center brace on multiple stands to add equipment. You are correct that most of the load is carried at the corners. It is remarkable how little wood it takes to support a tank. I would venture a guess that most home built stands are easily engineered to handle 10-20 times the weight than they ever see.

I would be willing to do it, but I have not looked at the stand. When you go to pull the center support it is usually easy to tell how much work it is doing by the amount of force it takes to remove it once the fasteners are removed.

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