Building a stand pedestal

[mpatterson42]

There's a good deal right now for an aquarium / stand combo that looks good, the tank has the dimensions I want but the stand is too short in my opinion. I was hoping to get a stand that was 38" to 40" tall for this tank, the stand it comes with is only 31". Rather than building a completely new stand I thought about building a pedestal out of 2x4s for the stand to sit on. This is what I was thinking.

I would then put a piece of MDF between the pedestal and the stand.

Do you think this would be structurally sound enough? There will be a sump in the stand, so maybe I should also add a cross brace in the middle?

 

[JTP424]

I would add a flat piece of marine 1/2-3/4" plywood on top. But that's just me. I like the full base of my tanks to have support.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I would definitely add supports for the sump if it isnt going to sit in the floor. That said, the pedestal you design should be built around the stand. Wherever your stand makes load bearing pressure to the floor should be supported. If the stand simply puts weight down around the outer 1.5" perimeter this would probably suffice, although i would tie to 2x4 together in the middle as well as the corners

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I would definitely add supports for the sump if it isnt going to sit in the floor. That said, the pedestal you design should be built around the stand. Wherever your stand makes load bearing pressure to the floor should be supported. If the stand simply puts weight down around the outer 1.5" perimeter this would probably suffice, although i would tie to 2x4 together in the middle as well as the corners

At least on the 72" stretches. That way your 2x4s have less chance of flexing one way or another independently