To stand or not to stand

What's the deal with aquarium stands?  Do you need one?  Or are they just for the big massive aquariums?

Well, the answer to that question depends on how big your aquarium is and where you're going to put it.

Bettas don't need big aquariums, comparative to what's available out there.  Most people don't house single bettas in anything larger than a 20 gallon tank, and the vast majority stick with 10 gallons or less.

So that's not too big, right?  Totally manageable.

Except yeah, it's not.

Let's look at that bookshelf in your house, or that end table, or that nightstand.  I've got Illy's tank on my nightstand.  That's cool, right?

Take a look at the weight capacity of that bookshelf.

Here's a perfect example, actually.  When I got the twins, I finally convinced the husband to dump the old desk in the living room and replaced it with one of those cube shelves.  Nothing fancy, just the Walmart brand.  Nice and sturdy, perfect for the 10 gallon tank for the twins.

So I bought it and put it together, only to discover, on the very last page of the goddamn instruction manual, that the weight capacity for the top is 60 pounds.

Awesome.  So here's the thing.  I bought a 10 gallon glass tank. Glass is heavier than acrylic (but it's sturdier).

Wanna know how much an empty glass aquarium weighs?  25 pounds.

And then gravel.  You need a pound of gravel for every aquarium gallon.  So that brings our total to 35 pounds.

And then the water.  People tend to forget how much water weighs.  One gallons weighs almost 8 and a half pounds.  But we'll stick with 8.  Ten gallons, that's 80 pounds.

Which puts us at a grand total of 115 pounds.

Double the weight capacity for my shelf.  Probably higher than the weight capacity for most shelves and desks.

So I needed an aquarium stand.

Aquarium stands are designed exclusively for supporting and holding that kind of weight.  And yeah, you need them if you're looking at a 10 gallon tank.

I'm going to put Grim and Illy in a divided 5 gallon once I can afford it, and I'll use Illy's current tank as a hospital and quarantine tank.

A 5 gallon acrylic tank will weigh about 10 pounds empty.  With 5 pounds of gravel and 40 pounds of water.  That's 55 pounds.  Perfect for my cube shelf.

And the individual cubes can hold 40 pounds each.  Perfect for more 2.5 gallon tanks.  I'm always looking for more fish to rescue, and having the extra space for the tanks is a big plus.  I need more surge protectors, though.  Every tank needs at least three outlets, one for the filter, one for the heater, and at least one for the lights.  I will quickly run out of sockets in a shelf that can hold 10 tanks.

So yeah, with 5 gallons and less, you can usually get away with just a sturdy shelf or desk or table.  But more than that, and you really want to start looking at aquarium stands.  $50 for a stand is a lot better than losing the entire aquarium, fish, and furniture when it collapses.