Is this cabinet suitable for a 45L tank?

[UrbanDryad]

TL;DR I'd like to keep a 45 litre aquarium on a second-hand veneered MDF cabinet with castors, not long-term but likely for at least a couple of months. I ultimately intend to get some racking for my terraria and aquaria, but at the moment the layout of my home is in flux, and I feel it would be less stressful for my fish if I could easily wheel the cabinet to new locations rather than needing to drain the tank and pick it up. More information (and pictures!) below.

• This cabinet was a roadside find a few years ago. It has slight water damage to the top.
• I have a can of Plastikote which I can use to treat the back of the cabinet and make it water-resistant. (I generally feel very wary of MDF getting near water, but I know that most commercial cabinets are made of it, and that some people on this forum have had great success using Plastikote in their home builds.)
• I believe it was originally designed as a cabinet for a record player, as the top piece of wood is hinged and can flip up.
• The base footprint of the tank is is quite a bit smaller then the cabinet, so definitely no overhang - but might it also be more likely to cause bowing of the wood as the points of greatest pressure aren't aligned with cabinet's corners?

If you all think this is an obvious bust then I'll come up with another solution, but it seemed at least worth asking. Thank you!

 

[Wookii]

So the tank will weight the best part of 50Kg when full, which isn't a massive amount, but it's enough to affect the cabinet longer term, especially on those little castors.

If you have someone how lives with you, and is over 50Kg, have them sit on the cabinet, and wheel it about a bit. Have a look if it's bowing anywhere.

My instinct tells me I wouldn't risk it, but I always over-engineer everything, so I may not be the best judge.

 

[Tim Harrison]

I agree with @Wookii, aside from anything else those casters look very dainty and would probably shear off. I'll let your imagination do the rest.

 

[UrbanDryad]

I always think castors look absurdly dainty, but then I see them on sofas and the like, which supposedly take the weight of several adult humans! It probably isn't worth the risk, though, you're right. Maybe I'll put a terrarium on it instead. I did end up Plastikoting it yesterday anyway, so it'll still be some amount water-resistant.

 

[UrbanDryad]

Little update - I ended up removing the castors entirely as they were in pretty bad shape, put felt pads on it so I can slide it around, and turned into a very organised cabinet for all my aquarium-related stuff. The tank on top is a 10L Fluval Spec inhabited by shrimp, so very unlikely to be a problem in terms of weight. I'm very pleased with how this has gone. 🙂