125 gallon aquarium stand build thread

Hey guys, just wanted to share the process of building my aquarium stand with the world. It is for a 125 gallon tank that I got a couple days ago from petsmart on sale. It is 6 feet wide and will weigh around 1400 pounds when filled, so I way overbuilt my stand.

It's based on a blueprint that is commonly used and easily found elsewhere, as is depicted below:


I should note that this is the first wood working I've ever done anywhere near this scale and fortunately had lots of help from a friend of mine.

This is a shot of the top and bottom frames assembled. The top is 2x6's and the bottom is 2x4's




This is me in the hoodie holding a leg and smoking. I love this picture.



Four Legs assembled.



Frame completed. Could hold the weight of many 125 gallon aquariums probably.



Top and bottom are both plywood, all other paneling is cheap project panel. 11 bucks for a 4x8 can't be beat.



Everything is done but the trim, wood filling, and painting.



We put the trim on this morning and moved it into my living room, which is a different house entirely from that seen in these pictures. I lacked a basement/garage in which to do the work. I'll post more pictures as work progresses. I'd love to hear comments and questions and ideas, so throw them at me.

Maduro;3760332; said:

looks like it will do the job.

Click to expand...

I know that at the stage it's in in the pics, it looks very utilitarian and kind of ugly. Right now it's trimmed and already looks way better. I'm thinking I'll be painting it glossy black. Anyone have thoughts on the best sheen for such a piece of furniture? Seems like the glossier, the better, in my opinion. I'll be sanding the hell out of it tomorrow and likely painting it in the next few days. Like I said, I'll keep this thread updated so as to help any future aquarium stand builders. Also, I want to show off my hard work

Here it is with all the trim attached. This is as it is right now in my living room. Tomorrow I hope to sand/prime/paint it.

I plan to do a sump filter setup with this tank, which I've never done before and everything I've learned about it, I've learned from Monster Fish Keepers. I ordered an overflow from glass-holes.com by recommendation from someone else here. It should be in in a few days and I'll probably make another thread going into the specifics of that whole thing if anyone is interested. As far as I know, Zennzzo is the only regular here who has used one of their products and posted about it.

Yeah it's 6 feet wide. Stand is working great. I'll try to post some pics when I get home.