144 Gallon family room friendly stand (load warning)

I scored a custom 144 Gallon show tank late last year for my mixed African cichlid tank. My current 90 gallon tank has a diverse flock of cichlids that have been breeding regularly for the last 5 years. Tank is 5' x 18.5" x 30" Glass is 1/2 thick with Euro bracing and black silicone job.

The tank came with a drilled bottom that I won't be using. The holes have been patched and I will have a cut window in the stand in case I decide to go with a sump in the future.

The Goal:

1) Build a stand that will look good with the rest of my family room furniture. My wife, 4 kids and I spend lots of time there together. The furniture in my family room is mission dark wood. This stand will be ebony oak and have a lower lip to hide tank frame.

2) Build new inlet tubes for my canisters. The euro lip on top is 3" wide preventing my conventional Inlet tubes from getting into the tank. Also, the 30" depth requires deeper reach. This will be done with PVC. I'm going to also plumb in 2 in-line heaters to remove tank clutter

3) Build a light box. I like only having to lift a hinged piece of glass vs dealing with cabinet hood doors, etc.

4) Paint tank back and PVC inlets black

5) HIDE ALL SCREWS.

Everything got 3 coats of stain and 3 coats of clear polyurethane

As of this post I am 95% done...enjoy.

Thanks for the compliment.

I think once it's finished and in context with the rest of the room the color selection will be qualified....I hope

Conner;4855317; said:

Very good quality, very nice result. I personally might have gone with a redder stain, but it looks very nice.

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If there's a "next stand" for me I may need to get a "next wife" ...two huge tanks is about as much as she can take

My first build was a more antique looking tank that was Red Maple.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292975

Conner;4855360; said:

Yeah, I wasn't trying to criticize the color, just that a redder stain would match my own current furniture/tastes more than the current color. It is still a very nice stand, nice than the ones I have made so far. I might have to steal some of your design on the next one...

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Yes, it matches nicely. I'll post pics once everything is up and running. Hopefully this weekend!

Mastiffman;4855477; said:

So did the color of the stain turn out like you'd hoped?

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