I went to lowes, picked out 9 of the straightest 2x4 studs I could find, and rolled my cart back to the lumber cutting area. Normally they charge you $1.00 per cut, but I've never actually had them charge me. I just strike up a conversation with the guy behind the saw. They've always been cool about cutting lumber for me.
3 2x4's he cut into 2 34.5" segments each, leaving a remainder piece.
2 2x4's he cut into 3 31" pieces each. The remainder was like 2.5" long, so I tossed that.
4 2x4's he cut into 1 72" piece and 1 16.5" piece each.
My cut lumber list:
4 72"
4 16.5"
6 34.5"
6 31"
I was doing the math in my head on the way to lowes, I made two mistakes. The 16.5" pieces should have been 15.5 (the stand ended up being 19.5" wide, not 18.5 like my tank), and I should have had him cut the 4 "remainder" pieces from the 34.5" cuts into 4 11.5" lengths to go on the bottom between the front and back.
I screwed 1 34.5" piece to a 31" piece, leaving me a 'shelf" to set my top-rail 2x4 into.
When I screwed the top-rail to the legs, I put only 1 screw in each leg until I had the bottom (flat) 2x4 in place, to ensure I could make each leg perfectly square. Once that was done, I went back and added 2 more screws to each.
This is the inside of the front. On the outside, it's flat. (So eventually I can put a piece of cabinet grade oak plywood on the front)
I measured 36 inches down the 72" piece and made a mark. Then 1.75" on the width of the 2x4, and made another mark. Then just line up the marks to make sure the middle leg is centered.
See how there's nothing holding the bottom straight? That's where I should have used a 11.5" piece of scrap to go between the front and back rails on the floor to keep them from spreading or pinching together.
I added the longer scrap pieces I had diagonally to attempt to hold the bottom rails equidistant from each other. It'll hold, but for "security" sake I'll go back through and make center braces for the bottom. For those, I'll lay a 11.5" piece (remember my stand is actually 19.5? So for me, those pieces will be 12.5") between the rails, and then cut a 19.5" piece to go over that to attach all of it together. Those photos will have to come later.
Now, I have 2 openings in the front, each 30.75" wide and 31" tall. In Lowes, they sell unfinished cabinets. An oak "upper" cabinet that measures 30" high and 30" wide and 18" deep is $70. In the future, I'll get 2 of those, one for either side. Fit them in the openings, and then put a 1/4" oak plywood veneer sheet around the whole thing. A little espresso colored stain and it'll look like Paid $1200 for it.
