Gonna try and keep this short & to the point, I tend to ramble.
Basically I just took the design out of the sticky here and modified it a bit. We used 1x3's instead of 2x4's for the frame (and 1x2's for the vertical supports in the corners). I just didn't feel that 2x4's were necessary, I think with this construction, 1x3's will hold PLENTY of weight, and reduce the weight of the stand itself (not to mention cost). We put it together with a pneumatic nail gun and liquid nails. The only metal hardware will be two L brackets on the center vertical supports. We just didn't have enough overlap with the bottom of the frame to nail them to anything.
I decided to make the stand 36" tall (it ended up 35" due to a slight miscalc
). My current stand (I'm upgrading from a 55g) is only about 27" tall, its a standard pine stand like you'd buy at any lfs. I added the extra height for 2 reasons. Number one, I wanted a better viewing angle when standing in front of the tank. I'm just sick & tired of bending over in front of my tank to see it straight on. Number 2, I wanted to add a shelf in the upper part of the stand where I can store my food & other small items like test kits, prime, nets etc etc. This way the bottom of the stand is wide open for my canisters and (eventually) a sump.
I think thats enough back story for now. So far I've got the thing built skinned & stained. I just need to build the doors and find appropriate trim so I can make it look real pretty
The picstory...so far...
Dry fitting the bottom
Legs all erect
Main portion of the frame built, the empty tank stands up, hooray
Got the shelf installed, exactly what I wanted
The skin is on, just cut to size & used contact cement
Used a roto-zip to rout out the door holes
2 coats of stain applied. Wasn't sure at first about the color, I had something darker/deeper in mind. This color has definitely grown on me though. I'm debating a 3rd coat but I'm unsure about it.
Better view of the stain
Thats all I've got so far. Gonna put 2 or 3 coats of polyurethane on the inside and probably one coat on the outside. For the doors I think I'm going to use slats of 1/2" or 3/4" solid oak boards and nail them to 1x2's or 1x3's then rout the edges to look nice. The top doors for the shelf will fold down and lock out flat so I can set my food containers and things on them like a table-top surface.
Eventually I'll build a canopy out of 1x2 to match it. I have enough of the oak plywood left over to skin the canopy as well, I'm just not ready to a) buy the 1x2 & b) dive into building it just yet. I'll probably get that done sometime after the tank is actually up and running.
Basically I just took the design out of the sticky here and modified it a bit. We used 1x3's instead of 2x4's for the frame (and 1x2's for the vertical supports in the corners). I just didn't feel that 2x4's were necessary, I think with this construction, 1x3's will hold PLENTY of weight, and reduce the weight of the stand itself (not to mention cost). We put it together with a pneumatic nail gun and liquid nails. The only metal hardware will be two L brackets on the center vertical supports. We just didn't have enough overlap with the bottom of the frame to nail them to anything.
I decided to make the stand 36" tall (it ended up 35" due to a slight miscalc
). My current stand (I'm upgrading from a 55g) is only about 27" tall, its a standard pine stand like you'd buy at any lfs. I added the extra height for 2 reasons. Number one, I wanted a better viewing angle when standing in front of the tank. I'm just sick & tired of bending over in front of my tank to see it straight on. Number 2, I wanted to add a shelf in the upper part of the stand where I can store my food & other small items like test kits, prime, nets etc etc. This way the bottom of the stand is wide open for my canisters and (eventually) a sump.I think thats enough back story for now. So far I've got the thing built skinned & stained. I just need to build the doors and find appropriate trim so I can make it look real pretty
The picstory...so far...
Dry fitting the bottom
Legs all erect
Main portion of the frame built, the empty tank stands up, hooray
Got the shelf installed, exactly what I wanted
The skin is on, just cut to size & used contact cement
Used a roto-zip to rout out the door holes
2 coats of stain applied. Wasn't sure at first about the color, I had something darker/deeper in mind. This color has definitely grown on me though. I'm debating a 3rd coat but I'm unsure about it.
Better view of the stain
Thats all I've got so far. Gonna put 2 or 3 coats of polyurethane on the inside and probably one coat on the outside. For the doors I think I'm going to use slats of 1/2" or 3/4" solid oak boards and nail them to 1x2's or 1x3's then rout the edges to look nice. The top doors for the shelf will fold down and lock out flat so I can set my food containers and things on them like a table-top surface.
Eventually I'll build a canopy out of 1x2 to match it. I have enough of the oak plywood left over to skin the canopy as well, I'm just not ready to a) buy the 1x2 & b) dive into building it just yet. I'll probably get that done sometime after the tank is actually up and running.
We'll see how it goes overnight & into tomorrow. If everything seems well, I should have the tank set up in the house with fish & everything by saturday afternoon. I'll just add the doors & trim later since all that can be done after the tank is already set up.
