Cost of building a stand for a 180?

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packer43064

packer43064

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 10, 2008
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Ohio
I'm looking into getting a 180 gallon fish tank with my tax return. I really don't want to get some particle board crap from the big box pet stores. So I was thinking of getting one made for me. I live in an apartment and barely have the tools to make one if I was even allowed to be making that much noise on our patio.

Required for the stand:
2x4's preferably for assembly and maybe 4x4s I guess if the uprights needed to be them
trim would be nice around the front and both sides
would have to be able to fit a 55 gallon for a sump underneath so a side door on one side at least

View attachment 747260

This is the design I was thinking basically.

What do you think the cost(rough estimate) would be of materials? Most importantly how much is a fair price to ask someone(who knows what their doing) to make one for me? Would I just tack on a certain building fee or pay by the hour which would seem insane?

Thanks.
 
Just build it yourself. Took me a month due to work and school, but i built the stand for my 240 with the help of my gf's brother.

2x4s and screws are cheap. Tools and plywood are expensive
 
If you can borrow tools it really wouldn't be that bad... also I know that Home Depot will cut wood to the size that you need so that would help reduce the cost a bit. Maybe in the neighborhood of $100-125
 
Well, assuming the Ohio home building market is in the same shape as southern Alabama. I would contact a cabinet shop. They seldom deal in framing lumber so they may not want to build the 2x4 frame, but to put face frames on the stand like you are showing with water resistant MDF doors you are looking at the $350-$400 range. here is a picture of my 125 stand, i built the frame myself and then had my cabinet guy order the doors.

there is the stand with face frame and no doors

IMG_0345.jpg

here is the stand with tank on it (when it had plants) you can see the tops of the doors.
IMG_0478.jpg

if you know anyone who renovates custom bathrooms or kitchens they could handle this for you easy.

IMG_0345.jpg

IMG_0478.jpg
 
400? Dang I'm glad I live in iowa...I built mine with $15 in 2x4s and since I couldn't wait to get the tank set up I haven't finished putting sides on it to cover the 2x4s but will soon when I move into our new home...but it will cost 30 bucks max to finish. Sorry $35, 5 bucks for 2 door handles

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built my stand for my 120g . made it 3 1/2 feet tall. thought it would be cheap to diy. so spent about 100.00$ for all the wood, handles, screws,paint, . got all the materials at a local home depot and cut the wood myself after i had tried letting them cut it but they would never get the measurements correct. best part about the diy was you can customize it to how you want it and what your own personal setup will be like.
 
If you have a friend who is handy with woodworking, you can do it pretty inexpensively. Recently, I've taken to buying, or picking up for free, old things and turning them into aquarium stands. You can find hard wood furniture of all types, and with a coat of primer and paint, you can come up with some really unusual and neat looking stands. I frequent the "Oops" paint at hardware stores, and check out their clearance sections for fixtures. Those types of projects can be done on your patio for sure.
To have someone custom make a stand for you will cost a small fortune. Lumber, screws, misc. supplies and paint shouldn't cost more than $60 or so. Paying someone to do it will cost several hundred dollars.
 
If noise is the main issue perhaps you could build at a friends house. As far as tools a drill could be bought cheaply. Get hd to cut everything.
 
Materials can be acquired for $75- whatever, depending on trim options and how you figure out your doors. If your gonna pay a friend try it in beer? Or maybe a good friend will do it for $100. Just remember, $175 is what some stores charge for meh stands. And if $100 to your buddy sounds high? $100=$10 per hour for 10 hours. Then you just need to sand and finish it. $20-30? $200 and you have yourself the stand you wanted.

- matt
 
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