All the plywood and 4X4s cut to size and waiting for me to assemble them.
I start the assembly by using the front 4X4s to hold the front and side pieces together. At this point I only use 2 screws per side. The rest of the screws will be installed after I've tacked the stand together. Since I want to be sure that weight of the aquarium is suported by the 4X4/2X4 supports I make sure that the 4X4 protrudes very slightly beyond the plywood pieces.
The next step was attaching the back 4X4s onto the back. But this leads to the question of how do you balance a piece of plywood on edge and screw a 4X4 onto its bottom? I ended up using the two front/side assemblies. The extra 4X4s and bucket (with water in it) added weight so that I could drill the pilot holes and screw the pieces together with out them sliding.
Attaching the front/side and back assemblies. The back assembly wants to tip inwards since the 4X4s are on that side. A couple of screws tacked into the plywood are keeping it from falling while I attach the back to the sides.
I'm now ready to attach the bottom to the sides/back.
Close up of the 1X1s used to reinforce the junctions between the bottom and the front/side/back. I also used screws that went through the bottom and edgewise into the front/side/back pieces of plywood. I didn't do a perfect job of this and some of the screws split out of the plywood. You can see an example of this just above the 1X1 right of center. The screws I used that went into the 1X1s were a little too long are poking out of the 1X1s. I'll have to be careful not to jab myself when I'm working inside the stand.
Looking at the bottom after I'm finished with the bottom. The diagonal line of screws in the upper corners are going into the 4X4s. The double row of screws on the top and right are into the side and back. The outermost row into the plywood edgewise, the innermost into the 1X1s.
Now that the sides and bottoms are attached I flip it onto it's bottom in order to insert the supporting beams and attach the top. I took this picture half way through flipping it.
Looking down after the 4X4 cross pieces and the 2X4 supports have been put in place.
Looking down after the 4X4 cross pieces and the 2X4 supports have been put in place.
Looking up from from the inside after the 4X4 cross pieces and the 2X4 supports have been put in place.
Attaching the top to the 2X4 supports. Yes, that is heck of a LOT of screws. The stand became a lot more rigid AFTER this step. Each 2X4 had screws at each end, the back 2X4 had screws all across the back and the front had many as well. I guess I got a little screw crazy, but this stand ISN'T going to fall apart.
First pictures of the almost completed stand with the aquarium on it. This is the approximate place where the aquarium is going. You'll be able to look at all 4 sides of the aquarium. The stand is only tacked together at this point, so I have to add LOTS of screws on all four sides. I also haven’t added the fascia board to the front top.
View looking in at the support beams. The 180G is on the stand and almost filled with water. In this picture you can see the additional screws holding the front to the 4X4 upright beam as well as the facea piece of plywood on the front 2x4.
A major objective here is to have the 4X4s and 2X4s support all of the weight. The plywood siding isn't supposed to! The plywood is there for rigidity, not structure strength. All weight of the aquarium should be transferred from wood to wood, not screws!
To aid in ease of assembly, all aspects of the assembly that result in the stand being "true" are based on the accuracy of the cuts of the plywood. To achieve accurate cuts I had a cabinet shop cut them for me.
I had some assembly problems. I ended up having to place the aquarium on the stand, filling it, and then redrilling/screwing some of the screws. The additional weight of the filled aquarium made quite a difference.
At the moment I have bare plywood with counter sunk screw holes as the finish. However I have numerous options for finishing this. Painted textured Drywall so that it looks like it's built into the house, Hardwood flooring attached to the sides, Putty in the holes with white gloss paint, Molding on the corners to cover the holes and stain it all. Same with with doors for the front. I can worry about all that after I get the tank running.
I''ll need to apply some kind of water sealant to the wood on the bottom of the inside of the stand. I imagine that this area will be getting wet often enought that it would be worth it.
In hindsight I think I went a bit overboard. This stand is WAY stronger then it needs to be.
And Yes, its pretty high off the ground. I'll have to bolt the stand to the floor for safeties sake. Over 3 1/2' up you're going to end up walking up to and and NOT HAVE TO BEND OVER to see the fish. They'll be at eye level!
I start the assembly by using the front 4X4s to hold the front and side pieces together. At this point I only use 2 screws per side. The rest of the screws will be installed after I've tacked the stand together. Since I want to be sure that weight of the aquarium is suported by the 4X4/2X4 supports I make sure that the 4X4 protrudes very slightly beyond the plywood pieces.
The next step was attaching the back 4X4s onto the back. But this leads to the question of how do you balance a piece of plywood on edge and screw a 4X4 onto its bottom? I ended up using the two front/side assemblies. The extra 4X4s and bucket (with water in it) added weight so that I could drill the pilot holes and screw the pieces together with out them sliding.
Attaching the front/side and back assemblies. The back assembly wants to tip inwards since the 4X4s are on that side. A couple of screws tacked into the plywood are keeping it from falling while I attach the back to the sides.
I'm now ready to attach the bottom to the sides/back.
Close up of the 1X1s used to reinforce the junctions between the bottom and the front/side/back. I also used screws that went through the bottom and edgewise into the front/side/back pieces of plywood. I didn't do a perfect job of this and some of the screws split out of the plywood. You can see an example of this just above the 1X1 right of center. The screws I used that went into the 1X1s were a little too long are poking out of the 1X1s. I'll have to be careful not to jab myself when I'm working inside the stand.
Looking at the bottom after I'm finished with the bottom. The diagonal line of screws in the upper corners are going into the 4X4s. The double row of screws on the top and right are into the side and back. The outermost row into the plywood edgewise, the innermost into the 1X1s.
Now that the sides and bottoms are attached I flip it onto it's bottom in order to insert the supporting beams and attach the top. I took this picture half way through flipping it.
Looking down after the 4X4 cross pieces and the 2X4 supports have been put in place.
Looking down after the 4X4 cross pieces and the 2X4 supports have been put in place.
Looking up from from the inside after the 4X4 cross pieces and the 2X4 supports have been put in place.
Attaching the top to the 2X4 supports. Yes, that is heck of a LOT of screws. The stand became a lot more rigid AFTER this step. Each 2X4 had screws at each end, the back 2X4 had screws all across the back and the front had many as well. I guess I got a little screw crazy, but this stand ISN'T going to fall apart.
First pictures of the almost completed stand with the aquarium on it. This is the approximate place where the aquarium is going. You'll be able to look at all 4 sides of the aquarium. The stand is only tacked together at this point, so I have to add LOTS of screws on all four sides. I also haven’t added the fascia board to the front top.
View looking in at the support beams. The 180G is on the stand and almost filled with water. In this picture you can see the additional screws holding the front to the 4X4 upright beam as well as the facea piece of plywood on the front 2x4.
A major objective here is to have the 4X4s and 2X4s support all of the weight. The plywood siding isn't supposed to! The plywood is there for rigidity, not structure strength. All weight of the aquarium should be transferred from wood to wood, not screws!
To aid in ease of assembly, all aspects of the assembly that result in the stand being "true" are based on the accuracy of the cuts of the plywood. To achieve accurate cuts I had a cabinet shop cut them for me.
I had some assembly problems. I ended up having to place the aquarium on the stand, filling it, and then redrilling/screwing some of the screws. The additional weight of the filled aquarium made quite a difference.
At the moment I have bare plywood with counter sunk screw holes as the finish. However I have numerous options for finishing this. Painted textured Drywall so that it looks like it's built into the house, Hardwood flooring attached to the sides, Putty in the holes with white gloss paint, Molding on the corners to cover the holes and stain it all. Same with with doors for the front. I can worry about all that after I get the tank running.
I''ll need to apply some kind of water sealant to the wood on the bottom of the inside of the stand. I imagine that this area will be getting wet often enought that it would be worth it.
In hindsight I think I went a bit overboard. This stand is WAY stronger then it needs to be.
And Yes, its pretty high off the ground. I'll have to bolt the stand to the floor for safeties sake. Over 3 1/2' up you're going to end up walking up to and and NOT HAVE TO BEND OVER to see the fish. They'll be at eye level!
