DIY Stand need some help!

[seshapir]

We've finally decided on our tank and my brother has ethusiastically volunteered to build a stand and possibly a canopy. The tank is a 150g 60X24X24 acrylic. I tried looking on garf.org for their stand directions but I was a little confused and it looked pretty plain. I basically need to give him blueprints and what material to make it out of how thick etc...I'm totally clueless. Can anyone help with blueprints or what wood to use. I want it to actually look like furniture and not some ugly box sitting in the livingroom!

[Geoff]

that is a good shaped tank. give a good 3-D look when aquascaped well.

as for the stand, remember when i suggested making a false wall, you thought i was just being silly.

i do not know if you will find blueprints. stands are one of them most personal things on an system. their seems to be 3 different types of stands. the stock; the cheap; the incredible. of course their is some serious overlap, but most fit into these categories. it is hard to come up with blueprints since everybody has different skill sets and budgets.

i can tell you that a frame made out of 2X4's and skinned in plywood wood be plenty strong to hold that tank. now how you want it to look is up to you.

G~

[Wiskey]

This is a thread I did on plantgeek showing the buildup of my 180 FW planted, the first few pages have step by step pictures of how I built my stand, the canopy is in there later in the thread too.

http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5581

HTH,
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

BTW, if your tank is acrilic, personly I would make the top peice of ply (that the tank sits on) 1 inch thick, from what I understand acrilic tanks need support under the whole bottom.

Whiskey

[russbriscoe]

here is what mine looks like: http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...t=64571&page=2

it was not hard to make the structure.

[theplatypus]

Whiskey, that is nice looking stand.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by theplatypus

Whiskey, that is nice looking stand.

Thank-you. I want to do the one for my SW tank the same way when I upgrade so the two match, although the hood on the SW will be higher to fit the MH.

Whiskey

[darthteddy]

People are very paticular about their stands. Most build out of 2x4. I tend to build out of 4x4 presuretreated posts. Im sure two by fours that are regular do the job but i like the insurance of 4x4s. Plus our house is like a circus 247. A good thing to have around would be some crown molding and 2x2 and base board and quarter round just to dress it up a bit.

[seshapir]

Thank you for all the replies!

Geoff-I think I want to go for the "incredible" type and by the way NO FALSE WALLS!!! I can just see the maintence guys ripping me a new one and one of the dogs flying through it!

Wiskey-very nice looking stand! I like what you did with that tank. I'll for sure have my brother put a top peice on the stand.

Russ-your stand and canopy are absolutely gorgeous...just the kind of thing I would want!! If you'd like to take a vacation to Detroit you're more than welcome to stay with us!! Cost of room and board is a stand and canopy


So I think I have the basics...you build a frame from 2X4's...you put on a top and bottom. Then you cover the outside with whatever you like whether it be plywood, crown molding, oak, maple, and so on. A frame made by 2X4's or 4X4's is strong enough to support like 2000lbs worth of tank? Am I understanding how to do it or am I missing anything??

[russbriscoe]

Thanks for the complement on the stand. I am very proud of it. Your ideas are the basics. 2x4's are strong enough, but 4x4 would work too. If you look at the stands in the stores you will see that they are all made from 3/4 plywood so if you can do some engineering rather than all beef.

My stand is made from 1x4 cherry. The first time I built it i built it out of plywood and was going to face it with cherry, but i couldnt achieve the look i wanted. My son was hanging on the front of the full tank the other day. I freaked out and then thought, "I guess it is pretty strong".

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by seshapir

Thank you for all the replies!


Wiskey-very nice looking stand! I like what you did with that tank. I'll for sure have my brother put a top peice on the stand.

Thank-you

So I think I have the basics...you build a frame from 2X4's...you put on a top and bottom. Then you cover the outside with whatever you like whether it be plywood, crown molding, oak, maple, and so on. A frame made by 2X4's or 4X4's is strong enough to support like 2000lbs worth of tank? Am I understanding how to do it or am I missing anything??

Hold up!! I think you missed the important bit!

The 2*4's are plenty strong VERTACALLY, they have NO lateral strength. Think of it this way, you build your stand out of 2*4's and put no sides or front/back on it, just the frame. Then the fat drunk guy (you know the one) trips and uses the tank to catch himself. This small amount of force is enough to send this stand crashing down, because once the 2*4's rock past a certin point then the force is no longer down, but down and to the right. They act like stilts! and the walker comes down.

My sides and front/back prevent this, they are screwed and glued to the frame so they would have to shatter before the top frame can move in relation to the bottom frame. This is why I inside cut the doors and left a solid peice of wood around the outside, for support at the joints.

Let me know if you don't understand, I am really tired and I am not sure if I typed that legably, but this is very important if you are going to build a stand like mine. An alternitive would be to use gussets (2*4's in a X pattern in the holes, or diaganal cut peices of wood) but I feel the way I did it is far stronger, and I want to be sure.

Whiskey

[Doug1]

Something else to consider, if you are going to have a sump, you might want to have removable end panels or doors that facilitate removal or working on pumps, etc. THats what I did on my 75g stand tho its big enough for a 120 , it has a 55wide sump under it and no way to get in or out thru the front

[seshapir]

I wanted to start by saying thank you and I really really appreciate all the help you guys are giving me. I'm trying really hard to stay focused so I don't get further confused, but of course I'm still confused. I tried to do a few sketches in photoshop to try and show what I was thinking so we can have visual examples of what will and will not work...

The first pictures is my idea for how the frame would be there would also be a beam in the middle on the top and bottom. There will be a 1" sheet of ply on the top and bottom. (I'll also have foam under the tank)

Picture two is the covering step. Either taking strips of plywood or oak to cover the frame. From what you're saying wiskey this is where I'm running into a problem, but I'll come back to that later on.

Picture three is the finishing step adding crown molding to the top and bottom covering the plywood, a panel to one side (the other side stays open), and the doors.


Now back to the issues with step two Wiskey, if I'm not mistaken this is the step you think wont work....I think you're trying to tell me this will NOT add enough support to the frame....so here are my solutions

Picture 4 is adding X supports to the back of the stand

Picture 5 is where I'm confused...I take a sheet of 1/4 ply and cut out the holes where the doors will be....am I understanding this right?? I do this around the entire stand...BUT do I do this around the back as well???

Which is the safest strongest way to go??

If I go with the picture 5 plywood wrap can I then go back to picture 2 and add strips of oak or a nicer wood??


BTW Doug, we're putting in a sump which is why we wanted to leave one of the sides open

Here's the pictures.

[Wiskey]

I am a little anal about this, but I always have a solid sheet of ply on the back of the stand, I think it is critical although I do drill holes for cords, pipes and such of course.

What I am trying to stress is you can't just take the frame, and screw a couple of finishing peices on the outside of it and call it done, you need something to make sure the stand won't rock. This can be done by "supports.jpg" or "wrap.jpg" I far prefer to have a solid sheet of ply on the back and one side, and then on the other side and the front I start with a solid sheet and cut the holes for the doors out of the centre. These peices are screwed and glued to support every joint in the frame. You can screw any molding or finishing peices you want to the outside of this, or use any doors you want to fill the holes.

Just DON'T do step one, then screw step two onto it and call it done, because as you notice the places where the wood meets in both steps are the same, you don't overlap any of the joints = No support!

Kinda like building a brick wall, you never stack the bricks right ontop of each other, each layer of bricks overlaps the two under it.

HTH,
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Oh, and Screw and glue everything!! Glue is much stronger than screws, and the screws will hold it tight together while the glue drys. They work as a perfect team. The only place nails have in a stand is to hold trim on.

Whiskey