I currently have a 93 cube sitting in storage. The plan is to set that up as my display tank. I figured this is a good time to try and build my stand and canopy. Any tips? Is it even worth it? Or just pay to make someone do it?
Any tips on building a stand?
- Thread starter Sun1914
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I used his other design worked well. I've currently got 2 55 gallon and now a 29 biocube on them.
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watch a lot of videos.
and when in doubt, just overbuild it.
and when in doubt, just overbuild it.
Diy
Thats beautiful. Wow, you made that??
Thank you for the video. It will be a great help when I start building.
My main tip because it has save me several time is use a decent thickness pressure treated plywood. Caulk All bottom joints with paintable silicone and then paint with exterior paint. I had several plumbing and sump issues and the stand just contained all the water. Thank GOD!!!!!!! Haha
Oh, also, do not use a piece of plywood on top of stand. If you do, make sure you cut bigger than big holes for plumbing. I just did away with the plywood idea for top of stand though. To me, waste of material too.
Yeah
Two main front doors, one side door, and one cabinet on the right side.
Also, all soft close hinges cuz I hate the sound of doors banging and drawers wherever I can fit one
If you are capable of cutting precisely - meaning straight, square and within 1/16" of the size you intend - I would encourage you to build it out of 3/4" plywood. I use higher grade than you can find at Home Depot - find a local lumber company in your area (we have Peach State Lumber up in Kennesaw) and purchase Russian Birch Plywood if you can. It comes in 5'X5' sheets but it's much higher quality and stronger than what you'll find at HD or Lowes.
Straight pieces of wood, glue for bonding and pocket screws for initial assembly and you can have a very strong and stable stand. If you want it fancy, buy trim pieces and install.
I will go on record disagreeing about the top of the stand though - I much prefer to put a full plywood top on the stand and drill / cutout for any plumbing. That piece of plywood on top adds a LOT of lateral strength and keeps the stand from racking.
Straight pieces of wood, glue for bonding and pocket screws for initial assembly and you can have a very strong and stable stand. If you want it fancy, buy trim pieces and install.
I will go on record disagreeing about the top of the stand though - I much prefer to put a full plywood top on the stand and drill / cutout for any plumbing. That piece of plywood on top adds a LOT of lateral strength and keeps the stand from racking.
Here is my build
Really like those doors. I would only need the one but maybe going sliding doors on the 3 sides of the cube isnt a bad idea. Is that even possible though?
Sliding doors wouldn't give you much room. I would suggest just making them removable
Well it will have to have enough room for the door to slide.
It depends on the look you'd be going for.
An all plywood build would be the strongest and easiest to assemble.
An all plywood build would be the strongest and easiest to assemble.
Just offering some of my experience here. I've done quite a bit of furniture building and several tank stands, this is probably my 4th or 5th by now. The video above is not a bad way to build a stand, I agree completely with using a frame of dimensional lumber for the structure and then whatever material you like as a facade. One place I differ is in the joinery, All of my joints are lap joints so help the uprights better carry the load of the horizontal pieces. This does take more work and he noted his construction method allows for only straight cuts on a chop saw which simplifies things for sure.
One other recommendation in addition to his technique is to also glue all joints even if you are using screws. The combination of screw and glue is even better and glue is cheap, why not!
The other thing I'm not a fan of is leaving exposed end grain of plywood, for several reasons. First, it is always a bit rough and will splinter pretty easily. It doesn't look great as it isn't a finished edge. But especially for something around water, it's a more likely place for moisture to enter and cause warping or other issues. I use different approaches to this, one is to trim the end is moldings or with a comparable solid wood to add some interest while covering any exposed unfinished plywood. The other method is to use "wood tape" this comes in a roll and is heat activated and will cover the plywood end and look much better and takes to stain and finish very well as it is real wood.
I really like my tanks to have a very finished look so if you notice in a few of these pictures I also cut spacers between the stand and canopy to fills in the space between the wall and the tank so it looks completely built into the wall. And at the bottom, I cut the profile of the baseboard so the entire unit sits up flush against the wall.
Stands come in all flavors and styles, just wanted to share some of my experience.
One other recommendation in addition to his technique is to also glue all joints even if you are using screws. The combination of screw and glue is even better and glue is cheap, why not!
The other thing I'm not a fan of is leaving exposed end grain of plywood, for several reasons. First, it is always a bit rough and will splinter pretty easily. It doesn't look great as it isn't a finished edge. But especially for something around water, it's a more likely place for moisture to enter and cause warping or other issues. I use different approaches to this, one is to trim the end is moldings or with a comparable solid wood to add some interest while covering any exposed unfinished plywood. The other method is to use "wood tape" this comes in a roll and is heat activated and will cover the plywood end and look much better and takes to stain and finish very well as it is real wood.
I really like my tanks to have a very finished look so if you notice in a few of these pictures I also cut spacers between the stand and canopy to fills in the space between the wall and the tank so it looks completely built into the wall. And at the bottom, I cut the profile of the baseboard so the entire unit sits up flush against the wall.
Stands come in all flavors and styles, just wanted to share some of my experience.
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You could always buy my stand! I had a custom one made for this exact tank!
Pm me. Lets work something out.
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