The stand is finally finished.

[Nautilus29]

Here it is its finally finished except for the door handles. Ill get more pictures of it when I get my tank set up on it. What do you guys think?

To be honest with you all my dad did most of the finish work. I made the frame and put on the inside panels and the side panels and dad made the doors and added the rest of the stuff to it. Then I stained and varnished it.

I added pictures of what you can see of the frame just incase someone wanted to see how it was made. Basicly we just made a top and bottom triangle and then connected them together. All of the frame work is made of 2 by 4s.

Im debating setting my tank on it tommarrow or wait untill next week. Ill tell you one thing its going to be an all day job.

[Nautilus29]

Ill get some more pictures of the outside when I have it set up.

[Slinky_Bass]

Wow Adam! Thats a beautifully crafted stand, I can't wait to see the complete setup with tank and fish.

[holbritter]

VERY nice!!!

[Nautilus29]

thanks... Now lets hope we measured correctly lol. I wouldnt be too happy if I went to put the tank on the stand and it didnt fit.

[jweintraub]

WOW! I wish I had the talent and ability to do something like that, it looks incredible! Much nicer than my store bought one. Can't wait to see it with the tank on it.

[Ascendant]

The outside looks very well finished. Very nice.

Is that the most effective way to withstand the weight of the tank?
I'm thinking about making my own stand.

[AuroraAustralis]

Very nice indeed :o)

Wish I could build a stand. A place 30 mins from me sells new tanks 3 - 6ft for less than AU$90 with no stand :o( and unlike you and your dad, I unfortunately have no carpentry skills to speak of.. lol

[Lady Hobbs]

It's just beautiful Adam! Your dad should go into the business of building them. Stands like that are worth a bunch of bucks!

Super-doper nice job.

[Sasquatch]

Looking good, I like the effect of the varnish. I wish I have a place where I could do carpentry.

I may be nitpicking, but I didn't see any cross bracing to support the uprights. I'm not sure how much of a pain it would to retrofit, but it will go a long way to making it more stable. Adding a diagonal 2x4 to the sides and back will stop if from leaning. The panels on the side (plywood?) already do a good job though, but depending on how big of an aquarium, you should be fine with that.

In any case, looks good.

[Drumachine09]

Looking GOOOOOOD!!!!!!

[Nautilus29]

Trust me this thing isnt going to tip over. It has alot of support.

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.] This is where i got the basic design for it. although me and dad made alot of changes too it for more support. I liked this design the best becuase it has the 2 by 4s running all the way around the bottom that way the weight is evenly distributed.

[Nautilus29]

Oh ya and the project costed me around $70. It was way cheeper and its alot better than anything you can buy in a store, at least for support.

[Severus]

Very impressive adam. My aquarium is on a desk i dont use. lol

[sergo]

man that's very nice. good work :thumb:

[boston]

very nice stand congratulations on completing itcant wait to see the whole setupthumbs2: .

[Incredulous_Ed]

wow adam..
That's incredible.
Great job!
My stand looks terrible compared to that

[f1oored]

Adam, that is a very nice stand. It looks very sturdy and built to last.

[Nautilus29]

Heres the complete setup. It took along time to tear it down and set it back up again. Thankfully I had my younger sister helping me out. I had the light on in the tank but when i Took pictures it looks like its dark in there.

[blue fin]

Heres the complete setup. It took along time to tear it down and set it back up again. Thankfully I had my younger sister helping me out. I had the light on in the tank but when i Took pictures it looks like its dark in there.

Adam, the reason it looks dark inside the tank is because the flash is absorbed by the water, sounds crazy but what you really need is a long exposure for the tank and the flash at the end for the stand. Congradulations on finishing the stand, as for the crossbracing mentioned by Sasquatch, as long as the panels on the back and sides are nailed to the frame that will provide more than sufficient support to keep it from racking, if they were not attached I would agree with you that additional support would be necessary.

[Nautilus29]

They are nailed. Thats why im not worried they add alot of support in themselves. Plus I put them in the middle too if you look at it. There are 2 by fours in the middle that I covered up with wood.

[blue fin]

They are nailed. Thats why im not worried they add alot of support in themselves. Plus I put them in the middle too if you look at it. There are 2 by fours in the middle that I covered up with wood.

That was mostly directed at Sasquatch.. I figured if your dad could do the finish work that well with ply and pine that he would know enough to nail the panels for proper strength. :thumb:

[Nautilus29]

we didnt think that the colors of the plywood and the pine where going to match. the plywood it birch and when we where doing tests it looked way different. Then we bought this stuff that is supposed to help even out the stain and it worked really well.

I didnt think berch looked right lol

[blue fin]

we didnt think that the colors of the plywood and the pine where going to match. the plywood it berch and when we where doing tests it looked way different. Then we bought this stuff that is supposed to help even out the stain and it worked really well.

gel stain is great stuff... the pine really soaks up the finish and birch doesn't so you were wise to use the gel... glad it worked out for you.. I thought those panels looked like Birch.. good choice, nice and firm, solid core.. better structurally than pine plywood which is generally ok but not nearly as rigid as birch.

[kimmers318]

Great job to Adam and Dad! It is a beautiful stand and I hope you know how lucky you are to have the know how and the tools to be able to do the job properly! A friend of mine made some cabinets for our club and I was talking to him about the possibly of doing some custom made stuff for my kitchen in the future, he commented that although he has the tools to do "basic" stuff, he needs router bits for nicer things and they are like $200 a piece, so I found out just how expensive the proper equipment can be! Maybe that is why my husband is not much of a DIY person!!!!:hmm3grin2orange:

[Nautilus29]

Its true its all expensive but if you think about it. Dad just bought a new saw for 600 bucks. but the money we saved on this stand is a couple hundred at least for a nice one like we built.

its the same thing for kitchen cabinets. It costs thousands to have them done by someone. If thats what you are in fact doing. So a 200 dollar bit isnt that much compared to what you could pay someone else to do it.

[crackatinny]

Great job, I recently built a cabinate and hood for my 2.5 footer, and I agree with the savings, in stores over here same size costs over $300, with built in light mine cost $120, and stronger than shop bought.

[AuroraAustralis]

Looks great all set up. Those rams look like they are enjoying their flash new home too ;o)

[jeffs99dime]

the stand came out nicely. good job!

[sailor]

Great job Adam it looks very well built and sturdy thumbs2:

[jbeining75]

That is a very nice stand Adam.... Looks great.. Congrats....

[Nautilus29]

Thanks sailor!! I built one for my 75g too but I havent put the finishing wood on it yet. After I built this one I looked at some stands in the lfs and I cant believe how cheep they are made. Only a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick of wood around the outside and nothing in the middle. I wouldnt be able to handle that too risky for me.

[cabrego]

Good work! I like the detail in trim, was that chiseled?

Also, could you point me to any plans that may provide a good starting point, I am going to build a stand for my 125 gallon in a month or two.