Building a tank stand

Danimal · 05-10-13, 08:31 AM

Have any of you guys ever noticed how flimsy wood tank stands are? All my adult life I have had tanks. I am a logical thinker 99.9% of the time but I have an irrational fear of wooden tank stands. I think the largest tank I have had, up to now, was 75 or 100 gal, all with ugly heavy gauge metal stands. The ones that are just angle iron welded over legs. So recently I acquired a 180g tank. Nothing fancy its 6' wide 2' tall and 2' deep on a black wooden stand. The tank is frickin heavy, 350lb empty so it was a pain to move. It did not come out of the stand easily so the stand loosened up a little. Tankless, the stand weighted nothing and after having a look at it, the construction is 1/2" of some kind of plywood on each end and most of the rest is 1x4 pine (probably) and 4 cabinet doors. All held together by staples.

Any of ever built a stand? If so what was the basic construction? I was just going to make a new cabinet with a 2x4 frame held together with liquid nails and wood screws. I am an experienced woodworker but also a little ocd so if anyone has any experience with this I would appreciate the input.

KBHicks2012 · 05-10-13, 09:39 AM

We built one a few years back for my parents fish tank they had, actually came out looking amazing. I will try to find some pictures of it on the computer tonight. We used 2x4 for the framing, 8 legs in total (4 corners, and 4 center). We wrapped the sides, and front with virola bringing up an inch to cover the bottom of the tank. We built a top to match using 1x1 for framing. Once that was completed, it looked to plain, so we added trim which really brought the stand to life with stain applied

Danimal · 05-10-13, 09:49 AM

I would love to see it, the virola sounds interesting. I was planning to use a detachable trim to cover the bottom of the tank. That area on the stand I have now is what caused the problem, the lip was permanent and with only 2 of us it was really hard sliding it off the back of the stand and supporting the weight at the same time.

KBHicks2012 · 05-10-13, 12:03 PM

I will try to locate the pictures tonight, unfortunately they sold the tank and stand about a year ago when they upgraded to a new one they found at a garage sale. I will try and get them to send me pictures of it tonight, really neat setup actually. It has a whole desperate tank underneath for filtering, not sure the technical name for it....they are more the fish people then I am

Danimal · 05-10-13, 12:26 PM

I am interested but I don't want you to have to go thru a lot of trouble.

Lankyrob · 05-10-13, 04:11 PM

How about making a rock solid ugly metal stand that will take the weight and then making a decorative wooden cover so that it cant be seen? Best of both worlds?

Chris72 · 05-10-13, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

How about making a rock solid ugly metal stand that will take the weight and then making a decorative wooden cover so that it cant be seen? Best of both worlds?

Kinda what I was thinking.....

I had one a long time ago which I used nearly 100% aluminum angle bars to make. (if you used 2 x 2 x 1/4 it would be more than enough)

I welded it but unless you know...that you know how to weld aluminum don't. Use nuts and bolts then you can put 1-side good 1/4 plywood around it and it will look like a million bucks, be super light and strong.

Self tapping screws into the alum work nicely once you have done the pilot holes. Pick a nice bronze finish for those outside screws, counter sink the heads, and the screws used to fasten the wood to the frame will actually look very nice.

Just plan on using something different for the feet as angle bar sticking out the bottom of a nice looking cabinet takes always from the look. (Not too good for the floor either)