Thread: Fish Tank Stand - WIP

Thanks for that!

Some really good tips

Harry 72 - Your'e right water will definatley be an issue. Im hoping the dewaxed white shellac should be able to cope with this but i may get some more advice before putting in on......WOP may still be the best(practicle) option....just not the best looking

TORB - Thankyou for clarifing the weight and thanks for bringing up the point about the styro.....Indeed the tank has styro underneath and i was wondering about that. I was thinking even maybe a dying the styro so it doesent stand out as much but maybe you are right, a wooden border around the tank could look quite good....

Will have a chat with the boss

Gday again,

Was really keen to give the wooden buttons a go (i agree harry72 they look way better!) however the buttons allowed too much room for movement, which is usually a good thing but with the weight....not such a good thing.

Ended up routing some groves and will use some fasteners (pic attached), which will still allow for some movement in the timber.

Began doweling in the mortices today, was a terrible experience . Everything was going ok until the timber swelled from the glue Left me with a dowel 3/4 imbedded into the timber and was not coming out or going in. In a panic i tryed to cut them off and hammer them in.....bad idea. Left me with a broken dowel and some badly bruised timber. Some hard lessons learned today.

Should of just drilled it back out but it seems panic is often associated with irrational thought

Well back to some timbermate and more sanding

cheers

Originally Posted by UglyDan

Left me with a dowel 3/4 imbedded into the timber and was not coming out or going in. In a panic i tryed to cut them off and hammer them in.....bad idea. Left me with a broken dowel and some badly bruised timber.

If the dowel is embedded then leave it there. Pare away the excess dowel and it this is a seen area just cover with a piece of wood from the same timber.

You can drill out another hole in different location.

The beauty of timber is that it is fixable with extra timber and glue. Actually that also the case with metal, fixable with extra steel and a welder.

Originally Posted by Christos

The beauty of timber is that it is fixable with extra timber and glue. Actually that also the case with metal, fixable with extra steel and a welder.

I wish i could of MIG welded my way out of this one Good idea though cristos, with a bit of shaping you could patch it all glue it all back up

My problem was i have double doweled the blind tenons and also made the dowels exposed on both sides, so no room for error but refilling with timber and maybe then redrilling, would certainly hide it better then timber mate.

Well frame is all glued up and the dowels are coming together better now - pic attached

Regarding the styrofoam, if you have a look in Clark Rubber (I'm sure they are Aus wide) they sell rubber mats around 5mm thick similar to what mouse pads are made of.

I have used these for my tanks for the past 5 years with great results and they definitely don't look as bad as white styro.

Whats the reasoning behind using the styro?

Originally Posted by shake

Regarding the styrofoam, if you have a look in Clark Rubber (I'm sure they are Aus wide) they sell rubber mats around 5mm thick similar to what mouse pads are made of.

I have used these for my tanks for the past 5 years with great results and they definitely don't look as bad as white styro.

Hey thats great, got one around the corner, ill pop in and check it out, thanks! Better base will be a good option as i dont have much room for a border...maybe like 5mm

Originally Posted by Harry72

Whats the reasoning behind using the styro?

If I placed the tank straight onto a hard surface, any imperfections, pumps or slopes will also cause the tanks glass base to crack under the pressure of the water. The foam will mold itself to the surface of the table and provide a barrier between the surfaces.

It also self levels the tank if the table is slightly off

Although I don't know a great deal about woodworking - less about finishing - I do know a good deal about aquariums, and recently built a cabinet for a 350 litre tank.

The cabinet WILL get wet in the following places:

Around the rim at the base of the tank. This problem can be largely avoided by covering this whole area with duct tape - when compressed under the polystyrene and weight of the tank it forms a surprisingly effective waterproof barrier. But you'll still want the inside of the lip (the vertical surface) to be finished in quite a few coats of poly. It's not visible, so it's probably no biggie if you use a different finish in that area.

Inside the cabinet, at the base. I made the mistake of not staining the inside of the cabinet (hey, first woodworking project ever - did the whole thing with the remains of a handsaw I found buried in the veggie garden and a router I found at the tip). Unless you've got an overhead (wet/dry) or HOB filter, you can be sure that your canisters or sump will make a mess in there sooner or later. I'd put quite a few coats of poly there too, and place the whole lot on some of that clear vinyl sheet Bunnings sell for a few bucks a metre for good measure. (Trust me, it's money well spent).

But apart from that, the cabinet isn't going to get wet. Certainly, not more so than your average sideboard, coffee table, whatever. So I wouldn't hesitate to use whatever finish you want (i.e. anything other than the horrible poly). I covered the whole thing in poly when I didn't need to, and regret it.

Oh, and about the styrofoam, it's only essential if you're using a regular, square glass tank. If you're using one of those sold-as-a-kit ones with all the moulded plastic and smooth edges, it's not necessary. It's usually hidden behind the lip of the cabinet, so it doesn't matter what it looks like.

Good advice from snafuspyramid but one thing I would add.

Expect the unexpected. Somewhere along the line, the chances are the frame/cabinet will get wet in unexpected placed. So sealing all of it is a good idea.

Indeed some very good advice, thankyou!

The tank will not have sumps/cannisters etc, way too small for that kind of stuff. It have an internal filter and will be an exposed frame, so no cabinets, just a shelf.

From past experience with the same tank, like snafuspyramid mentioned, the water got inbetween the styro and the wood. Not sure if this will still be the case with rubber matting but ill definatly be using rubber matting this time, for asthetics and seems better for water proofing. (Do you think a 'small' layer of silicone on the edge of the mat will do the same thing as the duct tape?)

Considering its only the jarrah top that will be exposed to moisture and cannot be seen that much, I was thinking maybe using WOP, then using D-Oil for the frame and dewaxed white shellac for the bottom shelf....

Christos was right, this is taking longer then first antisipated

Cheers again

Originally Posted by UglyDan

Christos was right, this is taking longer then first antisipated

Cheers again

Try do a shop full of them!

Silicon should work well.

Originally Posted by TORB

Try do a shop full of them!

Silicon should work well.

LOL! No thanks! When i get a larger tank I think i'll be using some heavy duty RHS and a MIG welder to make that one up

Yeah might go with a small layer of silicone on the bottom of the rubber mat, the weight should do the rest.

Finally have finished the fish tank stand. Had some dramas with the finishing. Did a coat on the Jarrah top before going to bed. After which a resident possum that lives in the shed decided to play twister on it....

Had to sand it back quite a bit as it also had some slight claw marks in it, eventually got there but was not impressed!

Tryed new things and made plently of mistakes along the way hence to say I learned quite a bit from this project.

Still needs the rubber mat but just waiting for the finish to cure a bit first.

Thanks for everyones input, it helped alot Few more weeks and it'll be time to go fishing

Cheers