Thread: The beginner and the aquarium stand.

A picture is worth a thousand words (and you description is a little scant).

A bow is guaranteed to crack the base of the tank. Not a case of if, a case of when.

When I had my pet shop, I loved people making their own stands. It frequently lead to the sale of a new tank and a stand. Don't get me wrong, many people do build them and they are fine, but unless you get it absolutely right, its a disaster waiting to happen. You will also need a layer of styro between the tank and the base.

the timber has warped, and hat is probably why it is now twisted.. build another and check the timber as you assemble it.

Jeff
vk4

I made one a little while ago but I never used it for the tank. It became a display cabinet.

A photo of what you made would help and where it has twisted.

G'day ZLOgic,

Like Doug, I've made a couple and never had an issue and a guy I used to work with has made many more (and as a fish breeder larger than mine). I dunno about 'micrometer perfect' given the weight of the tank when filled (48" X 12" X 16" is about 140kg of water alone) then uneven floor deflection would likely cause more of a twist than that. A couple of sites worth looking at:

FishandTips.com: do it yourself aquarium stands provides a stand design tool based on tank size and
Aquarium Fish Tank Build Aquariums provides a bit of theory on tank design with a bit of valuable info on load calculation and stands.

As for yours, without a photo it's hard to say but a bow in the middle of the long side will give you grief. For my (4') tanks I always had middle legs (so, 6 legs), spreaders 50mm or so from the floor which supported a shelf which was useful for pumps, books, tools and fishfood, etc. The websites above should make it clearer.

Go for it, I can say that anything that I've built would usually cost more than going out and buying it from a store but do it because I know it's done right (well, at least to the best of my ability), it gives me a whole lot of satisfaction and hell, it's just a whole lot of fun!

If you do get in trouble there's a whole lot of guys on this forum with lots of expertise that can help out and provide encouragement.

Os

Good Morning ZLOgic

Firstly welcome to the forum. There is not one of us here who has not had to re-do entire projects, as well as parts of a project - so you are in very good company. A friend actually named a yacht Repetition because everything was done twice, except for the jobs done thrice or four times!

The base of an acquarium stand requires high precision and is in a very hostile environment - splashing, condensation, one side well ventilated, the other basically unventilated, the tank side has stable temperature and the other side temperature varies with room temp, etc. Plus the full aquarium is heavy and glass and joins are fragile... A difficult first project, but you tried and that is what counts. Lets move forward.

Would it be possible to rework your stand and replace the plank top with a sheet material - say 25 or 30 mm plywood?? (You can glue thinner sheets together to get the thickness.) Before assembly really saturate the new base, especially the end grain, with a good waterproofing agent, and then give it four or five coats of the final finish coat - varnish, epoxy, paint or whatever.

A long journey always starts with a single step - enjoy the journey.

Fair Winds

Graeme