Thread: Fish Tank Stand - WIP

Well the frame came together great. Have to say the mortice and tenons were very time consuming but the strength in the joint is fantastic. Even trying to disassemble the dry fit was hard going.

Have bisciut joined the Jarrah boards together and now im up to trimming/detailing up the edges.

In regards to finish, i was wondering what the best way to go would be? Considering it will have weight on it and will get wet at times. The fish tank will be kinda semi permanent, not an easy thing to remove. So coming back every few months to reoil or wax isnt really an option....maybe every year or 2

Nice job. The stand looks good and solid. I'd finish with a few coats of poly. Not very traditional but it's tough and waterproof. You could stain the stand to match the jarrah.

Thanks NCArcher,

At first i had the same thought. I had to make a kitty litter box out of pine and bits and peices to hide the cats nasty's (sorry about the screws).

So i did a test of some WOP on it. Turned out ok with a high gloss finish but the feel of it was rather plastic. Was ok for pine but this Jarrah is really nice, seems like it would be a shame to put WOP on such great timber!

I was thinking maybe dewaxed white shellac or but im unsure if this would need rewaxing every so often

How big is your tank? Something that I found with fish tanks was to have a leg every two feet.

Looks like a very quick build.

Gday Christos,

The tank is 3ft in length, just over 1ft wide and around 45-50cm in height, not a huge tank but not small either. Do you really think this will be an issue? I hope not The tank will be positioned directly over the legs so im thinking its highly unlikely the Jarrah will sag.

The Mrs is keen to get some fish in, so has to be quick...ish. Have warned her sanding and finishing may take a bit

I built one and that is what I found by searching the web and visiting some outlets.

I also noted that the ones in the store are thinner on the legs. Something that was pointed out to me was racking so I ended up changing the design a little to prevent that. I put plywood for the back panels.

It took me a very long time to build.

Thanks for that Christos,
I think ill do a bit more reading before going any further, last thing i want is 55gallons of water and fish in the lounge room

That looks like a solid stand

re the top - how much of the Jarrah will you see when the tank is on it

Cheers sawdust maker, yeah its pretty solid alright Had a chat with an aquarium guy today aswell, show him a few picks and he seems to think its fine. He agreed that with bigger tanks and multpile tank sets ups, rack designs would definatley be the go.

Wont be able to see much of the top..maybe 10-20mm on the front and about 30mm on the sides, have chamfered the edges.

Most of the Jarrah will be seen on the bottom shelf....will pick the best board for that

55 gallons @ 10lb gallon .heavy man!

Redid my maths With the tank dimensions being 36"x 14"x 19" should work out to about 40 gallons, which is 458 lbs....

40gal is under 400lb, the volume is 5.5ft3 or 156kg wet(343lbs) not including the glass

Not that matters the frame you made will handle that easy

Thanks Harry, like you said the frame should handle this kind of load without any drama's......i hope

Well have done a bit more on the fish tank stand. Cut out the bottom shelf as neat as I could. Looking good so far, Pretty sure I can fit in the shelf after I glue up the frame, tight fit but it should go in.

Also tryed some inlays for the bottom shelf, not sure if i should have used wider inlays but I just wanted some small/light egde detail, nothing too striking.

As far as finish is concern im thinking of finishing the frame with Danish Oil and dewaxed white shellac for the Jarrah top and shelf, still open to ideas!

Still not sure what will be the best way to attach the shelf and top...wood buttons, Z clips, 8 fasteners? What would you suggest?

cheers

IMHO Wood buttons are best for appearance with a handmade piece like this, I'd use a plastic film finish on the top purely because water will get inbetween the glass of the tank and the top at some stage, it'll take ages to dry out.