aquarium stand in raw industrial style

[airborne_r6]

Is the Red Cedar you used just the cedar that Home Depot stocks for fencing?

[Sven]

how thick will the bottom glass of the 55g aquarium be?
I would be a bit worried about how evenly the bottom glass is supported and the uneven pressure on the glass might crack it.
The pressure on the screws holding the long supports will also be immense.
Nonetheless, the stand looks great.
I don´t mean to be a spoilsport but I thought I´d mention this although you might have checked into this and feel secure about the strength of the stand.

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by Sven

how thick will the bottom glass of the 55g aquarium be?
I would be a bit worried about how evenly the bottom glass is supported and the uneven pressure on the glass might crack it.
The pressure on the screws holding the long supports will also be immense.
Nonetheless, the stand looks great.
I don´t mean to be a spoilsport but I thought I´d mention this although you might have checked into this and feel secure about the strength of the stand.

Assume some of the tank weight bears on the long supports. That will deflect them slightly downwards, but that immediately puts all of the load on the tops of the legs. So, the loading of the long supports is minimal. (I think.)

[airborne_r6]

Originally Posted by Sven

how thick will the bottom glass of the 55g aquarium be?
I would be a bit worried about how evenly the bottom glass is supported and the uneven pressure on the glass might crack it.
The pressure on the screws holding the long supports will also be immense.
Nonetheless, the stand looks great.
I don´t mean to be a spoilsport but I thought I´d mention this although you might have checked into this and feel secure about the strength of the stand.

The bottom glass of most aquariums with a bottom rim is already supported by the rim and thickness of the glass is not an issue, especially, with most of the weight being supported by the corners.

The bracket used relies on the shear strength of the screws, which is typically very high.

This is one of the strongest stands I have seen on this forum.

[hydrophyte]

this stand is extremely sturdy. those steel connectors are used in joints that hold up decks and houses and there are ~20 screws in each joint.

Originally Posted by airborne_r6

Is the Red Cedar you used just the cedar that Home Depot stocks for fencing?

you might find something comparable at Home Depot. make sure that it is cured, not green, and untreated.

i got the stand moved into the other room where i will set up the display.



the tank is going to hold an all-crypts riparium display. i have some more about it in the tank journal forum.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...-riparium.html

[hydrophyte]

i finally made some time during the last couple of days to work on this display again. i had to adjust the stand a little bit--i found that the tank was not sitting level. the lenghts of 2X4's that i used for the top horizontals along the width of the stand were about 1/8" thicker than for the shorter pieces. so, the aquarium was sitting just on that front horizontal support and on its corners on the back. my solution was to remove the bottom front piece and plane it down to same size as short pieces. i was able to leave everything else set up while i stole that 2X4.



the stand is about 2 1/2" deeper than the 55 gallon tank. I had to make it deeper to leave a little bit of space between the pairs of steel connectors at the top corners. thus, the back of the aquarium was just floating without support. i decided to add a brace with a short piece of pine 2X6.



i'm not counting on this supporting a whole lot of weight: i just want to spread it around a little bit more and have something under that long span of the back of the aquarium. i used a little steel bracket beneath to hold the brace in place.

[bibbels]

Originally Posted by airborne_r6

This is one of the strongest stands I have seen on this forum.

I agree. You could hold up a car on it without worry

[hydrophyte]

i have a few details on finishing of the painted bottom shelf that i wish to add.

last night i got a start on the shelf for the 55 crypts riparium display. i cut this from 3/4" "sanded" plywood--i think it might be birch(?). with a rotary sander i smoothed the sanded side some more and also the edges.



the plants have been coming along pretty nice. here is a recent shot.

[ch3fb0yrdee]

Dude this is a nice DIY stand. I saw those metal brace at Home Depot, I am really considering making a stand just like this for one of my tanks. OH boy!

How much was the cost for the stand with after all the raw materials were purchased.

Thats a nice 55gal.

[hydrophyte]

Originally Posted by ch3fb0yrdee

Dude this is a nice DIY stand. I saw those metal brace at Home Depot, I am really considering making a stand just like this for one of my tanks. OH boy!

How much was the cost for the stand with after all the raw materials were purchased.

Thats a nice 55gal.

thank you!

i don't have my receipts at hand, but here is a rough estimate based on my fuzzy memory:

• steel framing connectors--8 @ ~$6 each = ~$50
• lumber--western red cedar, ~$60 + sanded plywood "handy panel", ~$15 = ~$75
• screws--2 boxes @ $10 each = $20
• heavy-duty plastic glides--4 for ~$10
• oil-based polyurathane varnish--1 quart can for ~$10
• half-way decent paint brush--1 for ~$10

so that's about $175, with a few odds and ends left over.

[smoq]

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

thank you!

i don't have my receipts at hand, but here is a rough estimate based on my fuzzy memory:

• steel framing connectors--8 @ ~$6 each = ~$50
• lumber--western red cedar, ~$60 + sanded plywood "handy panel", ~$15 = ~$75
• screws--2 boxes @ $10 each = $20
• heavy-duty plastic glides--4 for ~$10
• oil-based polyurathane varnish--1 quart can for ~$10
• half-way decent paint brush--1 for ~$10

so that's about $175, with a few odds and ends left over.

Hmm, that's more than I thought. I also thought that your wood were stained 2x4's. Where did you get those cedar planks?

[hydrophyte]

pine 2X4's and 4X4's would make the whole thing less expensive, but the western red cedar really was key to the effect. i purchased mine at Menard's, which is a chain of large Home Depot-like stores (with better prices and more stuff) that we have here in the Midwest. i would look for this at lumberyards that carry stock for building decks. it is very important that it be fully-cured and untreated.

[Hoppy]

If you can still buy it, and I'm not sure you can, clear Douglas Fir would be another good choice - nice even grain, good color, and good strength. Another possibility, which is increasingly hard to find, is good, clear heart redwood. That is a beautiful color when a clear finish is applied, and it darkens with age. Unfortunately, somebody cut most of the good trees down already.

[ricoishere]

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

this is an update with some recent pictures. i include several views to demonstrate specifics of stand build.

here is the whole shebang with tank and green salad on top. all of the tank system components and stand--less the Teklight--were easy to find and pretty economical.



that Echinodorus flower spike is reaching way out into room. the other plants still need to grow in some more. i used Riparium Supply stuff to plant all of the emergent plants. the underwater plants are planted into pool filter sand. they get bi-weekly ferts and Excel every day. the underwater plants do more or less ok like this because the water is mostly shaded by the emergent stuff.

the aquarium is an Aqueon 65G with the top rim popped off. well, it didn't exactly pop off. i wrestled with it for the better part of an afternoon and i was lucky not to slice my hand wide open.

this is view under stand with Filstar, houseplants, electrical and chicken.



...more detail. the only equipment under here is the filter, a powerstrip and timer. the shelf is a simple rectangle--note gap on each end. i used "sanded" plywood for shelf, using primer as sanding sealer, then a layer of paint and finally several coats of oil-based polyurethane. this gave me a nice finish



this shot is from beneath shelf. four of these brackets hold it up.

There is no doubt the simplicity of the stand is what makes it great! Do NOT be surprised you start to get calls and get commissioned to make these for others. I just put my 3 largest wood tools for sale, I'm reconsiderring taking the add down from CL! OK, next, what light is that?

[CL]

I love your work! It's classy to say the least