aquarium stand in raw industrial style

[monty67]

I really like that, nice work! Love that color stain.

[Hoppy]

Those are some very nice looking design variations! I really like the door appearance. Since much of the attractiveness of Hydrophyte's original design is the proportions, any similar stand with those proportions is going to look good. But,, with this design, you have the whole package, in my opinion.

[Assassynation]

Great work man! I may never buy a production stand again.

[driftwoodhunter]

Very nice ideas here...

[sdylanh]

(I apologize if I'm hijacking the the thread, but...)

AnotherHobby,

Could you share how you have/plan to do the light fixtures for your design? I've been in the planning stages of doing a similar setup with three individual fixtures on a 55 gallon, but I'm clueless when it comes to working with metal. It looks simple enough, but not sure what all goes into it.

Any details especially where you bought the parts and what you used would be appreciated!

[bibbster]

Anotherhobby, I love the unpainted fasteners on the black brackets/ties.

That looks great, especially with the 4x4 legs...adds to that massive look. Kind of like medieval construction.

[AnotherHobby]

Originally Posted by sdylanh

(I apologize if I'm hijacking the the thread, but...)

AnotherHobby,

Could you share how you have/plan to do the light fixtures for your design? I've been in the planning stages of doing a similar setup with three individual fixtures on a 55 gallon, but I'm clueless when it comes to working with metal. It looks simple enough, but not sure what all goes into it.

Any details especially where you bought the parts and what you used would be appreciated!

Sure. The plan right now for the poles is to use 1/2" metal conduit, and then I'll spray paint it black. It's strong, light, cheap, and easy to work with. Our building maintenance guy at work has a bender, so I'll just have him bend it for me, but you could buy/rent one from Home Depot or wherever. I'm just going to use 1/2" pipe straps to attach it to the back of the stand.

For the bulbs, I'm doing PAR38 LEDs. There are many out there, but here is one option I was thinking about: Dimmable, 15w, 6500k, 60° spread. That is just one example, but it's the brightness I want, is dimmable, and has a 60° beam spread (they have a 90° also). I rendered the light spread of two 60° bulbs placed 20" above the bottom of the tank and 14" apart. Coverage is pretty good, and I can adjust brightness with a dimmer. According to the image in the LED Lighting Compendium thread for the WingoLED PAR38 Bulb (which is of identical specs), it should be plenty of light.



There are a lot of bulb options, so I haven't made up my mind yet. It'll be around the specs of the above lights though. For the lights fixtures themselves, I'm not sure 100% yet, but I have a few ides — I'll probably DIY as well. One idea is just using a 6-8" section of 6" PVC pipe painted black. Maybe an upside down cheap metal mixing bowl. I'm not sure on that one yet, but actual "pendant lights" for sale can get pricy quick. I think I can make something quite attractive for cheap, but it might take some trial/error.

Originally Posted by bibbster

Anotherhobby, I love the unpainted fasteners on the black brackets/ties.

That looks great, especially with the 4x4 legs...adds to that massive look. Kind of like medieval construction.

Thanks! I ended up painting the fasteners though. I moved the stand into place last night and put my 12 gallon on it for now. I don't expect to really finish it off with everything until spring. Can't really stain/poly in my house and it's winter now in MN.

Here it is with the screws painted:



Here is where it goes (in the middle of aquascaping that tank right now).



For the doors and sides I'm just going to make small curtains from black cloth. I can hang them in the openings. That'll let me hide stuff until I make the real sides and doors when it warms back up in the spring.

That's the awesome thing about hydrophyte's idea — it's very easy to customize to however you want it!

[lochaber]

Originally Posted by AnotherHobby

I don't expect to really finish it off with everything until spring. Can't really stain/poly in my house and it's winter now in MN.

If you aren't set on using poly, you could try shellac. It's alcohol based, so it dries quickly with very little fumes.

I'm using it right now to finish my 40B stand, and I'm building it in a studio apartment.

The Shellac seems to be fairly easy to use, and somewhat forgiving. And from what I've read, it should be easy to repair any scratches/issues later on.

[sdylanh]

AnotherHobby,

I've read about conduit pipe as well, and might try to go that route.

One idea I've had for the fixtures is simply taking a clamp light from Home Depot and remove the clamp. I would then likely cover the actual housing with something a little more attractive, like a cheap mixing bowl drilled and painted as you mentioned. The clamp lights are about $8 dollars and are already wired.

Hoping to start on this around Christmas and be done sometime mid-late January. I'll post pics when available.

Interested to see the outcome of yours, love your idea and I plan on pirating much of your design for my own stand!

[AnotherHobby]

Originally Posted by sdylanh

Hoping to start on this around Christmas and be done sometime mid-late January. I'll post pics when available.

Interested to see the outcome of yours, love your idea and I plan on pirating much of your design for my own stand!

To make planning/customizing easier for anybody interested in using Sketchup, I've uploaded the model I made to their database. Sketchup is a free download, but there is a bit of a learning curve to it. Once you have it, just go to 3D Warehouse and Get Models. Then search for 29 Gallon Aquarium Stand. It should be in there now.

[bibbster]

It looks just as nice with the fasteners painted black. Great job!

[golfer_d]

These stands are awesome!

I am going to have to give this a try....I like the idea of being able to set the tank on it (I have a 10g) and a plant or something to the side.

[hydrophyte]

I'm building another one of these for my 65G.

This time I am using the Strong-Ties that hold the vertical 2 X 4s, instead of 4 X 4s. I'm going to paint the boards a nice color like dark sap green or purple or something like that.

[golfer_d]

How is the most recent build going?

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by lochaber

If you aren't set on using poly, you could try shellac. It's alcohol based, so it dries quickly with very little fumes.

I'm using it right now to finish my 40B stand, and I'm building it in a studio apartment.

The Shellac seems to be fairly easy to use, and somewhat forgiving. And from what I've read, it should be easy to repair any scratches/issues later on.

Shellac (poop from the lac bug mixed with denatured alcohol and is safe enough to be used as a coating on medicines) is prone to water stains. Shellac is great to use as a barrier between different types of finishes. You could use water based poly over an oil stain. Use shellac over a water based stain to keep a waterbased poly from lifting the water based stain/dye. It's a neutral sealer. WB is low odor. I'm using miniwax (I hate minwax products) gunstock oil base and that stuff is odoriferous. Have to stain outside for sure even then it still smells up the garage until I get WB poly over it.