# My 75G stand build complete w/ pictures!



## Dexter. (Oct 23, 2012)

First post coming soon, I apparently haven't quite figured the picture thing out :roll:


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## Dexter. (Oct 23, 2012)

Just thought I'd put this together with a few pictures so others can see my approach to building a stand. Hope everyone likes it, comments welcome!

I do have one quick question, which I'm posting first so you HAVE to read it :thumb:

I'm having a hard time finding foam to put under the tank. I will say, the top surface is VERY flat and there's next to zero unevenness in the corners...but I don't cut corners (no pun intended) and would like to put something under it anyway for the comfort factor. Where is a good place to go and get the foam most people use? I was at Lowes and all I saw were HUGE sheets of insulating foam that were a little over a half an inch thick I'd say. Not sure if that's what I want. What about cardboard? I placed a couple sturdy sheets of cardboard under my girlfriends 40 gallon on the stand I made her and it seems to be just fine, and I will admit the top surface of that one is not as flat as this one.

Now for what everyone came here for.

Step 1, figure out how the stand will be built and get your measurements written down. Make sure it's the final design, and decide how much wood you need to buy.

Step 2, drive you're racecar (or other preferred method of functional travel) to Lowes (or wherever you buy lumber) and gather your materials.









Step 3, arrive home and regardless of what time it is start measuring out some wood and get cutting. This is up to you, but I figured out first how many pieces of the same size I would need and cut them all at once. I used a hand saw, because I do not have a table saw, and I could line them up against each other this way and not have to sand any ends to make them match.









I made the top and bottom pieces first, just because that's what seemed the most logical.









Once that was done, I put the uprights in that would decide the final height of the tank. I used a square and some clamps to keep everything in check.









The joint should come out something like this.









After all four, I ended up with this upside down table looking ordeal.









Again, this next part would be your choice. I chose to put the weight bearing pieces in next rather than the top piece. This way, after triple checking they were all IDENTICAL in length I couldn't possibly put the top on uneven. I used clamps here as well to keep them in place.









Once all four of these were screwed securely to the legs, I placed the top piece on and diagonally clamped all four corners to the legs to assure they were snug in the corner.









That is essentially the structure of the stand complete. I did not get pictures of the next couple things I did, but you can see them in the pictures. I used some more pieces cut to the length of the support legs to cover the seam and add even more support. Along with this, I put a couple pieces of plywood on the inside to close the gap. I know a lot of people wrap the base in plywood and put some cabinets in there, but that was not my direction. I added a center support to the top and bottom, and cut a piece of plywood to serve as a bottom shelf. The next step I took (since the bottom plywood is 1/4" thick) was to cut two more support pieces 1/4" shorter than the rest and fit them snugly between the base and top pieces. I also cut a piece to serve as a top shelf, which was put in place BEFORE the top support (or it wouldn't fit, duh :roll: ). That got me to this point.









My last step before paint was to get rid of all the visible seams by placing some 1x's around the top and bottom as trim. As I said, this was not intended to be a cabinet.









Then, PAINT. Yes, I know...it's black and boring, but that's what matches my room so deal with it :dancing: 









With my BRAND NEW 75G on top, waiting to get setup.









Hope everyone enjoyed the build, the tank will be getting set up in the near future. I'm sure we all know it's not cheap, and being 21 I have my other toys...namely my car, that also digests a good part of my paychecks :lol:


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

lookin good! cant wait to see it set up so get on it!!! lol opcorn:


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## du3ce (Sep 11, 2012)

did u saw all those wood by hand?


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## Dexter. (Oct 23, 2012)

ratbones86 said:


> lookin good! cant wait to see it set up so get on it!!! lol opcorn:


Me too, I have a lot coming up so I'm not sure when I want to get it going. Going to see family for Christmas on the 28th for a few days, then I come back and leave for a ski trip for a week almost exactly a week after I get home. So we'll see.



du3ce said:


> did u saw all those wood by hand?


The only pieces not cut by hand were the bottom shelf board and the top shelf board. I used a jigsaw for those corners. Everything else was cut by hand, but you'd be surprised...that little hand saw does a good bit of work. Only really took about a minute for each piece. Good workout too :dancing:


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Nice Golf, but I wouldn't exactly say it's a racecar!


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Very overbuilt, looks great.


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## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

A nice looking stand. What kind of filter are you planning to use? The reason I ask is that the middle shelf will probably prevent you from putting a canister filter in the stand.


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## Aus-Cichlid (Dec 18, 2012)

Looks great mate, very professional job.


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## Dexter. (Oct 23, 2012)

metricliman said:


> Nice Golf, but I wouldn't exactly say it's a racecar!


Not unless you know what's under the hood  Come Spring and I'm done with what I'm building up for it over the winter it should (hopefully) put down a good 450whp.



748johnd said:


> A nice looking stand. What kind of filter are you planning to use? The reason I ask is that the middle shelf will probably prevent you from putting a canister filter in the stand.


Thanks. Yeah I didn't plan on putting a filter on any of the shelves. I have an Eheim 2217, it's just going to sit next to it. The tank is going in my room, and where it's going to sit the filter won't really even be visible unless you go look lol. I'll have an Aquaclear 55/75 HOB too for some extra water movement/filtration up top.

Thanks for all the positive comments :fish:


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## b3w4r3 (Dec 14, 2012)

Looks good, but I would like to see the top 1X6 Come up a bit higher to hide the black plastic on the tank. Maybe mitered corners on the trim too, but that would make the side pieces too short, just my thoughts. I like the black, now lets see a 1X6 or even 1X8 hood to complete the package :thumb:


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## Dexter. (Oct 23, 2012)

b3w4r3 said:


> Looks good, but I would like to see the top 1X6 Come up a bit higher to hide the black plastic on the tank. Maybe mitered corners on the trim too, but that would make the side pieces too short, just my thoughts. I like the black, now lets see a 1X6 or even 1X8 hood to complete the package :thumb:


I forgot to mention that, the top 1x6 does come up a little bit to cover a small bit of the tank trim so it appears to sit IN the stand more than ON it. I'm on the fence about doing a hood. The light I'll be using is a dual lamp T5 HO fixture that will sit up over the top, so if I can figure a way to make it work around that I'll do it.


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## b3w4r3 (Dec 14, 2012)

I did mine with 1X8 to give it some height then used 3/4 plywood for the top that sat inside the 1X8. I cut the ply so that there was a 3 1/2" piece to the back mounted on a 2X4 laid flat for support. A piano hinge attached the two so that the top could be lifted using a small brass handle. Lights are mounted to the plywood. Just use 3/4 for ledgers where it will contact the top of the tank, and the plywood top can rest.

It works pretty well so that when you lift the lid, enough lights still shines into the tank so that you can see what you are doing.


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