# 125 gallon DIY stand for the "handy" beginner (Lot



## MikeyMike22 (Dec 29, 2011)

So I've been scrolling through the DYI section in my down time and decided to post my 125 gallon build I did around August 2011.
I had a 75 gallon tank and it was time to upgrade. I found a decent deal on a 125 set on Craig's List that I couldn't pass up. After selling off the things I didn't need/want (the old canister filters, extra heaters, misc. nets/chemicals/etc.) I was left with some decent supplies, a 125 gallon tank and a nice 72" power compact fixture with 4 new bulbs (2x 10,000K daylight and 2x 460nm actinic) with 6 blue moonlight LEDs all for about $160. It also came with a standard store-bought black pine stand/cabinet. This too got sold off. I know they're designed to hold what they're supposed to hold, but I just hate the idea of a fully loaded 125 gallon tank sitting on 1x4 pine.
I had built the stand and canopy for the 75 gallon tank with ZERO experience, so I figured I could do one for this 125. If I can do it, so can pretty much anyone that's adept enough to not cut their own fingers off.

I'm a fairly handy guy, I've remodeled nearly every square foot in my house...not because I'm a contractor/carpenter/etc, but because professionals cost money I don't have so I bought a Home Improvement 1-2-3 book from Home Depot and learned everything from scratch. When it came time to build the 75 gallon stand, I borrowed some ideas from DIY projects online and just went at it. But that's a different story, just a little background on my limited experience and skill to get a decent looking home-made stand!

So, enough blah-blah-ing, I present to the forum an overbuilt, very sturdy all wood stand that looks great in a living room with minimal skill and about 12 hours of total effort:

Parts are pretty basic: 2x4's for the frames, 4x4s for the legs, plywood of choice for the face wood, corner molding, top/bottom molding, glue, screws and finish nails.
I used pressure treated 4x4's on the legs because it's are to find in-door 4x4's around here for some reason. For that reason, I also used deck screws that are specifically coated and protected for use in PT wood (bonus side effect: also stands up to corrosion from saltwater). I'm not a technical guy, so I hope the pictures and brief descriptions are self-explanatory enough. Main principals in a sturdy stand: No side-to-side or front-to-back (sway) movement, and you want the weight of the tank supported by the "legs", so the top frame that the tank sits on should be ON the legs, not screwed to the SIDE of the legs (because then the only thing holding up the tank is the screws holding the frame). Screw and Glue as needed and you should be fine.

These frames will be the top and bottom plates. They're identical and can be used for either.









I cut notches in both ends of the 4x4s so the frame will sit ON the legs, all downward force will be supported by the posts, not the screws holding the frame on









Close up of the notches cut into the 4x4, these were sanded so they were straight and flat









Top frame attached, checked frame for level and posts for plum









2x6 center posts front and back. I was going to use two 2x4's on front and back to make a 3 door setup like the store bought stand, but decided two larger openings with double doors would be better for dealing with equipment later.









I put a "sub-floor" in made from 1/4" MDF, cheap and easy to cut and had enough support because of the lateral bracing in the bottom frame









I used 12x12" peel-n-stick vinyl tiles to cover the floor. I picked the cheapest HD had ($0.33/sq. ft USD). Figured if it was ugly, it was inside the stand anyway! This gives some water-proof (or at least resistant) protection from spills









Throw some plywood on the sides and front! Use whatever you like, I used 1/2" ply with an A/B sand. Probably thicker than needed for face wood and a little more expensive, but it has one side that's sanded nicely without a bunch of knots and stuff so I went with it. It came in 4'x8' but I had the guy at HD cut it down for me in-store at 3x6 and the saved the "scrap" for the sides.









Then I picked a trim molding I liked (took a lot of time actually) and decided on a ribbed (or fluted I guess is the proper term). I used a 4" wide for the top and mounted it so it would cover the 2" black plastic frame of the tank.









Matching trim molding on the bottom, but it's a 3" wide...in retrospect, I'm not sure why I went 3" on the bottom instead of matching the 4" on the top, guess I didn't want the eye drawn to the bottom of the stand...









Picked a corner molding I liked and put it on all the corners for the "finished" look









Cut out my door-holes. Some people would've just stripped the outer edges of the stand with face wood and fill the seams...This gave me a unified look without filling/sanding. The cutouts were used to make the doors later









The doors are made from the cutouts. I measured and did a little math to get the left and right sides correct. Basically I trimmed down the cutouts so they would swing into and be flush with the stand and then used the same style trim from the stand to miter cut a border on the cutout slabs. The left door slab sticking out past the border so the right door would overlap and cover the gap between the two doors. Not a professional look, but a good fix that you won't notice with the doors closed:









We'll skip pictures of all the filling of nail holes and sanding and go right to the first layer of stain and the final (4th) layer of stain. I used the Minway Polyshades because it has polyurethane built into the stain. Your color selection is smaller, but you only need 2-4 coats depending on how dark you want it and it's already poly'd up. I used a satin finish, thought gloss might be distracting.









Router cut the hinge plate areas and threw two quick coats of stain on the back of the doors. This is the B side of the plywood and I didn't sand it down so it looks rough and soaked up a lot of the stain, but I'm impatient and it's an "unseen" part of the project anyway.









4th coat of stain and ready for mounting doors.









Doors mounted, stand moved to it's new home, light mounted and beginning to fill from the bathroom sink in the hall (takes a long time to fill a 125 gallon tank from a half-bath sink!)









That's pretty much it. I plan on doing a canopy soon too, so I'll throw that up when it happens.
Like I said, I'm no carpenter or professional, but I am pretty handy and can learn, so if you have a bit of faith in yourself, this is a pretty good looking stand without going crazy-perfectionist or anything. I left the back open for ease of routing equipment so it has to go up against the well, but your stand could be finished off on that side based on your needs. I also got a three piece storage bin from Target that hold my foods, spare parts, etc. and there's plenty of room for misc. stuff. The left side housed my large pond UV filter in-line with an FX5 canister and a couple of 5 gallon buckets. Not overly organized, but I can get to everything without hassle. I mounted my powerstrips inside with a piece of scrap 2x4, but the customization is endless. I thought about flush-mounting switches for things on the right side of the stand so I could turn lights/heaters/etc. on and off without opening the stand, but decided to keep it simple.

Good luck on your build, check out the projects everyone else on here is doing because there's a million ideas and people who are probably more skilled than me, but feel free to comment/complain/ask questions!

And sorry for the long post!


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## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Looks great and you did an awesome job!!

I understand how long it takes to fill these up from the sink, takes me at least 30 minutes to do a 40% water change with my bathroom faucet.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

I like it, nicely done! :thumb:


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Nicely done build on the stand and also on the writeup!


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

Very nice! :thumb:


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