# 125 Stand and Canopy Build



## ErikFromNJ (May 12, 2009)

Hello, first time post here.

2 weeks ago I picked up a 125 gallon that had a black stand. My house is all trimmed out in oak so its time to make a stand and canopy to match the house!!

BTW, I'm a carpenter. Just finished up a huge job and received the final payment a few weeks ago. My local tool supplier is running a HUGE sale on power tools, so its time to spend some money! :dancing:

I have a few compound miter saws, but none are sliding compound, nor do I have a stand, so I picked up one of those. :dancing:

always wanted a Kreg pocket screw jig, so I picked up one of those. :dancing:

Rigid makes this tiny, but incredibly strong, 400 lb torqued cordless screw gun. I wanted one the day I saw it come out. So I picked up one of those. :dancing:

Makita makes this kick ass little 2 lb impact driver. I had borrowed a fellow carpenters once before and absolutely loved it. You wouldn't believe the balls this little gun has! So I picked up one of those. :dancing:

Anyways, back to the stand and canopy...

By time I made up a cut list and ran out to pick up some materials, the day was just about shot. I only had worked a little over an hour on it.

I'll be posting pics as I go. A coupla crosscuts on the new dewalt, an hour later and here is where I was at.


























































BTW, If you haven't figured it out, it'll have 3 drawers and 3 doors. 

The next day it began to rain so I moved everything to the basement.

Next was to start cutting and assembling the box. (sorry for the blurry pics. I'm a terrible photographer)










There are no table tools here. Everything is cut with hand power tools and a straight edge. Table tools are too bulky and heavy to bring down to the basement. Anyways...

Cutting the back panel.










Shell complete. All the panels have rabbits cut in them to receive the adjacent panel. No lap or butt seams.










Next was to build the drawers and mount them.










Drawer fronts installed.










Time to make some doors!!


















Doors completed. Just have to drill them for hinges and mount them.










Here are some pics of when I was building the canopy. The entire face will flip open for ease of maintenance.


























Here I stained everything up. The following day I layed the first coat of poly down. After the first coat, everything will be sanded with 220 grit and then the second coat will be applied and so on. 5 coats of poly will be layed as to protect the wood from humidity. I used a commercial grade poly as well. The same stuff they use on basketball courts. Very durable stuff!


























Here she is completed. I did the tank swaperooni this past weekend with a 75 that was in its place. What a pain in the butt that was.

Anyways, here's the final pics. Still gotta mess with the aquascaping.

Enjoy!


























Filtration is a Cascade 1000 cannister, a fluval 405 cannister and (3) AC 110's. The water is heated w/ (2) 250 watt stealth heaters. Every cord is tagged into (2) surge protectors. When I do water changes, its now as simple as the flick of a switch to turn off the heaters and filters.

Anyways, enjoy, thanks for looking and I look forward to chatting with you all.

Erik


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## rchickering (Jun 10, 2008)

The tank and canopy look sharp :thumb:

I am jealous of your new tools and carpentry skills!

Can you post a few pics of your canopy open please?

Great job!


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

Looks good! :thumb: Real drawers instead of fronts. Great place for fish food, nets, and aquarium gloves. I hope everyone notices there are NO 4 x 6 timbers in this stand. opcorn:


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Wait...where's the 2x4's? The 4x4's??? Everyone knows that a 125 gallon tank weighs like 12938349 pounds!!!! IT'S GONNA COLLAPSE!!!   

Kidding, kidding. Looks great. Well done. I like the canopy design. I'll have to save the pics of that for a future canopy.

Nice tool purchases. Which Kreg jig did you go with? I'd love to pick one up, but can't quite justify it. My cabinetry skills are a bit lacking at this point. "Need" is such a funny word when it comes to tool purchases :lol:


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

Mcdaphnia said:


> Looks good! :thumb: Real drawers instead of fronts. Great place for fish food, nets, and aquarium gloves. I hope everyone notices there are NO 4 x 6 timbers in this stand. opcorn:


Whew...I thought I was the only one who noticed it was gonna fall apart.

Haha...


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## FIREFISH (Jun 13, 2007)

Erik is that all you got??? Just joking!!!! All I can say is that you are really good at what you do. That is one of the best I have ever seen. I wish I had all the right tools to do a professional job like that. Awesome man, just awesome!

FF


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## ErikFromNJ (May 12, 2009)

Thanks every one! Nope no 800 2x4's hold this stand together 

Heres a pic with the canopy open. I mounted 6 LED pucks to the underside of the canopy to get rid of those hideous fluorescents. Right now they get in the way of me opening the glads lids, so they gotta go.










And the drawers open. Its so nice to have everything sorted. First draw is meds, water conditioners, etc... 2nd is foods and 3rd is misc supplies, suction cups, air lines, hoses, clamps.










Underneath is the buckets, fish nets, bigger decorations, towels, filter pads, and a 10 gallon hospital tank I keep running, just in case :wink:

I'm trying my best to keep it this way too!

BTW, the tape you see sticking on the sides of the tank is for a backround I was getting ready to put on. I also noticed the water looks dirty w/ the lights off. The wall behind it makes it look like that. My water is pristine... always  (It better be with 5 filters running) The lights usually are only on from 5pm till we goto bed.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Nice job, love the pocket holes, for the frame. I have been looking at the Kreg pocket hole forever, but haven't convinced myself to buy it yet. BUt it sure seems to make the joinery sharper on this stand.


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## ErikFromNJ (May 12, 2009)

becikeja said:


> Nice job, love the pocket holes, for the frame. I have been looking at the Kreg pocket hole forever, but haven't convinced myself to buy it yet. BUt it sure seems to make the joinery sharper on this stand.


Thank you. Kreg makes a $100.00 Master or a $30.00 Junior kit. I had the master kit and returned it the next day for the junior. The master kit is more for bench work and the junior is for more out in the field which is where I'm at every day. The junior kit is also much more versatile. I joined my doors in this fashion as well instead of mortise and tenon. Mainly because of speed. At first I was concerned about using the plugs kreg manufactures to fill the holes but decided to give them a try.... Lemme tell ya.. I was impressed!! Obviously it would be more noticeable on a light colored wood with a clear finish, but how dark my piece is, most would not notice it unless I pointed it out.

If you decided to purchase one of them, grab the jr kit. You wont be disappointed. I'm still kickin myself for not purchasing it years ago. Lowes is selling it at an unbelievable price of $30 bucks too.

The only thing I was quite disappointed with, was the case, it's made from thin plastic. For a tool that needs to be well protected to maintain its accuracy, they sure cheesed out on the quality of the case. I'm going to end up making a wooden case for it.

Anyways, Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm currently brainstorming a double 55 gallon stand, so stay tuned!


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Reviving the thread!

Can anyone (or even better, ErikFromNJ!) tell how how the heck this think is staying up!? I did a little weight test with my 125G, prepping for a stand build for it, and filled it weighs well over half a ton. A good 10x my weight :lol: So how is this think staying up with no legs at all!


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## Agridion (Sep 8, 2010)

The King Crabb said:


> Reviving the thread!
> 
> Can anyone (or even better, ErikFromNJ!) tell how how the heck this think is staying up!? I did a little weight test with my 125G, prepping for a stand build for it, and filled it weighs well over half a ton. A good 10x my weight :lol: So how is this think staying up with no legs at all!


Because everyone way over builds on this site. Is cheap to do with 2 x 4" s so why not. 
Very nice build by the way. Your work is amazing Erik.


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## cybervet (Sep 27, 2010)

Beautiful work. I'm about to start my build for a 90, and if all goes well, build 2 more for a second 90 and my 125. I wish I had the carpentry skills to build such a nicely crafted piece of cabinetry. Mine will have a single 2x4 at the corners (not multiple 4x4 posts). I am only doing that because of my lack of confidence in my own skills at creating perfect joints. I know that yours is plenty strong enough to stay up, but you obviously have the skill to insure the joints are as near perfect as possible. And, yes, I did go get a Kreg jig. Sweet little toy.

Maybe I missed it in the text ... what are the dimensions of your stand? I'm planning on making mine a bit taller than average, about 37" tall. I want the top of the tanks at 5' for better viewing. It looks to me like you have done the same.


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## tommyt1981 (Jan 5, 2006)

first of all congrats on a beautiful build and outcome. just two questions one does the location by the window cause problems with algea, and two is that your furnace vent right behind the stand and if so does it affect a constant temp?


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Agridion said:


> Because everyone way over builds on this site. Is cheap to do with 2 x 4" s so why not.


You're saying I could buy sheets of 3/4" plywood and build a stand out of that, no leg posts or anything?


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## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

The King Crabb said:


> Agridion said:
> 
> 
> > Because everyone way over builds on this site. Is cheap to do with 2 x 4" s so why not.
> ...


No sir. He's saying that everybody used too much lumber. More than necessary. building from plywood of any size wouldn't work. You need hard lumber. ie 2X4's


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## Agridion (Sep 8, 2010)

dsouthworth said:


> The King Crabb said:
> 
> 
> > Agridion said:
> ...


I'm no carpenter but you don't necessarily need 2 x 4's but you would need solid wood with good joints. My 185 gallon stand was made by a carpenter and there are no 2 x 4's in the construction. Yes I do admit I was nervous filling it the first time since I purchased it used but it holds. It's built from oak. I'm sure Erik could give you more details.


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## pistolpete (Dec 28, 2009)

Ah yes, my favorite rant topic. King Crabb: it's staying up because a piece of plywood 3/4 inch by 1 inch will support more than 150 lbs. Stand on one if you don't believe me. That stand has about 100 inches of plywood supporting the tank, so it will safely hold about 15 000 pounds. Good joinery is the key.


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

You're saying this would work?
3/4" plywood, the kind you buy at Home Depot. Stain and varnish (or maybe paint) all 2x4s. Note lotion of the plywood on the 2x4, it's supporting where a leg would.


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

Awesome stand and canopy man. I consider myself to be a decent woodworker and I just had to take it all in from your pictures. My next build will no doubt take the majority of it's design straight from your photos. Thanks for sharing your excellent skills with the rest of us. Congrats on your tools, I know I miss my sliding chop saw. opcorn:


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## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

You used the same canopy that i have designed! i thought i was being unique because i had never seen it before.

amazing work man. i hope mine turns out just the same. i'm using 4 doors on bottom though. 
one on left and one on right. then the two centre ones will come together to be one "big" one.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

You guys complimenting his tank realize that the original post was from 2009. He had 6 post and that was it.

Stili a nice build but pretty sure he's not around anymore.


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

JimA said:


> You guys complimenting his tank realize that the original post was from 2009. He had 6 post and that was it.
> 
> Stili a nice build but pretty sure he's not around anymore.


LOL your right haha. I am always late to the party. Thanks for the heads up. I wonder how the tank is doing now? :fish:


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