# DIY 5x2x2 Stand / Cabinet, 'How To'



## LowIsuzu (Aug 10, 2008)

SO, a few weeks ago i ordered a 5x2x2 tank, which arrived several days ago.
Its the weekend now, so i finally have time to do something with it.
Building a tank stand is the first on the itinerary. (as i was not going to pay the $700 (AUD) the shop wanted for their cabinets)

after a bit of measuring, i decided how i wanted the stand, drew up some quick plans, and a list of timber to purchase. i decided to get the hardware store to cut all the pieces for me to the measurements i supplied, only cost a couple bucks extra, and each piece was perfect length.

all pieces 2x4 (45mm x 95mm for those of us metric inclined as 2x4 isnt exactly 2x4 here in australia...)









#1. 10 x 520mm
#2. 8 x 800mm
#3. 12 x 710mm
#4. 4 x 1530mm
#5. 1530mm x 610mm x 15mm Plywood

Pieces #5 and #1 going together to make the top and bottom frames, with pieces #1 spread evenly apart along the length of pieces #4.
i used Selleys - Aquadhere to glue the pieces together as well as screwing them with 75mm wood screws, pre-drilling and countersinking each screw.









Completed Frames.









Next, lay one of the frames down flat for the base.
glued and screwed pieces #2 to the corners and to where each of the middle legs of the stand are going to go (on the inside of the frame)
These pieces are not structural, merely for screwing the legs to hold them in place.









take 2 of pieces #3, glue the 45mm edge of one of them, then lay it flat (95mm side down) lay the other piece 45mm edge down on the ground up against the glued edge of the other, clamp, drill, screw them together.
make 4 of these.
they turn out somewhat like this (not the best photo but i hope u get the idea)









the 4 legs we just made, glue and screw them to the #2 pieces in the corners making sure they are hard up against the base. the remaining pieces #3 glue and screw to the last 4 pieces #2.

Grab your other frame you made earlier, it is almost ready to go on top of the legs. get that glue again, and glue the top edges of the legs, and the top sides of pieces #2. slide the top frame onto the legs, Drill and screw it to pieces #2
it should now look somewhat like this









throw one of those pieces of ply on top, and you now have a basic stand.









This is all i have got done today, tomorrow i will be sealing the timber, so any spilt water wont destroy or weaken the timber.
i will then cut out notchs in my last piece of Ply, and slide it into the stand for by floor / bottom shelf which my sump will sit on.
after that i will then be sheeting the outside to turn it into one respectable Cabinet.

If anyone is interested, the tools i used were fairly basic, most can be obtained fairly cheaply at any hardware store.

-Battery Drill
-set of Small drill bits.
-countersink drill bit
-phillips head screwdriver bit
-Large and Small Carpenters Squares
-G-Clamps, cheap clamps will do the trick
-750mm long clamps (can be seen in one of the pics, has orange handles)
i picked these up very cheaply, they werent fantastic but did the trick.
-Tape measure
-marking pencil / pen

Getting all the pieces pre cut saved me from having to cut anything at all, so no saw's were needed.
Using the Squares to make sure everything is square is the trick to building a square, level piece of furniture, and made things a whole lot easier.
i also cheated a little by using my air compressor and air drill which can be seen in some photos, the battery drill kept going flat....
in total this took me about an afternoons work, maybe 4 - 5 hours.

Now.... got my remaining piece of plywood, measured up where the legs are, and cut out pieces so the ply will fit around them.
slide the ply in from one of the skinny ends at an angle, and drop it into place.

i also went out and purchased some more thinner plywood to sheet around the cabinet with. i got it cut to size too.
they were glued and nailed with a nail gun.



























used some 60mm x 12mm pine timber (cos its cheaper then skirting) and borrowed a router and gave them a nice edge along one side, these were used for the skirting around the bottom of the cabinet. i used more of the same timber for the skirting around the top, then used some Right angle timber ( |_ ) which cut to size go up each corner to cover the joins and nails in the ply i sheeted the stand with.


















i made the top skirting sit about 20mm higher then the top of the top piece of Ply so that it covers the bottom of the tank / foam.









cut out the holes for the doors, trimmed the edges off that piece, glued it onto a piece of MDF and put some trimming around the edges.
They didnt come out very well considering the effort i put in.

oh well, you learn from your mistakes.
they arent having any door handles, the trim around the edges is slights wider then the door, so there is a gap between the door and the cabinet to get fingers in to to open in.
Also in these pics, the middle door, was actually meant to go on the side, hence why it has a different grain pattern to it. i have removed this and swapped with the right door. lol



















All that is left is to Sand it back, Stain it and Seal it. Then it is ready to put the tank on top and fill it full of water.

Constructive critisism please... :-?


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

Looks fine. The only thing I would have done differently is take the legs all the way to the floor and built a fill in frame for the bottom. Keep up the good work and post a pic of the finished project. :thumb:


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

cool...this was exactly the stand I was going to build. Except I was going to add a bottom ply like the top piece to spread the weight on my softer floor(padded lino). ...and around the top and bottom piece I was gong to use molding instead of squarish pieces. But I have a router I haven't used yet. :thumb:

2x4s aren't 2x4 anymore, anywhere it seems..... 

can you show some detail of the door construction...your ideas may be better than mine.


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## CICHLUDED (Aug 4, 2006)

Nice build :thumb: Looks pretty goodâ€¦.

Your right, the door in the middle is going to stick-out like a sore thumbâ€¦

Keep us postedâ€¦


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## LowIsuzu (Aug 10, 2008)

iceblue said:


> Looks fine. The only thing I would have done differently is take the legs all the way to the floor and built a fill in frame for the bottom. Keep up the good work and post a pic of the finished project. :thumb:


just curious as to why you would have done the legs that way? wouldnt the way i have done it spread the load more evenly across the floor? whereas if the legs went all the way to the ground, u only have 6 points of contact with the floor, so u have more weight, on loss contact points.

my stand is going on a timber floor, if it were going on concrete, there wouldnt be any issues with that.

CICHLUDED, i picked that mistake up only after i had attached that door, lol. but that door is nwo on the side of the cabinet, i put one on the side so i can get a sump in, thats longer then the front doors are wide. only one side has a door tho.

i will get some more pics up of the doors next time im out working on it.

Thanks for your comments.


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## gordonrp (Mar 23, 2005)

looks good. A very dark stain might sort the grain direction problem on the doors. looks like quite a soft coloured grain.

I think the stand/bottom bit is built the best way, spreading the load over the entire floor.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

LowIsuzu said:


> just curious as to why you would have done the legs that way? wouldnt the way i have done it spread the load more evenly across the floor? whereas if the legs went all the way to the ground, u only have 6 points of contact with the floor, so u have more weight, on loss contact points.


Just easier to shim if the floor isn't quite level.


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## LowIsuzu (Aug 10, 2008)

ok, so got some more done tonight over a few beverages.



















iceblue, for you...

















i dunno if this helps at all?


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## LowIsuzu (Aug 10, 2008)

alrighty then. Here is the finished Product. The Sealer is just drying now, then the tank goes on top for a test fill, and i might even cycle the tank down here, then take the whole setup into the house where it will live permanently.



















8) 8) 8)


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## Hoosier Tank (May 8, 2007)

Great job! It really turned out nice, and good attention to detail in the write-up of the project.
I can't wait to see it with the tank on it.


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## LowIsuzu (Aug 10, 2008)

Some more pics for those who are interested.



















Still not really sure how efficient my overflow is, dont think it is flowing nearly enough to have the 5x per hour turnover i am after.










does this look normal? or should the water be sitting at a lower level? or does it all depend on how quickly i am pumping water into the tank?


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## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

I just wasted a lot of time this weekend on overflows for a non-drilled tank. After weeks of research I found out that 96% of people don't know whats going on when it comes to water flowing through tubes. BTW, I include myself in that 96%.

However, I did a lot of testing with this type of overflow and my results are very sketchy. First, I'm going to say thats not normal. However, there are a lot of people that have a lot of issues with this type of "overflow".

So, next I'm going to say that picture can be normal for strange cases. Sometimes people have trouble with air getting stuck in the drainage line that limits the amount of water that can flow. The higher the water line in the tank the higher the pressure through the overflow. So its possible that your tank needs another inch of water over the overflow level to find equilibrium with the return rate you need.

If your return pump was too strong then your tank would eventually overflow. Unless that information was omitted then that is not the issue.

I just through of something else. I found that a very low ratio of return rate vs drainage rate can cause this type of overflow to work strangely. So the first thing that should have been asked is what is the rating of the return pump and what is the height the water has to flow back into the tank? And what is the diameter of the PVC pipe used.

Also, one aesthetic modification you can make to _subjectively_ make it easier to disguise is to remove the bend on the piece that goes in the tank so it comes over the top of the tank then down into the tank but does not make a U. Then place that into a piece of PVC that is larger than the return pipe (like 2.25"-3" for a 1" return). Cut the bigger pipe to be at water level when the bigger pipe is in the tank. For pictures look at the part of this setup that is in the tank. http://canadafishtank.com/wp_marcel/200 ... -overflow/


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## D-007 (Jan 3, 2008)

Somewhere on the forums - possibly in the DIY section - there is a thread on doing an overflow in that method (with PVC and bends etc).


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## LowIsuzu (Aug 10, 2008)

boredatwork said:


> Also, one aesthetic modification you can make to _subjectively_ make it easier to disguise is to remove the bend on the piece that goes in the tank so it comes over the top of the tank then down into the tank but does not make a U. Then place that into a piece of PVC that is larger than the return pipe (like 2.25"-3" for a 1" return). Cut the bigger pipe to be at water level when the bigger pipe is in the tank. For pictures look at the part of this setup that is in the tank. http://canadafishtank.com/wp_marcel/200 ... -overflow/


oh wow, you just caused me a WHOLE lot of confusion. lol...

actually, i get it now, but wouldnt you have to completely seal off the bottom of the Larger diameter pipe?? otherwise it would draw water from under the pipe?


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## mcorbeil (Jan 16, 2007)

> wouldnt you have to completely seal off the bottom of the Larger diameter pipe?? otherwise it would draw water from under the pipe?


If you look closely at the pics you can see that the PVC pipe has a blue cap on the bottom, so yes you are right. Water flows over the top of the PVC tube to the bottom where it is then pulled into the Vinyl "u" tube and over the edge of the fish tank into the pitcher and then down to your sump. Double Skimming Action TM. LOL :fish: :fish:

PS Great build! It's good to see some people aren't afraid to get their hands dirty LOL :thumb:


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I don't know anything about the pipes etc.. Just wanna say the stand looks great :thumb:


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