# Sketch-up of my tankstand



## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

This is the stand I built for my 350g. I omitted the the plywood top, back, sides and bottom shelf for clarity.

Front view from the top.










Back view as seen from the bottom.


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## gaqua (Apr 11, 2008)

Looks pretty sturdy.

I'm not a carpenter or anything, so I'm asking this out of ignorance, but why go with a single diagonal brace in the back 3 segments instead of an X brace of some type?

Also, do you have any pics of the finished product?


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

gaqua said:


> Looks pretty sturdy.
> 
> I'm not a carpenter or anything, so I'm asking this out of ignorance, but why go with a single diagonal brace in the back 3 segments instead of an X brace of some type?
> 
> Also, do you have any pics of the finished product?


 You see the X- brace on metal shelving. It is used there because the metal strap only works in one direction, when it resists a pulling force, so you need two in opposing directions. Wood is more rigid so it will work in both directions. A single diagonal wood brace will work if well secured.

The weak point of this stand is the 4 by 4's. 4 by 4's are not as strong as two 2 by 4's sandwiched together with a half inch plywood "filling". Over time 4 by 4's are much more prone to twist and bend than other lumber dimensions. Also they are hard to find in untreated form. The treated 4 by 4's cannot be safely used indoors because they release toxins that affect both animals and plants. There are paints and fiberglass coatings that will largely seal in those toxins, but eventually that protective film will break down and be breached. The short "floor joists" at the bottom contribute nothing to the stand design. They could be omitted with no loss of strength or anything. The ones at the top would be needed if the tank is plywood or acrylic. Those tanks should have solid bottom support. The top "floor joists" could be left out if the tank is glass with a floating bottom which only needs perimeter support, but leaving them in would give the option of replacing the tank with plywood or acrylic if the need ever arose.


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

Mcdaphnia wrote:


> The weak point of this stand is the 4 by 4's. 4 by 4's are not as strong as two 2 by 4's sandwiched together


Agreed, but I did spend a lot of time going through a stack of untreated 4 x 4's looking for 8' pieces with low moisture content, no checks or cracks and little or no bend. I had an almost full stack laid out on the floor at the Depot and the lumber guy kept walking by shaking his head. After I picked out the 4 pieces I was happy with I started re-stacking the cull. He came over and helped and said he appreciated me putting everything back in place. A lot of yo-yo's just leave it.

The stand was built 3 years ago and sat in my garage for almost 2 years without any paint or sealer protecting the wood and even at very high and low desert temperatures there has been no bend or twist. The whole frame of the stand since then has been caulked and painted with Elasto-Seal. ( I had a gallon of the type that was potable water safe.)



> The short "floor joists" at the bottom contribute nothing to the stand design.


Agree here too. In my case the joist are there to support a 150g capacity plywood sump although I'll be running it at the 100g mark.



> The ones at the top would be needed if the tank is plywood or acrylic.


It is a plywood tank. The "joist" on top were clamped in place and had a couple of wood screws to hold them in position so I could pre-drilled everything to except 5/16" x 6" lags. I then took it all apart and re-clamped everything in position using heavy duty Liquid Nail. The holes in the face frame were counter-sunk to place over-sized washers. I went just deep enough so when the lags were tightened they compressed the wood a bit but still remained flushed with the outside frame. I also drilled the beginning of the holes just deep enough and a hair under the circumference of the smooth part of the shaft at the top of the lag. The short 2 x 6 braces at the front are also lagged.

Gagua wrote:


> Also, do you have any pics of the finished product?


Inside view with first coat of paint.










Over-all project.


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

sick man, nice work!  :thumb:


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## loogielv (Nov 10, 2008)

so you built the stand and didn't do anything with it for 2 years and are starting on the tank? or has the tank been setup as well?

what are the dimensions of the tank?

Can any specs on teh canopy? that thing is a beast!

What is the clear box on the side of the tank?

sorry to follow up a month after your last post, but i'm interested in this build...


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

Actually it's the second stand I built for the tank. The first one I built fit the tank perimeter and after changing how I wanted to do the filtration I tore it apart and make it longer.










The inside dimension of the tank is 84" long, 30" deep and 32" high and has 7 coats of Sweetwater 2 part epoxy.

The hood was built high to accommodate a plant trough for some nitrate control and keep the lighting above it. I also angled the inside of it to hold a lot of lighting without having them overrun each other. Eventually, along with the cold-cathode moonlighting and 65 watt FluoreX flood lighting already in the hood I also plan to add four 6' fluorescent.




























The boxes at the side of the aquarium are for mechanical filtration. I'm no spring chicken and the thought of bending over to remove the filter pads from the wet/dry doesn't appeal to me. So I lengthened the stand to hold the boxes to make cleaning easier and to take out a couple of bends from my pumps discharge lines to gain better flow.


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## loogielv (Nov 10, 2008)

wow man. really impressive. That canopy is just awesome! :thumb:

i dont suppose you have more pictures? any pics at all...


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

I didn't take any pictures while I was building it but here are a few of when I was almost done. A table saw comes in real handy here because most of the rips are angled.



















I used two coats of Kilz primer followed by two coats of an exterior grade high gloss white for the inside of the canopy. The outside was painted with a potable water safe roofing paint by Elasto-seal. They changed their formula a while back and it is no longer safe to use for drinking water.


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## loogielv (Nov 10, 2008)

very nice. is the tank setup and running now?


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## iceblue (Apr 27, 2004)

No. Unfortunately things are real tight right now and I won't be spending money on any of my hobbies in the foreseeable future.


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## loogielv (Nov 10, 2008)

iceblue said:


> No. Unfortunately things are real tight right now and I won't be spending money on any of my hobbies in the foreseeable future.


tell _me_ about it...


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