Building an aquarium stand
I never cease to be amazed by the amount of total bullshit on the Internet. I built an aquarium stand recently, so I naturally searched the net for clever plans. To my abject disappointment I found a seemingly endless array of plans that shared one thing in common: they wanted you to support a structure weighing 500 to 2000 pounds on softwood joined by nails or screws. This is pretty insane in the simplest of circumstances, but when the support members are subject to water damage, it’s even more ridiculous. In the fullness of time, the screws will bend, loosen, and rip out of the wood, and the only way around that problem is to use so many supports that can’t get inside the stand for access to the plumbing a reef aquarium needs. So I had to figure it out for myself, often the best way, and I devised a puzzle joint that allows the load to be borne by the wood instead of screws, nails, and glue. It looks something like this:
(UPDATE: For some photos of a real stand, click here.)
So you cut out a square notch the size of the narrow side of a 2×4, 1 1/2″, on two pieces, and a notch twice that width on the third, join the pieces together and then nail and glue for convenience, making sure everything is nice and square.
I suppose you could cut the notches with saw and a chisel, but I have a table saw so that’s how I did it, with another set of notches for shelf down below. Aquarium stands are so expensive you could go buy a $200 table saw from Sears and still come out way ahead.
Since this frame provides all the strength you need, you can cover it with some 1/8″ veneer plywood, or if you want it to look nice, you can lay some exotic veneer on 1/8″ medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and then just glue that on the frame. So you can have a teak aquarium stand for $100, or you can buy some weak and boring pre-built stand for $500 or so, as you wish.
It turns out veneering, which I hadn’t done before, is pretty easy once you’ve got a few tools, the right glue, and some technique. Flamingo Veneers in Campbell has a great selection, and the owner Brian is real helpful, very knowledgeable, and downright generous. He does most of his business on the web, but if you’re in Silicon Valley you can drop by his shop and check the stock before you buy. He sells veneer saws, tape, and glue, all for great prices, so it’s a one stop shop for veneering. (UPDATE: Sadly, he appears to be out of business now.)
The tricky part of doing veneer is rounded corners, but they’re easy if you have a veneer press, which is basically a big plastic bag and a vacuum pump. These things sell for around $500, but you can build one for less than $100 if you follow the plans at Joe Woodworker, and happen to have a spare refrigerator compressor or an air compressor, as all well-equipped home shops do in my house. Joe’s plan has a flaw in it, a tendency to leak where the seam in the bag goes through the clamp. It turns out that the $3 Charles Shaw Cabernet is good for finding vacuum leaks, and in sufficient quantities will even seal them.
The cute part of the veneer press is a Tetra air check valve that’s actually built for aquariums, so I ended up going full-circle in my quest for the ultimate low-cost, high-quality aquarium stand.
One thing you do have to do that’s not on the cheap is get some solid wood to trim the edges of the veneer, and the best place to do that is MacBeath’s in Berkeley. They’ve got a warehouse with rows and rows of the finest hardwoods you’ll ever see, and their prices are about half of what Southern Lumber charges. Great shop, even if it is in such a crazy place. Even so, a $10 plank was all I needed, and they’ve also got bendable plywood for those tricky rounded corners.
UPDATE: See photos here.
- January 31st
Plywood And Lumber Sales (4th St. in San Jose, and in Emeryville) are also good for dimensional lumber — at any rate, they sell quartersawn oak for noticeably less than MacBeath.
There is no reason to notch the blue piece, from the perspective of vertical stresses.
If you must notch the blue piece, I would have notched the red piece on the inside instead of the outside, thus trapping the yellow piece.
Glass aquariums generally extend the vertical sides below the bottom, so you need to have load-bearing surfaces all around the perimeter of the tank – that’s why all pieces have to be notched.
Neat! I hope you will be post pictures of the finished product. It looks very strong vertically, and I assume the veneer layer will protect against racking.
Nice design. However, when you notch a 2X4 in half, you turn it into a 1X4 or 2X1 1/2. Use this design, and add a stud to either side of the corner, under a whole part of the 2-by, and it works nicely.
Stop being a gay Hitler.
Thanks.
Thanxs for the pointers and plans & links!!
I was given tools to “keep me busy”…but none to help me learn how to use them!
Thanks to your info and total lack of jargon, I understand excatly how to do it…
Thanks again.I have 50 gal tank. YOu are excatly right $100 for a stand, and three years later, its gotta be replaced.
Ddee
I have to build a stand for a 125 gallon floating bottom tank. The ‘floating bottom’ refers to the fact that the bottom horizontal plate of glass is about an inch higher than the bottoms of the glass plates of the sides of the tank, thus only the outside edges of the tank come into contact with the stand. The tank itself measures 4 feet long by 2 feet wide by 2 feet high. What type of wood should i use? how many legs are nessecary and what kind of support should I use. This is the first real woodworking project that i’m embarking on, and am probably going to need assistance with. I have a digital camera and could keep an online journal if there is any interest. Any info you could give would be helpful.
Why not just weld a steel stand. Everyone can weld a stand. Or have someone that can weld it for you. Then you can encase it with wood.
Not a bad idea, and with steel you can build a cantilever design that would be totally impractical with wood. But don’t forget to rust-proof it.
Hello Richard,
I was wondering if you might have some time to devise a plan for a 120 gallon 24×24x48 aquarium.
I would like to make it out of white washed oak. I just need to know dimensions, cuts and what glues to use.
I appreciate your time and thank you in advance for any help you may suggest.
Kind regards,
Mynd
I WAS GIVEN 120G TANK WITH A METAL STAND FROM A FRIEND. I DECIDED TO USE THE METAL STAND AS ITS PRIMARY SUPPORT AND BUILD A WOOD SLEEVE SURROUND FOR THE STAND. WHEN IM DONE BUILDING THE SURROUND ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SLIDE THE CABINET RIGHT OVER THE METAL STAND AND IM DONE.
Instead of doing that, easier method is to double up on the 2×4’s. 2×4’s are cheap and doing that jigsaw puzzle takes too much time.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v114/asse9320collector/Cichlids%20Forum/UprightCloseup.gif
Right, that’s the method of choice for those with limited tools.
thats rubbish, if you’ve got more time than sense to build a tank then you can do ur fancy puzzle bullshit but i’m gonna weld me a fat steel frame tank covered in light oak
Have a ball, I’m sure welding is a fine method of woodworking.
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