heff Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 (edited) There must be some people that have build their own stand on here. I found this site: http://www.fishandtips.com/index.php Anyone with experience tell me if the regular stand is good enough (test dimensions are 24L 12W 18H, with the half inch added, standard stand)? I'm considering building a stand for an 18gal tank mainly because most of the stands I see around look and feel cheap. Not that I'd be saving any money by building it myself but it sounds like an interesting project. It seems like this blueprint seems pretty bulletproof, considering what you see other manufactured stands looking like... but any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks! Edited December 6, 2011 by heff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troni Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 looks good. no need for 4x4 though not with a 18 g. do more research and find different plans you might find something else. check the AA library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sicklid Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Hardly worth the effort for an 18 gal tank as there isn't a lot of weight. I have built wooden stands for much bigger (90 gal) tanks and it is easy. You just need a few 2x4's , some wood screws , glue and then some nice plywood to dress up the outside. Then you can get nice fish door pulls , oh and you probably would want to paint or stain it to your preference. It is relatively inexpensive and you can have a really strong stand. There was a diagram somewhere on this site that gave a layout and it was perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heff Posted December 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2011 Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah, the 4x4 diagram is way over the top in terms of strength (and probably cost). I'll do more searching around to see what I find. I'll post what I detemine to build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted December 11, 2011 Report Share Posted December 11, 2011 Some of those online calculator websites are pretty nifty in some ways, I found one that gave you a basic design for making an aquarium out of wood and a plexiglass front. Though they tend to be overdone for the strength of members, likely since overbuilding is pref to underbuilding. I know when we were designing our balcony, looking into 4x4's and 6x6's, 4x4's can handle what was it, a couple thousand pounds? Though that is based upon a perfectly verticle standing member. Over at my place we built bookshelves out of fir good one side (3/4"). As time went, I wound up getting a tank and we just put it in the bookshelf. Shelf is connected to surrounding 3/4" plywood via 3 (3/4") mounting brackets with 3 screws each. Each screw holding power is aprox 50+ pounds, each gallon of water weighing aprox 10 pounds. It works, solid and now has a chin up bar overtop too! 3/4" is nice if you don't want to clutter up the inside of the stand with 2x4's, but either works. Moreso what you like for aesthetics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heff Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 As long as the structure is sturdy, it's amazing how strong wood is. I did a lot of searching and I didn't find much around the library here or the rest of the Internets, so I'm going to attempt to build the one I posted up top. Whether it looks good or not, I'll try to take some pictures along the way and post them with a shot of the final product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neesmo Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=33999&hl=doc_polit&fromsearch=1 Quality stand that looks really good and basically a step by step Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sierra Posted January 23, 2012 Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 If you haven't seen this: Planted tank forum. It's a "post your DIY Stand thread" with a lot of pictures. I would start from the most recent and work your way back. It gave me a lot of ideas and was helpful because you can see how many were built. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/83541-post-pics-your-diy-stands.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailor Posted January 24, 2012 Report Share Posted January 24, 2012 Here is a great link for a site http://www.garf.org/calculators/BuildStand_2.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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