Progress on the fish tank stand...

[Robert Mayer]

I posted this at woodnet, but thought i would show it here too..

This is one of the more challenging projects I have done. I have most of the frame done. Next is the side panels and doors. I still need to run a board in the back on the bottom and a center support for the top. The vertical supports are solid purpleheart and the rest is iroko with paudak accents. Its all held together with a ton of dowels made on my dowelmax.

The doors and side panels are going to be awesome. I ordered some copper and im going to patina it green or blue. Im going to use some more paudak on the doors too.

A curved 125 gallon tank is going on the top with freshwater cichlids..eventually.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-3/1250124/DSCN1807.JPG

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-3/1250124/DSCN1808.JPG

[Larry Nall]

What a beautiful tank stand!
Would love to see some pics when the tank is on it and set up.

[Minh Nguyen]

WOW! That is one sweet looking tank stand. I'd love to see pictures as you progress. I am in the process of refinishing my hardwood floor and building a woodshop. One of my first project is going to be to build a stand for my 120G tank.

Question for you: Do you think that the 4x4 posts are overkill for the stand? I used 4x4 posts in my last stand as well. But if you look at store bought aquarium stand - it's usually just particle boards.

Once again - great job!

[Robert Mayer]

WOW! That is one sweet looking tank stand. I'd love to see pictures as you progress. I am in the process of refinishing my hardwood floor and building a woodshop. One of my first project is going to be to build a stand for my 120G tank.

Question for you: Do you think that the 4x4 posts are overkill for the stand? I used 4x4 posts in my last stand as well. But if you look at store bought aquarium stand - it's usually just particle boards.

Once again - great job!

I think the posts ended up measuring around 2" x 2". Its definitely overkill, but I think it looks pretty good.

You should have seen the ugly-a** stand this thing came with. Its was made of poplar painted black. It was built with a few dadoes, glue, and nails.

[mark page]

Freshwater cichlids ehh?? Any large discus?? They are my favorite, but a might testy with their conditions.

[Bill Wyko]

Nice tank stand. I like the bench it's sitting on too. Did you make that as well? I used to be into Saltwater fish. I found that wood turning saves fishes lives.:D

[Robert Mayer]

Nice tank stand. I like the bench it's sitting on too. Did you make that as well? I used to be into Saltwater fish. I found that wood turning saves fishes lives.:D

The bench was one of my first few woodworking projects. Its coffeebean wood, a solid 3" inches thick. Its wrapped in fiddleback maple. Two plain vices, nothing fancy. I just used cheap 4x4 douglas fir for the legs and pine 2x4s..glued and screwed.

[Bruce Page]

That is going to be beautiful Robert. There's nothing wrong with overkill. You could park a truck on my stand and that is fine with me!

[John Shuk]

Nice tank stand. All of the commercially available ones are pretty lame. Cichlids are nice fish too. If you get a chance to catch the show PLANET EARTH on the Discovery Channel they have an episode on Freshwater. They have some pretty good footage of these fish in their native lakes in Africa. It's funny because there they aren't at the top of the food chain like they are in most fish tanks.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

So far, so good. I like the contemporary look.

Overkill is good. My experience with aquariums is that water is always slopped over the sides when servicing the tank. It's nice to have the extra strength to compensate for moisture, and to ensure nothing gets racked when leaning against the tank. When set up, the tank will probably be in the area of 1,100 lbs.

Keep the pics coming...Jeff :)

[John Wesley Williams]

OMG - I'm in the process of building stands for 2 125s, a 90, 2 75s, and a 55. (I'm slightly cichlid addicted). I can't believe the lengths you went to to make that beautiful piece. My stands are 2x lumber glued and screwed then wraped in 1x lumber. They look pretty good however considering they are my very first wood project.

Nice work - John

[Robert Mayer]

Nice tank stand. All of the commercially available ones are pretty lame. Cichlids are nice fish too. If you get a chance to catch the show PLANET EARTH on the Discovery Channel they have an episode on Freshwater. They have some pretty good footage of these fish in their native lakes in Africa. It's funny because there they aren't at the top of the food chain like they are in most fish tanks.

I have the planet earth episodes on dvd. Pretty cool seeing thousands of cichlids in the wild, especially when your used to paying $5-25 for just one of them here. The cichlids are my wifes hobby but I enjoy watching them.

John, the first stand I built was for a 55 gallon tank. I used 2x4's for the frame and just wrapped it with a basic frame and panel exterior. It looked pretty dang good considering i didnt have a jointer or planer at the time.

[Larry Nall]

Cichlids are great. Lots of activity, but they can be aggressive if you get the wrong combination. Give them lots of places to hide.

I made my first stand back inthe college days. It was just stained 2x4 studs, alternating horizontal and vertical members until it was about 18" wide, then bolted together wtih threaded rod. Holding a 55g aquatium was no challenge. I think it was probably the first thing I ever built. It didn't look half bad but after ten year the LOML decided we needed a piece of real furniture. The stand was demoted to an outside plant stand where it served for the next twenty years before nature finally caught up with it.

Thanks for stirring up that memory.

[Darren Ford]

I just wanted to agree with the others, I really like that stand. As the purpleheart ages it will still look great with the other woods.

Also +1 on the bench comment above. *Very* nice.