show me your DIY plywood stands

[Greybeard]

My last tank, a 60g cube, rode a plywood stand that I was quite proud of. Still does, as far as I know, I sold it as a unit...

I bought a 4" thick solid poplar board, and used that to cut 4 corner posts. Rabbited them out and glued in the plywood sides. Solid poplar around the door opening and the door itself...

Since the stand was over-sized, and I didn't want to worry about bowing, I did a cross brace under the top. This shows construction details...

Painted it flat black, and had my daughter do the top in a mosaic tile.

Coated the inside with white marine epoxy. Lots more room in there than there would have been had I made it the same size as the tank.

With the cost of lumber these days, it wasn't cheap, but it worked out fine. Strong enough to double as a stool for an elephant. Eventually, I found the small cube insufficient. Too much restriction in fish selection... and I'm an old man. I couldn't stand to work from my knees any more. My new system is 150g or so, on a powder coated steel stand, and uses a closet re-purposed as a sump room.

 

[Devaji]

wow guys nice plywood stands!! now I just need to come up with a plan.

 

[NineAndAhalf]

I'm working on building my stand now. The frame is 2x4 screwed together then finished off with 1/2" birch plywood. I wanted it to be solid as a rock, that's why I chose to build the 2x4 frame to hold the weight. I will be finishing off with doors this weekend. They will be 1x4 poplar ripped down to probably 2.5" and glued to make a frame with a panel insert once dried. Side compartments will have shelves for storage.

 

[rshober]

3/4" birch front(That's two pieces on the front) and sides, 3/4" regular plywood on the bottom, back and top. Used kreg jig and glue, solid as a rock and tons of room.

 

[NineAndAhalf]

3/4" birch front(That's two pieces on the front) and sides, 3/4" regular plywood on the bottom, back and top. Used kreg jig and glue, solid as a rock and tons of room.

Now I kinda wish I went this route... There's so much room for activities in there :|

 

[caver]

Wow they all look great gives me some ideas for my next stand

 

[Jwheld]

I’m working on a new stand for my 40B. 3/4” plywood with 3/4” hardwood for the face frame. Solid as a rock. Just need to mount the doors and a little more trim work, but almost done.

 

[Devaji]

3/4" birch front(That's two pieces on the front) and sides, 3/4" regular plywood on the bottom, back and top. Used kreg jig and glue, solid as a rock and tons of room.

wow I love this. just what I was looking for! do you have plans?

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

wow I love this. just what I was looking for! do you have plans?

I just did a build thread on mine if you’d like to take a look.

 

[rshober]

wow I love this. just what I was looking for! do you have plans?

Sorry, I don't have any plans. You cam YouTube ADA style aquarium stand to get some ideas though. This is the only photo I took during assembly.

 

[Devaji]

@rshober perfect thank for pointing my in the right way. will check that out. on a side not what tank is that?

@Rellikeno I will for sure!

 

[rshober]

@rshober perfect thank for pointing my in the right way. will check that out. on a side not what tank is that?

@Rellikeno I will for sure!

Deep Blue 80 rimless.

 

[Holdbar7]

Wood is awesome, but steel last forever. And is much more forgiving to work with!

My 92gal corner. Not sure if I'm going to make doors, or just display the sump..

 

[Trickman2]

Wood is awesome, but steel last forever. And is much more forgiving to work with!

My 92gal corner. Not sure if I'm going to make doors, or just display the sump..

You weld it yourself?

 

[Holdbar7]

You weld it yourself?

Yep, love my little Hobart 140!

 

[Greybeard]

Wood is awesome, but steel last forever.

Yup. I don't weld... I guess I can weld well enough to fix a broken brace on a piece of farm equipment, but not well enough to do this kind of thing. Anyway, I had a steel stand built to my spec for my 140g system, and had it sand blasted and powder coated. I still figure it cost me less than the lumber I was going to have to buy to build a nice plywood stand. I'll probably never build another wooden stand for a larger tank.

 

[Devaji]

yeah I priced out a steel stand for a 36x24 -90 gal it was pretty $$ where I live.

for this project I want a nice looks simple stand for a 40br.

 

[Holdbar7]

yeah I priced out a steel stand for a 36x24 -90 gal it was pretty $$ where I live.

That's probably around $65 in steel. If you lived near me I'd fab you one up for a decent price!

 

[Greybeard]

That's probably around $65 in steel. If you lived near me I'd fab you one up for a decent price!

Therein lies the rub...

1 sheet of decent 3/4" plywood is well over $50. Want some 4" oak for trimming doors, bracing, etc? $2.50 a foot. Good quality treated wood screws? $5 a pound. For my 140, I was figuring $700 worth of materials to build the stand I designed. Powder coated steel was cheaper, even having someone else do the work, and you _know_ it's going to hold up long term.

On a smaller tank? That's probably less true. The most cost effective stand for a smaller tank may be repurposing a thrift store cabinet... I've seen several very nice examples of that sort of thing around here.

 

[Holdbar7]

Therein lies the rub...

1 sheet of decent 3/4" plywood is well over $50. Want some 4" oak for trimming doors, bracing, etc? $2.50 a foot. Good quality treated wood screws? $5 a pound. For my 140, I was figuring $700 worth of materials to build the stand I designed. Powder coated steel was cheaper, even having someone else do the work, and you _know_ it's going to hold up long term.

On a smaller tank? That's probably less true. The most cost effective stand for a smaller tank may be repurposing a thrift store cabinet... I've seen several very nice examples of that sort of thing around here.

True, price coupled with my inexperience in woodworking but decent metal experience made steel an easy choice. But for smaller tanks i think repurposing a used cabinet could be awesome.