Suggestions for a 56 column stand.

pfcreed · Jul 8, 2018

Hi, can any one provide me with an example of a stand that can be built with 2x4s without over building it. I've built a few stands in the past and they could hold up a house. I still would like it to be built out of 2x4's and ideally have the skin be removable as opposed to building doors. The stand would be for a 56 gallon column, with about 50 lbs of rock and maybe another 30 or so of sand. The tank wont be drilled and everything attached will be HOB with the exception of the hose for the ATO.

Thanks.

hijinks7 · Jul 8, 2018

56g you can build a nice stand out of 1x3s just fine. I build a 120g for a friend and its skinned with 1/2 ply out of 1x3s 12 years ago and its holding up great. There's no need to use 2x4s for that size. Frame it in 1x3 common board and if you want it to look nice find like 1/2inch hardwood ply to skin it.

pfcreed · Jul 17, 2018

Any one have any thoughts on using edge glued boards for my fish tank stand top. I would stain and put a few coats of polyurethane on them.

lapin · Jul 17, 2018

Why build one when you could buy this.

pfcreed · Jul 17, 2018

That contraption is unfit for my fine eyes.

pfcreed · Jul 21, 2018

I started building my stand, its overbuilt because the thought of building it out of 1x3's gave me anxiety.
Here are the ingredients.

Bottom and top frame will be constructed the same. Everything is made out of 2x4s. It took about 5 boards at 10FT long.

It started to rain so I had to go inside to finish.

I added some more support to it. I'm pretty sure the way I built this was from an old rocketenginer thread. Originally I was thinking about having just one door after I skin it but I'm thinking it will look better with two doors. So far I'm in this 60 bucks for the screws, boards and glue if anyone needed to price it out. and I have barely a basic knowledge of woodworking. The only tools I used was a chop saw and impact driver and some clamps so... pretty minimal tools.

pfcreed · Sep 29, 2018

well it took a while, all the doors and face frame was put together with a kregjig, and some glue, and some staples to hold the panels while the glue dried. Every panel on the stand is removable. I tried using magnets on a previous stand and it wasn't for me so I connected everything using T-nuts and bolts. Im going to use trim and Velcro to hide the T-nuts. I spray painted the top copper and put a layer of poly over the entire stand. Im going to keep this as simple as I can so just a AQ70, a breeder box hang on for some cheato and a 10 gal tank underneath for a top off and a small 5 gall for a QT tank. I need to figure out what to do with plugs, wires and a canopy. Its a milky mess right now because im starting the cycle so I put some sand and a shrimp in it.