T-Slot Aquarium Assistance

[AudioJunkie]

Hello Reefers!

Looking to get some help from those smarter than I on putting together a T-slot aquarium stand.

I just bought a Tideline 47 gallon from the LFS and I did not want the wood stand they offer with it, it was $500 for what appears to be MDF with laminate.

I recently got a quote from Framing Tech and Alufab, both are around $800 without shipping. So, I did a little research on DIY’ng one.

I have attached a PDF of my cart from Tnutz.com and I would greatly appreciate if ya’ll could give it a looksy-poo and let me know if what I have would suffice.

I have also attached a crude drawing (don’t laugh) of the layout.

Tank is glass with the dimensions of 36.5x18.5x15.75.

 

[Stang67]

Purchased my tslot frame from alufab. Great company with grat customer service. Check out tidal gardens youtube video on his stands.

 

[AudioJunkie]

Purchased my tslot frame from alufab. Great company with grat customer service. Check out tidal gardens youtube video on his stands.

Yaaaa…. Got a quote from them already. Over $800 before shipping, and that is just for a bare stand. Cost goes up exponentially with the add-ons

 

[Colt13]

yeah tnutz is cheap, probably $300 shipped for a stand that size, i've done 2, theyre great, the only pain is skinning them, which can get pricey

 

[Euphyllia098]

The biggest thing you have to consider is how your going to connect your pieces. Using corner angle brackets is inferior and not sufficient. The stands you will get from either of those vendors have connectors that have to be machined into the extrusion, and are way stronger.

If you want the best connectors for aluminum extrusions you have to get a stand made from Maytec extrusions, however I don't think any of the online stand places use them because they are more expensive.

Either way your home built stand will have inferior connections, and you'll likely not be able to hold the length tolerances that they can.

In a sense you get what you pay for.

 

[AudioJunkie]

yeah tnutz is cheap, probably $300 shipped for a stand that size, i've done 2, theyre great, the only pain is skinning them, which can get pricey

Oh for sure. I’m looking at a little over $400 shipped. Proce really climbs with all the brackets/gussets.

 

[AudioJunkie]

The biggest thing you have to consider is how your going to connect your pieces. Using corner angle brackets is inferior and not sufficient. The stands you will get from either of those vendors have connectors that have to be machined into the extrusion, and are way stronger.

If you want the best connectors for aluminum extrusions you have to get a stand made from Maytec extrusions, however I don't think any of the online stand places use them because they are more expensive.

Either way your home built stand will have inferior connections, and you'll likely not be able to hold the length tolerances that they can.

In a sense you get what you pay for.

That’s fair.

I’m not trying to hold over 1000lbs spanning 3 feet, it’s probably closer to 700-750lbs.

I’m planning to be using these brackets/gussets.

 

[AudioJunkie]

I did more research, asked 8020 ALOT of questions and came up with a final design using their Ideabuilder web program.

I decided to buy from 8020 instead of Tnutz after reading reviews and Tnutz seems to have inconsistent machining. Didn’t want to take that chance while only saving a couple hundred bucks. I’m still saving approximately $500 DIY’ing 8020 over Alufab.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I want to do an TSLOT stand with a Planet 310 tank with an internal overflow. I gave the tank dimensions (96.5 x 30.5 x 25) to the AluFab rep and he came back with
AQSTAND - 96X30X36-BL-3030
96.5"W x 30.5"D x 36"H
Black Aquarium Stand Kit
3"x3" extrusion Based

I don't think 3x3 is going to work with an internal overflow due to the plumbing clearance ??

 

[AudioJunkie]

That’s a tough call, they could very easily interfere with each other.

You will need a dimensional diagram of the tank in order to determine exactly where the plumbing will need to be in correlation to the stand.

You might try contacting Planet since they are not very forthcoming with specific information on their tanks, at least publicly.

 

[Garibaldimon]

The biggest thing you have to consider is how your going to connect your pieces. Using corner angle brackets is inferior and not sufficient. The stands you will get from either of those vendors have connectors that have to be machined into the extrusion, and are way stronger.

If you want the best connectors for aluminum extrusions you have to get a stand made from Maytec extrusions, however I don't think any of the online stand places use them because they are more expensive.

Either way your home built stand will have inferior connections, and you'll likely not be able to hold the length tolerances that they can.

In a sense you get what you pay for.

Alufab°

 

[AudioJunkie]

Alufab°

Meh.

The biggest factor with extrusion stands is the person that is building it, IMHO.

I ordered all my stuff from 80/20 with the machined anchor fasteners and the most important thing is getting your top frame dead nuts square, or at least very close. If not, the stand will not sit correctly and wobble. Ask me how I know It was a pain, but the end result makes the whole stand feel rock solid.

I had my entire dumbbell set on top, plus myself, so ~500lb, I shimmy shimmy coca puffed up there to make sure it was solid, and it sure was.

I’d put money on my stand being just as good, if not better than the ones purchased from Alufab or FramingTech, as the end user is the one building the final product

 

[Garibaldimon]

Alufab°

Are you saying alufab is inferior? I have altogether just placing panels and light extrusions