Custom fish tank stand

After being allowed to buy a new tank by my OH, I finally found one supplied by a fellow forumer, but unfortunatelly the stand is abour 3 cm bigger than the space provided for it. As the stand from my Juwel 180 is too low and the CO2 fire extinguisher doesn't fit underneath, we decided to build a custom one by ourselves.
This is the new Fluval Osaka 260:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-TCZxzOheyZM/TtfjAUEkGAI/AAAAAAAADso/IYlPr0ZZzI8/s640/Tank%252520support%252520001.jpg"%20height="480"%20width="640"
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IG9aCrnlRq8/TtfjBECzh3I/AAAAAAAADqo/9_rCf5gWC9w/s640/Tank%252520support%252520002.jpg"%20height="640"%20width="480"

After a few days studying various designs, I finally went today to B&Q and bought some timber, cut it to pieces, various bits and bobs. I still have to go there again tomorrow to buy the plywood, some varnish, aeroboard. I'm hoping to finish at least the back and sides, because I know I'll have a dificult time building the doors. All went shooth and am very happy with it, except one leg that is around 2mm taller in one corner, but I'll file it tomorrow and hopefully the plyboard will fit snuggly.

Cut timber:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8FAP79CDU4g/TtfjBWHhSpI/AAAAAAAADqs/XqaDO_oXIWY/s640/Tank%252520support%252520003.jpg"%20height="480"%20width="640"

Top and bottom:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1OyINH-tKvY/TtfjCIgy9lI/AAAAAAAADq4/36lt-dQWaJQ/s640/Tank%252520support%252520004.jpg"%20height="480"%20width="640"

Various stages into the build:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XoJDyyxY_jc/TtfjDyWpmRI/AAAAAAAADrI/sXOVK3OQxv4/s640/Tank%252520support%252520006.jpg"%20height="480"%20width="640"

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PuOSIybUEZc/TtfjE_AbsLI/AAAAAAAADrQ/b8HBEIYblmY/s640/Tank%252520support%252520007.jpg"%20height="480"%20width="640"

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pnHzkDt7GoA/TtfjFhH09XI/AAAAAAAADrY/5vO0BPdLjzA/s640/Tank%252520support%252520008.jpg"%20height="640"%20width="480"

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CTg5ygRKfFc/TtfjGat0NTI/AAAAAAAADrk/XN9xGvXZX9U/s640/Tank%252520support%252520009.jpg"%20height="480"%20width="640"

I won't add any board for the bottom as I need the whole height for the FE. Will raise the stand from the ground with the help of 6 slide glides, at least any water on the floor won't affect the stand. I hope to buy the ply tomorrow, fit it and maybe 1-2 coats of varnish and finish the stand by the end of this week. This way I can take my time with the doors if the tank is in its place.

Yeah, for some reason, the usual way of adding pics doesn't work, so I'll add them as attachments:

Great job. It's a pity about the cabinet there really nice on the osaka I have the smaller one myself
Why don't you use the doors off the osaka and match the stand to them
Just a thought



Mark

WOW that tank above fireplace looks nice

photos please

Nice stand BTW

SpiderMonkey wrote:

Great job. It's a pity about the cabinet there really nice on the osaka I have the smaller one myself
Why don't you use the doors off the osaka and match the stand to them
Just a thought
Mark

It's not worth the hassle as the doors on the Fluval are curved and my OH already called dibs on it (now it's used as a TV cabinet ). The tank will be close to a couch, so the doors will not be used much, only when cleaning the filter.

Bought the ply today and applied one coat of varnish, hopefully I'll finish the stand by tomorrow. Pics to follow for both tanks when the new one is set. until then, here's the ply:

Coming along nicely there keep us updated with a few photos please


Mark

Job almost done, at least the hard part. All the sides are now painted and in place, except the right hand side where the electrical and UPC sockets are located, so I'm going to leave that out for easy access.


Didn't want to use the urethane sheet that came with the tank as it was worn in some places, so I decided on a sandwich of 2 ply boards and one polystyrene sheet to support the tank and keep it level.


Made some holes in the back and one on the side for cables and tubes, lucky me that I bought not so long time ago off fleabay a set of hole-cut saw for modeling coconuts. The holes really look the business, I'm very happy with them.




On went the light support on the back of the cabinet then the black background on the back and on one side which will be close to the wall. I was told by the shop assistant it will be white-ish on the inside for about 24 hours, but I still could see some white marks after that timeframe, hopefully will go all black as I hate to rip it up and have another go.




Another piece of polystyrene went to the back of the tank as insulator and I hope to fit one on the right side of the tank as well if I can figure out a way to make it stay there by itself and as close as possible to the tank.


Now I'm waiting on 2 tubes for the old filter so I can hide it away under the cabinet but am wary about it as the new tubes will be more than 2 m long and the spec sheet of my Tetratec ex700 specify a max head height of 1.5 m. Will see how that works out.


Well, until my tubes arrive, I cannot move the filter and cannot fill the new tank. Anyway, I'm happy with how the stand turned out and hope to start on the doors soon.

AquaticGardenShop wrote:

WOW that tank above fireplace looks nice

photos please

Really like how this particular photo came out, some nice colors on the tank and plants:

looking the business
what type of material is the black backing? and how did you apply it?

i was thinkin the same :L:L

sean

It's a sticky sheet, just spray with water the glass, do the same with the sheet, carefully apply it to the glass and then use a credit card (or similar) to squeeze out the water and bubbles of air. Still have some pockets of white into the background as I write this, but I hope it will all clear soon.

it is the same backin as in the shops?

sean

Yeah, you'll probably find it in any LFS.

Still some work to be done on it, but at least I can work on the tank itself now as the stand is in its place.. I have the doors cut, need 2 magnets to keep them in place and 2 door handles. Below is plenty of space for 2 filters and the 5kg FE.

quailty!how much did it cost to build??

Nice work just wondering are you going to move that speaker as it could probably really stress
your fish out and may even kill some.

It probably cost me around €100 and I am happy that I chose to build it as all the equipment is hidden away from view and don't have to worry about it's strength.

As for the speaker, I'm not too worried as rarely I have the system at half power and even if I move the speaker, it's the sub that makes everything vibrating.

Fair play for having a go yourself, but I can't help but think it may have made better sense to sell the osaka and cabinet, and buy a tank for that space, or use 2kg co2 bottles...?

I would've done like you said if space wasn't a problem, but I was already looking for the proper tank for a while and the're hard to come by when looking for a specific size. Next best thing was to go custom for the tank itself, but at the moment is not a viable solution.

I don't regret it as I got a lot of space under the stand, is much sturdier than the original one and the wife got a new TV stand. So everybody in the family is happy