Salty stage: Have you ever built a DIY aquarium stand?

[Peace River]

Salty stage: Have you ever built a DIY aquarium stand?

We spend a lot of time thinking about our tanks, looking at our tanks, and focusing on what it is happening in our tanks and appropriately so. However, sometimes we overlook that stand that literally and physically supports all the magic in the tank. Whether you have a premade stand or a DIY stand, whether your stand is made of aluminum, wood, or some other material, it is safe to say that all stands are not created equal. If you did decide to build a DIY aquarium stand, why did you choose to go that direction? Was your motivation cost, the challenge, the need for custom size/features, or something else? If you have built a DIY tank please share your experience and any tips/designs that you think may be helpful to the community. If you haven’t built a DIY stand, have you thought about it? Feel free to share your thoughts about why you have chosen not to or what is holding you back. Whether it is wood, steel, aluminum, or other material, let’s talk about DIY stands in the discussion thread!

Photo by @Brian Goldstein

 

[Mperry622]

I built my first stand for my 125 upstairs way over-engineered.. 2x6 and 1/2 plywood all enclosed.. way too heavy, fast forward a year, and a new addition to the reef family. 200G in the basement now and I didn't go big on this one and when I was filling I wished I had... too many creaks...lol all is good and both stands are firm. The price I was quoted for a pre-made stand was nuts. even during covid lumber prices made it still cheaper to build my own.

 

[jdpiii3]

Plan and measure then measure again. glue and screw all joints. I've had premade stand in the past, and wanted the 400 to be a complete DIY by my wife and me, Building the stand for the 400 was a lot of fun, I think we did ok!

 

[o2manyfish]

My first custom fish tank stands started with my college tanks. My first 50g, 75g and 100g all sat atop stacks of cinderblocks. The cinderblocks were wrapped in either black vinyl or black velvet.

Years later when I went to 400g, I didn't want one of those big boxy stands. And I had already moved the equipment for the tank to outside of the house. So in exchange for a Powder Blue Tang and the cost of materials we built a modern steel stand that had one end of the tank sitting on a single post.

When I moved up to a 750g last year, I was really worried that such a big tank in a relatively small room was going to look like a monster "Box". So with the help of an engineer, I designed a cantilevered stand. The sides and the front of the tank overhang the base of the stand by a foot.

This makes a huge difference in the visual of the fish tank when you walk into the house. Instead of looking like a massive wall in the middle of the room, you see instead a fish tank and it's the contents that capture your attention.

 

[Troylee]

All the time… this is the last one I built for a friend.. fully aluminum frame and skin.

 

[unchaotic]

I wanted to save money, be creative, and have the tank blend in (it's in my office at work).

 

[n2585722]

Mine is small compared to some but it is unique since it is a hex tank and I had some preconditions before the build. My wife did not want to see the water level at the top or the sand or gravel on the side of the glass. She also did not want to see any of the equipment in back of the tank. So this is what I came up with. Below are some photo of the completed stand and canopy and a few during the build.

 

[jdpiii3]

Mine is small compared to some but it is unique since it is a hex tank and I had some preconditions before the build. My wife did not want to see the water level at the top or the sand or gravel on the side of the glass. She also did not want to see any of the equipment in back of the tank. So this is what I came up with. Below are some photo of the completed stand and canopy and a few during the build.

Awesome craftsmanship!

 

[MoshJosh]

Gotta love building stuff. . . most of my stands have been self made or repurposed!

My old freshwater set up:

Now it's this:

Here's an old TV stand I reinforced and spruced up for my 29 gallon:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Plan and measure then measure again. glue and screw all joints. I've had premade stand in the past, and wanted the 400 to be a complete DIY by my wife and me, Building the stand for the 400 was a lot of fun, I think we did ok!

great work!!

 

[Chris Shelton]

Some of our 150G before we downsized. All DIY but the tank. Trying to load pics from work so I'll see where the post is and some pictures of the current set up later on.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Wow, nice looking stands! Here is my humble attempt

 

[Rham1281]

Built a stand for my 75g display last summer. After tearing down my 40g that had a pre-made stand, I was terrified to see that it was just being held together with some brad nails (and what seemed like a prayer) I decided that to be comfortable with having that amount of water in my house I needed to have something that I was confident could hold the weight.

 

[Minifoot77]

I've done 2 tanks in the last 2 years and way more in the past. When I was into cichlids I had 28 tanks in a 3 bedroom 3rd floor apartment all on my home made racks.

 

[kenchilada]

Made of poplar a couple years ago. Skin and doors are joined with Domino tenons. The removable doors are held on by the magnets you can see in the top corners of the doorways.

The little shelf in the top of the cabinet holds hardware for a remote-control light lift for my 8X80W T5 Sunpower.

Also has a full-length removable top on the canopy with custom-routed holes for the fan system.

 

[Labridaedicted]

Oh yeah! My current display is on one of my overbuilt stands!

 

[n2585722]

Awesome craftsmanship!

Thanks, it helps having a table saw and router table. I used the Kreg pocket hole fixture for most of the screws. I used plugs and sanded them flush so the screws are no longer visible except for the the one I need to remove occasionally for maintenance.It took a while to build also. My wife wants me to build her kitchen cabinets next. I built one for the garage as a test run. It has drawers and doors on both front and back and one side will be against the wall.

 

[Salt Creep]

Those are some great looking stands!

I just built mine about a month and a half ago. I wanted custom size. For height I measured to my armpit and deducted the height of the tank so I can easily reach in but still have it as high as possible. I also wanted a split between the sump and the electronics. Everything is 3/4” birch plywood using a pocket hole jig for screws and every joint glued.

In the last week I finished a second cabinet for more electrical stuff, a shelf to hold test kits, and ATO bucket underneath.

Still a work in progress but almost done. Need to finish the other doors and put the shelf in.

A few pics…

 

[exnisstech]

My humble first attempt. My second was a little nicer but I sold that setup.

 

[ClownSchool]

Plan and measure then measure again. glue and screw all joints. I've had premade stand in the past, and wanted the 400 to be a complete DIY by my wife and me, Building the stand for the 400 was a lot of fun, I think we did ok!

That mermaid looks like she’s beautiful and rare. She’s a keeper, for sure!