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stand build in "raw industrial" style.

62K views 34 replies 21 participants last post by  Coralite 
#1 ·
i have made a few stands in what i guess is called "raw industrial" style--construction or design rendered with sturdy, relatively low cost materials and with intentional unfinished appearance.

this one holds up a 65G Tall.



the next shot shows the corner joinery detail. these are galvanized framing connectors. the stand is rock-solid.



i took some new pictures tonight. i include several views to demonstrate specifics of stand build.

here is the whole shebang with tank and green salad on top. all of the tank system components and stand--less the Teklight--were easy to find and pretty economical.



that Echinodorus flower spike is reaching way out into room. the other plants still need to grow in some more. i used Riparium Supply stuff to plant all of the emergent plants. the underwater plants are planted into pool filter sand. they get bi-weekly ferts and Excel every day. the underwater plants do more or less ok like this because the water is mostly shaded by the emergent stuff.

the aquarium is an Aqueon 65G with the top rim popped off. well, it didn't exactly pop off. i wrestled with it for the better part of an afternoon and i was lucky not to slice my hand wide open.

this is view under stand with Filstar, houseplants, electrical and chicken.



...more detail. the only equipment under here is the filter, a powerstrip and timer. the shelf is a simple rectangle--note gap on each end. i used "sanded" plywood for shelf, using primer as sanding sealer, then a layer of paint and finally several coats of oil-based polyurethane. this gave me a nice finish



this shot is from beneath shelf. four of these brackets hold it up.

 
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#14 ·
here is a quick post with a few more details.

here are the screws that i used



these are fancy screws. it took almost two boxes (about 20 bucks) to put the stand together. the important factor in selecting these was the head, which looked right with the steel connectors.

and here are the glides that i used under each leg.

 
#20 ·
i'll remove those bar code stickers when and if i get to it. right now i need to hurry up and set it up with the tank. i will post more photos of the tank set up.

here are a few more pictures with details of the build.



glide attached.



the western red cedar is very soft wood, but i pre-drilled holes so that screws would drive in straight.



detail of inside joint. as you can see, this construction is quite sturdy.
 
#23 · (Edited)
everything squares up pretty good with attachment of the framing connectors. the floor in here is pretty flat, but i did have to put a little 1/8" felt pad under one leg to achieve level. however, i had to adjust the stand a little bit because i found that the tank was not sitting quite level. the long 2X4's that i used for the top horizontals along the width of the stand were about 1/8" thicker than the shorter pieces. so, the aquarium was sitting just on that front horizontal support and on its corners in the back. my solution was to remove the bottom front piece and plane it down to the same size as the short pieces. i was able to leave everything else set up while i stole that bottom 2X4.



after planing and refinishing that board, i removed the tank from the stand and then switched the adjusted 2X4 for the over-sized one on top. i put that one on the bottom, where its level will be less critical.

the stand is about 2 1/2" deeper (front-to-back) than the 55 gallon tank. i had to make it deeper to leave a little bit of space between the pairs of steel connectors at the top corners. thus, the back of the aquarium was just floating without support. i decided to add a brace with a short piece of pine 2X6.



i'm not counting on this supporting a whole lot of weight: i just want to spread it around a little bit more and have something under that long span of the back of the aquarium. i used a little steel bracket beneath to hold the brace in place.

 
#26 ·
Last night I installed the shelf under the 55-gallon crypts riparium .



I selected a dark green paint for this shelf, to compliment the colors of the crypts and Anubias in the tank.



Finishing this shelf took a number of coats of primer, paint and varnish, but installation was easy. I used these little steel shelf brackets.



I will be glad when I can hook up that Filstar. I presently just have an airstone in there, so there is some mulm on the floor.
 
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