80/20 As a Tank Stand?

[Evan West]

Anyone ever use 80/20 as an aquarium stand? Im looking for an easy way to build an aquarium stand that I can take apart and put back together repeatedly and easily yet will hold a 45 gal tank.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

There are a ton on here; just search by "80/20" and you can see some of the builds...

 

[XNavyDiver]

I really don't know why not. I would make it 2 to 3 inches wider and longer than the length and width of the tank, that way it has a slightly wider base than the tank for stability. A piece of 3/4 inch marine grade plywood on top could be easily mounted with counter sunk bolts to the aluminum frame.

 

[don_chuwish]

Only drawback I've seen is cost. For that size tank you could inexpensively build a wood stand that can be disassembled & re-assembled easily enough.

 

[Evan West]

Only drawback I've seen is cost. For that size tank you could inexpensively build a wood stand that can be disassembled & re-assembled easily enough.

I'm talking like taken apart and set back up like a lot. Wood would ware out at the screw holes.

 

[drtrash]

Buildng one now awesome product, design right and could be last stand you buy

 

[GBRsouth]

Have a look in the large aquarium 180gal+ forum at evolved's wrasse retreat 2.0. He uses 8020 in his stand.

 

[Breadman03]

I'm talking like taken apart and set back up like a lot. Wood would ware out at the screw holes.

Hitting the frag swap circuit?

 

[Devaji]

its great stuff I really looked into it. but in the end it was out of my price range. but man its nice stuff the possibilities are endless.
post pics when you do it.

 

[Evan West]

Yeah im currently finding out that its quite a lot to do a stand out of this stuff, gonna look into other options

 

[drtrash]

Doing a 3 ft stand build with the assumption that you can rebuild it to a larger design in the future helps offset cost

 

[esquare]

I looked into 8020 for my light mount but decided to go with Tnutz instead because it was too difficult to deal with the 8020 as a company and their distributors. As a side benefit, it turned out to be a lot cheaper so that may be an option for you.

 

[reefwiser]

I just buy all my 80/20 parts off Amazon they have a store there. Just make up a parts list and get next day air shipping.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

80/20 maintains a site on Ebay with all their over-runs, cancelled orders, odd size pieces: http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale

It's a very good source to pick up material at a reasonable price. Use the category sorting on the left side to make it easier to find what you want.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Here's something to look at to give you ideas. When you build yours make sure you do a DIY thread so we can see it.

 

[boozeman27]

I'm talking like taken apart and set back up like a lot. Wood would ware out at the screw holes.

Not if you drill holes in the wood and use bolts, washers and screws instead of wood screws directly into the wood.

 

[Evan West]

Not if you drill holes in the wood and use bolts, washers and screws instead of wood screws directly into the wood.

Hmmm now this I didnt think of for some reason

 

[don_chuwish]

Not if you drill holes in the wood and use bolts, washers and screws instead of wood screws directly into the wood.

Exactly what I was going to come back and suggest! Through bolts, washers & nuts. You could at least get it down to legless platforms easily enough.

 

[Evan West]

Exactly what I was going to come back and suggest! Through bolts, washers & nuts. You could at least get it down to legless platforms easily enough.

Yeah and that is probably good enough

 

[Picesduh]

I built my with 15 series aluminum t slot from TNUTZ. It was a bit intimidating to order each part and fastener and I actually had to purchase all the parts over four online purchases because it’s hard for me to visualize every piece I’ll need- considering I had Add ons like a Refugium stand and light mount and a custom hatch for a water mixing station all made out of aluminum t slot extrusions. All documented in my build thread.