Been making a stand for my 40B

[Rufus’ goofs]

Well, last Wednesday there wasn't much to do at work, so I stayed home. Only took me about 2 hours before I was bored out of my mind. So my brother and I went to HD and got some 2x4s and plywood

. This is the stand after the first coat of stain. It was supposed to be "dark walnut" but it was an unopened can from the 90's in the shop I inherited from my grandpa.
I got done with it, and I like the old used look to it, but still didn't like the color. So I took it to the girlfriends house and we stained it with a black cherry over that.

I like the look of this MUCH better. So we cut a piece of 3/4 acx, and stained it then glued it down so I had a 5 1/2 ledge around where the tank is going to sit. (No pictures of that yet)

All that's left to do now is go buy some canvas and water proofed, staple it to the inner sides, nail down the bottom sheet, make curtains in the front (also canvas) put my rope trim on the ply and coat it with poly urethane.

This has been a great project so far and I've only spent about $30 and 3-4 hours.

 

[e572]

Well, I last Wednesday there wasn't much to do at work, so I stayed home. Only took me about 2 hours before I was bored out of my mind. So my brother and I went to HD and got some 2x4s and plywood

. This is are stand after the first coat of stain. It was supposed to be "dark walnut" but it was an unopened can from the 90's in the shop I inherited from my grandpa.
I got done with it, and I like the old used look to it, but still didn't like the color. So I took it to the girlfriends house and we stained it with a black cherry over that.

I like the look of this MUCH better. So we cut a piece of 3/4 acx, and stained it then glued it down so I had a 5 1/2 ledge around where the tank is going to sit. (No pictures of that yet)

All that's left to do now is go buy some canvas and water proofed, staple it to the inner sides, nail down the bottom sheet, make curtains in the front (also canvas) put my rope trim on the ply and coat it with poly urethane.

This has been a great project so far and I've only spent about $30 and 3-4 hours.

I just made my first stand a few weeks ago and will never buy another. Looks great!!

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

Agreed. They want so much, for so little with pre made stands. Plus it's a ton of fun hiding all your mistakes.

I've been working on it more today. Still need to get canvas though...

Trim pieces for around the bottom of the tank and the bottom shelf for the sump.

 

[Foxy-88]

You did an amazing job on that stand! Looks beautiful! I love choosing stains for stuff like this. That cherry gave a very nice color. Had I been on r2r long before I started my 75 I would had to so my stand. I took the original top fin stand, gutted everything, made some doors and used the old hardware and stained a nice black and reinforced EVERYTHING!!! Turned out pretty decent considering the stand was manufactured...

 

[Foxy-88]

Are you doing a sump and if so what size?

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

You did an amazing job on that stand! Looks beautiful! I love choosing stains for stuff like this. That cherry gave a very nice color. Had I been on r2r long before I started my 75 I would had to so my stand. I took the original top fin stand, gutted everything, made some doors and used the old hardware and stained a nice black and reinforced EVERYTHING!!! Turned out pretty decent considering the stand was manufactured...

Thank you very much, I must have hidden the flaws well. I think I actually lost some of the red in it.
I coated it with a clear wood sealer and it seemed to pull up some of the color when I did.

I had gotten a stand with my 75 gallon that was mostly 1x and particle board. I had considered revamping it for the 75, but decided that I didn't want to trust any of it. It was in pretty bad shape though, otherwise I probably would have gone the same route as you with that stand.

I'm planning on either using a 20 long or a 29 that has the same footprint, but another 6' of height. Only reason I haven't decided is because I haven't decided which skimmer I'm going to use. I'm leaning towards the 29 though.

 

[Foxy-88]

Thank you very much, I must have hidden the flaws well. I think I actually lost some of the red in it.
I coated it with a clear wood sealer and it seemed to pull up some of the color when I did.

I had gotten a stand with my 75 gallon that was mostly 1x and particle board. I had considered revamping it for the 75, but decided that I didn't want to trust any of it. It was in pretty bad shape though, otherwise I probably would have gone the same route as you with that stand.

I'm planning on either using a 20 long or a 29 that has the same footprint, but another 6' of height. Only reason I haven't decided is because I haven't decided which skimmer I'm going to use. I'm leaning towards the 29 though.

That's great!! With my 75s stand I owned it brand new for a year before so it was in great condition still just couldn't fit a sump with the old setup!! At some in the distant future I want to build a 40gal breeder with a 40 gallon breeder sump. It may be overkill but my guess is it would be very very stable!!![emoji1]

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

I imagine you're right. I considered doing the same here, but having the bottom shelf the same size as the area I was trying to support up top, while not terribly hard to do, wasn't something I really wanted to do. besides, 29 isn't that far away from 40, and now you get plenty of space down below to stash some small equipment you use very often.

 

[Foxy-88]

I imagine you're right. I considered doing the same here, but having the bottom shelf the same size as the area I was trying to support up top, while not terribly hard to do, wasn't something I really wanted to do. besides, 29 isn't that far away from 40, and now you get plenty of space down below to stash some small equipment you use very often.

Exactly!! W

 

[Foxy-88]

I imagine you're right. I considered doing the same here, but having the bottom shelf the same size as the area I was trying to support up top, while not terribly hard to do, wasn't something I really wanted to do. besides, 29 isn't that far away from 40, and now you get plenty of space down below to stash some small equipment you use very often.

Exactly!! I've got 20 long under my 75 but plenty of room for my other equipment

 

[Foxy-88]

I imagine you're right. I considered doing the same here, but having the bottom shelf the same size as the area I was trying to support up top, while not terribly hard to do, wasn't something I really wanted to do. besides, 29 isn't that far away from 40, and now you get plenty of space down below to stash some small equipment you use very often.

Exactly!! W

 

[Foxy-88]

I imagine you're right. I considered doing the same here, but having the bottom shelf the same size as the area I was trying to support up top, while not terribly hard to do, wasn't something I really wanted to do. besides, 29 isn't that far away from 40, and now you get plenty of space down below to stash some small equipment you use very often.

Exactly!! W

 

[Foxy-88]

Sorry it posted my mistake 3 times. No idea why it did that

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

This is actually my stand and sump for my 75. Please don't judge me, I know there is so much wrong right now.

This was actually all in my 40B 2 weeks ago before I had 6-7" diameter GBTA go through a circulation pump while I was out of town...
So as soon as I got back I threw everything for this together, even though I wasn't done with the stand or plumbing so I could get everyone out of the 40B.
Not all is bad though, now that I see it running, I have thoughts on changing the design of my sump.
I really hate looking at that stand though. It just screams bloody murder everytime I look at it.

 

[Foxy-88]

This is actually my stand and sump for my 75. Please don't judge me, I know there is so much wrong right now.

This was actually all in my 40B 2 weeks ago before I had 6-7" diameter GBTA go through a circulation pump while I was out of town...
So as soon as I got back I threw everything for this together, even though I wasn't done with the stand or plumbing so I could get everyone out of the 40B.
Not all is bad though, now that I see it running, I have thoughts on changing the design of my sump.
I really hate looking at that stand though. It just screams bloody murder everytime I look at it.

No judging going on here. In an emergency you got to do what you got to do. Here's what my stand used to look like

And this is it now

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

No judging going on here. In an emergency you got to do what you got to do. Here's what my stand used to look like

And this is it now

Very nice job redoing your stand. Your setup looks great!

Hopefully when I'm done with the 40B I can make my 75 presentable.

 

[Foxy-88]

Very nice job redoing your stand. Your setup looks great!

Hopefully when I'm done with the 40B I can make my 75 presentable.

Thank you and I'm sure you can especially with how great that 40b stand turned out!!!

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

So I'm almost done. I changed a couple little things, but it's all the same plan and theme.

I decided to go with hanging canvas curtains instead of doors for now. I can always change it, but I think it's goes with my nautical theme better.
I got the 1x2 for the tank trim nailed down, the side canvas in and the bottom shelf screwed down. I also put in a little shelf for a power strip.

(Before curtains or tank trim)

Now I just have to put my last bubble baffle in for my sump, then it'll be time to drill and plumb!

That being said I'm having a hard time deciding between a diy coast to coast with a bean animal, or just an overflow box. I'm mildly intimidated about making a glass box that's perfectly square AFTER I silicone it. If you look at my sump you will be able to tell that I am quite sloppy with a caulk gun.

Any advice or input is appreciated.

 

[Foxy-88]

You could just silicone in a cpr overflow box and get one big enough for the bean animal. I'd say get a shadow overflow because it's already bean animal but for the size of the tank and the price you'd be better of with a cpr or one you make yourself

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

I had been looking at the shadow overflow however its pretty pricey considering the cost of the rest of the system.

I think I'm going to go back to my glass shop this week and order a few pieces of glass and try my hand at making my own internal overflow.

I should probably turn this into a proper build thread instead of following off of the stand since its done...