Building a metal stand, need input

[Grahamstyle77]

Hey all,

So I currently have a 50 gallon sorta cube aquarium. It's 24x24x20H rimless.
It is on a standard wooden stand. I've decided to build a custom stand with larger dimensions so I have more room under the stand for equipment and help make maintenance tasks easier.

The space I have will allow me a stand that is 32 inches in length, so 8 inches extra room left to right. I also plan to build the stand taller, to make viewing in the aquarium easier and extra hand room under.

A good friend of mine is a metal worker and we are building a stand out of 1 1/2 inch steel tubing. The dimensions on the stand will be 32Lx24Wx33H.

The plan as we have it , 4 posts on the corners of course, with 2 additional vertical supports along the back. The front I plan to keep open except for the vertical supports on the corner. Horizontally along the top we are also adding 2 equally spaced tubes. So the top will have 4 horizontal beams separated by 8 inches. The bottom will have these same 4 horizontal support beams.

The top of the stand I plan to skin with a 3/4 thick piece of pine that the tank will rest on. A thin piece of foam will rest under the tank between tank and pine skin.

So, now on to my questions.

As far as paint/ powder coat, I am not sure where I can find a place to powder coat so wondering if rustoleum or kilz would be sufficient?

I was planning to just have the stand sitting on the floor with pads under the stand to help protect the floor but I'm now starting to wonder if I can set the stand on feet. I'm just wondering about weight distribution. I like the idea of having the tank set on feet at the corners a couple inches tall so that way if I spill water I can clean it up easily. Also I can sweep under. By the way, aquarium is on a tile floor. So do you guys think feet are a good or bad idea from a structural stand point?

Skinning the stand. Not sure how I want to do this exactly, I am planning to put doors on the front and left side of the stand to make access easy from 2 sides. I'm thinking similar 3/4 pine that I am using on top attached to the sides with doors cut in. Also thought of maybe a thin sheet of wood attached with magnets that I can remove completely to fully open the sump area up during maintenance.

Thoughts? Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much all.

 

[Brew12]

Hey all,

So I currently have a 50 gallon sorta cube aquarium. It's 24x24x20H rimless.
It is on a standard wooden stand. I've decided to build a custom stand with larger dimensions so I have more room under the stand for equipment and help make maintenance tasks easier.

The space I have will allow me a stand that is 32 inches in length, so 8 inches extra room left to right. I also plan to build the stand taller, to make viewing in the aquarium easier and extra hand room under.

A good friend of mine is a metal worker and we are building a stand out of 1 1/2 inch steel tubing. The dimensions on the stand will be 32Lx24Wx33H.

The plan as we have it , 4 posts on the corners of course, with 2 additional vertical supports along the back. The front I plan to keep open except for the vertical supports on the corner. Horizontally along the top we are also adding 2 equally spaced tubes. So the top will have 4 horizontal beams separated by 8 inches. The bottom will have these same 4 horizontal support beams.

The top of the stand I plan to skin with a 3/4 thick piece of pine that the tank will rest on. A thin piece of foam will rest under the tank between tank and pine skin.

So, now on to my questions.

As far as paint/ powder coat, I am not sure where I can find a place to powder coat so wondering if rustoleum or kilz would be sufficient?

I was planning to just have the stand sitting on the floor with pads under the stand to help protect the floor but I'm now starting to wonder if I can set the stand on feet. I'm just wondering about weight distribution. I like the idea of having the tank set on feet at the corners a couple inches tall so that way if I spill water I can clean it up easily. Also I can sweep under. By the way, aquarium is on a tile floor. So do you guys think feet are a good or bad idea from a structural stand point?

Skinning the stand. Not sure how I want to do this exactly, I am planning to put doors on the front and left side of the stand to make access easy from 2 sides. I'm thinking similar 3/4 pine that I am using on top attached to the sides with doors cut in. Also thought of maybe a thin sheet of wood attached with magnets that I can remove completely to fully open the sump area up during maintenance.

Thoughts? Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much all.

Powder coating would be ideal, but paint will still last 20+ years if done correctly. Stick with a good quality brand and use separate primer and paint, not an all in one product.

I like the idea of using feet if you can give up the height in the sump for the skimmer. If you have any doubt about the quality of the tile installation you may not want to go this route. It is possible the tile will crack if not installed properly. I would use wider feet, not the little 1" round buttons.

Lots of ways to skin the tank and I like the magnet idea. Just remember, if you end up drilling into the stand that it becomes a potential rust area. If you do go this route, put a big glob of silicon in the hole before you start putting the screw in. If you use self tapping screws, remove them after the initial install and then put the silicon in before re-inserting the screws.

 

[Kyl]

I skinned with Ikea kitchen cabinet doors using magnets. Not the easiest method as my floor is not level and haven't gotten around to printing my spacer brackets for the 'doors' off the floor yet, but it did prevent having to drill into the stand. Just remember shear force of the magnets is completely different than the stated pull strength. I had to use metal magnet cups to get a sufficient holding force so the doors would not slide down.

 

[Grahamstyle77]

Brew12. Great points thanks! My current stand is 28 high, my skimmer is around 21 tall. I have room to pull the cup off, that's not at all difficult. Since I'm going to 33 tall I am adding about 5 more inches under the stand. If I do the feet method and set it up 2 or 3 inches I'm still adding a couple extra inches under the stand for hand room. I think that would be sufficient.
Great point about using wide feet though instead of the small buttons. I feel much more comfortable with doing it with that suggestion, so very appreciated.
Also regarding skimming the stand I was thinking if I drilled I would use self tapping screws but was already concerned about the possible point of rust. I appreciate the suggestion of silicon, I can do that very easily and hasn't thought of that. And lastly, I will be using separate primer and paint. I'm not so crazy about all in ones anyway.
Kyl, great suggestion on the Ikea kitchen cabinets. I have an Ikea pretty close to me so I will definitely look into that. I will keep shear force in mind if I go that route. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Brew12]

Glad to help!

I will keep shear force in mind if I go that route.

An easy solution for shear force would be to glue a small "stop" or two on each door so it would rest on the bottom frame member at the correct height. It would also make getting the doors back on at the right height much easier.
A single, long, 1"x 1" piece of wood should do the trick, or a small block close to each edge would work, too.

 

[Joey Merrell]

I would personally just add another inch to total stand height and put a base on it that has padded feet. That way your have a little wider base as a pedestal to skin around and it solves your issue. Don' just tac weld it either. Have your buddy weld it all the way around every joint. Should hold up nicely for decades as long as you powder coat or paint it to prevent rusting. The salt water will do a number on metal really quick.

 

[Grahamstyle77]

 

[Grahamstyle77]

Stand is built! Way over engineered, very heavy. My buddy wanted to weld more supports, I finally had to stop him completely. He didn't want the stand to fail and kill my fish and corals and especially didn't want it to fail and have my wife kill us for building it badly.

We opted for no feet, I thought long and hard but eventually it came down to this. I have never once wished I had less space in the sump area. I have a rubber mat that I am going to add to the bottom around the edges to help protect the tile floor and keep water out .

We used angle iron and made a small shelf one on the front and one on the left side to hold American dj power strips. I love these and will have 1 dedicated to the tank, lights, power heads etc, and the other will just be for the sump. Return, fuge light, heaters, skimmer, top off, etc.
Now on to the primer and painting and then skin.

 

[Grahamstyle77]

Stand is built! Way over engineered, very heavy. My buddy wanted to weld more supports, I finally had to stop him completely. He didn't want the stand to fail and kill my fish and corals and especially didn't want it to fail and have my wife kill us for building it badly.

We opted for no feet, I thought long and hard but eventually it came down to this. I have never once wished I had less space in the sump area. I have a rubber mat that I am going to add to the bottom around the edges to help protect the tile floor and keep water out .

We used angle iron and made a small shelf one on the front and one on the left side to hold American dj power strips. I love these and will have 1 dedicated to the tank, lights, power heads etc, and the other will just be for the sump. Return, fuge light, heaters, skimmer, top off, etc.
Now on to the primer and painting and then skin.

 

[Brew12]

I think the stand is going to weigh more than the tank!

 

[wsjasper1]

any updates?

 

[SeaJay]

Rustoleum will be fine. Prep is the key. The scale needs to be ground or sandblasted off for best results.

I’ve spent a lifetime in the auto body business and I wouldn’t bother using automotive grade products or powdercoat for something like this, especially since it will be covered up aesthetically. I’d pick up a quart of satin black rustoleum at Home Depot and roll it on with a foam roller. That’s how we do the roll cages in race cars.

 

[Grahamstyle77]

Shoot! I totally forgot to post the final pictures. Stand came out better than I could have hoped. We used a grinder Seajay just like you suggested.

I painted the whole thing with white rustoleum. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

 

[cracker]

came on real nice I can say the stand will be plenty strong enough !

 

[Grahamstyle77]

Thanks, I really love the extra height, makes working so much easier. I was using that 10 gallon tank for my ato but have swapped it out for a 5 gallon tank. Only have to refill it about once a week, and I have room for my alk/cal containers.