How is everyone building a stand so cheap?

[litenyaup]

What are the dimensions of your sump and chambers?

 

[Marine430]

I used the muscle rack at Lowe's think it was like 80 bucks. My wife got the idea to use Velcro and some kind of cheap fabric found at a fabric store.

 

[Marine430]

Oh by the way I have a 40-gallon breeder as well.
I live in a condo with hardwood floors so I got a couple little feet to go under each leg. I also put a board in between the metal grate so the tank can sit on top of a board for added support

 

[Ashish Patel]

What are the dimensions of your sump and chambers?

total sump dimensions is 36"X24"

 

[Even Further]

My stand was made with 2 pieces of 3/4" pine plywood (4 x 8 sheet). Each piece was $25 at Lowes. Inside epoxy paint was $16. Construction adhesive was about $8. All the pocket screws, stain, clear coat I already had. For small/medium size tanks, plywood only works great and its cheap. I used a few magnets for the door too.

Also since its a box design, it will contain a compartment leak.

 

[cnmcalpi]

I build all of my stands with 3/4"oak plywood. I use pilot/screws alternating with spec sized holes for dowel and glue. Between the screws and the glued dowels, there won't be a problem. I am a mechanical engineer and have a good intuition on loading and such but if you are reasonable.... I have 100 bucks in plywood and a little bit of glue/hardware/paint in this....



The first pic is upside down, notice the floor is fully boxed and attached from all sides.

The second pic is reinforced in the for aft direction and boxed above the large opening in the front to mitigate loading around the front opening.

Its solid as a rock for under $150 and a few afternoons by the time its painted.

 

[cnmcalpi]

My stand was made with 2 pieces of 3/4" pine plywood (4 x 8 sheet). Each piece was $25 at Lowes. Inside epoxy paint was $16. Construction adhesive was about $8. All the pocket screws, stain, clear coat I already had. For small/medium size tanks, plywood only works great and its cheap. I used a few magnets for the door too.

Also since its a box design, it will contain a compartment leak.

I would venture to say with a little bit of thought into it you could use plywood for even large tanks. You may have to partition it but it would work.

Just for fun, if someone has a cad design of a plywood structure that can be forwarded in .stp format I can run some FEA on it just so we can see the loading and get an idea of whats what.

If you guys are really interested I might be able to slap together a plywood vs 2/4 & sheathed construction model to compare to each other. Would be good information for the community.

 

[shred5]

Sure you can buy stands for less at lfs but they are garbage nowadays unless bought a custom made one which are way higher priced.
My stand cost over 1000.00 to make but custom is so much more. It is oak.

 

[redfishbluefish]

For a 40B, you might also wish to check out furniture pieces....as an example, at Ikea?

 

[timrocks311]

My slightly over sized peninsula stand (2x4 & 2x8 frame) for my 180 which includes a sub floor 5 doors and a pull out shelf $148.

that's impressive for $148. I'd think the moulding alone would cost that much.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Honestly it depends what you define as cheap.. For me its always a combination of safety, price, and design (in that order).
The best and most common used material is 2x4 and plywood 3/4" top. You can probably do this under $100 and it will last you a long time. You can skin the frame with some 1/2" MDF board (see below pic), as I did and matched the color with the wall..

 

[Marine430]

I agree safety should always be first and a lot of those places sell a lot of particle board stuff. It never makes me feel good when that stuff gets wet. That is why I stayed away from a lot of the big-name stores like Target Walmart and Ikea.
Nothing about this hobby is cheap. So look at it as a piece of furniture and enjoy every aspect of it!

 

[HemetReefer]

Ive built both wood and welded tubesteel stands. Neither are very cheap to build. For the size Ive built i beleve they have cost me the same amount.

 

[prsnlty]

that's impressive for $148. I'd think the moulding alone would cost that much.

We saved money in several locations including milling much of the trim ourselves. Also we did not skin it with plywood. The stand frame was plenty sturdy on its own so we used 1/4" to skin it. The hardware is reclaimed from our kitchen remodel project. However i have to admit that we didn't buy screws and such because we already had them. The canopy cost about the same because we purchased all the crown.

Edit:forgot about the fluted upright trim... many years ago we purchased several fluted door trim packages. In those came 3 fluted pieces. We only used the uprights and had the header piece left over and saved them. So they essentially were free.

 

[Greybeard]

Ive built both wood and welded tubesteel stands. Neither are very cheap to build. For the size Ive built i beleve they have cost me the same amount.

I would agree. I've build several wood stands, from simple 2x4 stands to fairly elaborate pieces of furniture. My latest, I had a local fab shop weld up a 1.5" 11 gauge square tube steel frame, and had it powder coated. Way, way cheaper than buying one from the aquarium vendor, but still... not cheap. Add a plywood top, some trim and molding work... I could have build this out of wood for about the same price. The steel is lighter, stronger, and leaves a lot more space under the tank. In my case, I'm filling that space with wooden bookshelves, since my sump is elsewhere, but if it were a more typical system, with the sump under the tank, the extra room would be a blessing.

I like the powder coated steel frame. Worked out very well for me, but cheaper? Nope.

 

[Aaron4890]

I made my stand for about $50 lol
I nailed some 2x3 together to make the top.
And bought some inexpensive sawhorse legs from IKEA .

 

[Caseyoidae]

They get up there. I think I spent about 300 in materials. 2x6's alone were 80. This was for a 48x 24 stand that will never ever have a problem. Until I have to lift it

 

[prsnlty]

They get up there. I think I spent about 300 in materials. 2x6's alone were 80. This was for a 48x 24 stand that will never ever have a problem. Until I have to lift it

Lol yep, my stand frame is over built as well. I would much prefer to be safe than sorry

 

[Aux10]

I recently upgraded to a 29 gallon tank and built my stand my self. It's made out of 2x4s, 1/2" pine plywood and epoxy coated deck screws. I stained it with an exterior wood stain. With the exception of the plywood and door hardware it was built entirely from scrap materials so it only cost me about $30. I sure a heck over built my frame though, took up more interior space than I like. not to mention the number of screws I used is complete over kill.

That sure is one big fish. How much does it cost to feed?

 

[Niterunner77]

I've got about $150 in mine total for my standard 75G stand. Have everything done except for painting the doors and installing them back on the stand now.