My "New" 30 Gallon Build

Couldn't of done a better job myself! Now you have the piece of mind of all new silicone so you can focus on other things. Please post some pics!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

Hey guys,

Something I forgot to mention. I had some trouble finding a frame. Went to the LFS and was gonna cost $50 for them to order me one. I checked glasscages.com and the have them but they have minimum order and shipping costs. I did a google search and found these guys.

ALL Aquarium Wholesale USA & CANADA

They are one of only 3 manufacturers in the US(now I know why it is so hard to find them) and they do wholesale to alot of tank manufacturers. Glasscages.com being one of them. I emailed them and received a response the same day. Said he would be happy to sell me a frame and said to put their info on here as they would be more than happy to get the advertising. They came out to be cheaper than anywhere else I found. Not as cheap as being able to walk in and pick one off the shelf, but still cheaper. Also, he said he would be packing it personally and to let him know if I had any problems. Just ask for Bob

 

"Progress" Report:

I have been looking closer at the stand I got and doing a little math haha. I am not comfortable with using this stand with a saltwater tank. With my rough math, I am figuring that it would have to hold at least 300lbs just in tank, rock, and water weight. The old stand was cheaply made with 1x4 and fiberboard for the top and shelf.As a result, I am building a new stand. I went to Lowes today before work and got lumber to build the frame. Went with 2x4 studs. Only had to buy 5 of them. Had all my measurements ready and the guy had it all cut in about 15min. They didn't charge me for cutting the wood so for $15 I have all the lumber ready and cut for the start. I will reuse what I can from the old stand, probably just for some shelves. Question, does it matter if I leave the top open or should I put plywood or something on top?

 

A 30g aquarium is going to weigh somewhere within the range of 300 pounds. Water is 8.35 pounds per gallon..figure in 30 pounds of rock and 15 pounds of sand. The glass tank itself probably weight 30 pounds. I just checked and that comes to 325.5 pounds, total.

Commercial built aquarium stands are commonly made of MDF and 1x4 bracing. It will old as long as the MDF is sealed and does not get wet (most of the time). I for one am not comfortable with this. lol.

I built my stand out of 2x4s and 2x6s..would be skinned with 1/2 ply to make it look nice on the outside. it will also add strength. This is overbuilt - but it is a very popular design among DIY reefers and it will hold a tank (pardon the pun) for sure.

If you wanted, you could also build it out of 3/4" hardwood ply. Make sure you build it with the grain going vertical, rather than horizontal. It is much stronger this way. this will do the job - not to heavy - not too weak.

 

you could always do what I did and have a heavy set friend or friends sit on it and see if it holds them. In the case of my 55g, using a coffee table as a stand, we had nearly 850 pounds of people on the table for testing purposes. Even had them wiggle around to simulate extra stress. Sounds goofy but it hasn't done me wrong yet.

We are all kind of large in my group of friends and we joke a lot. I wouldn't recommend a friend who is sensitive about their weight. They may not talk to you in a while.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about which way the grain is going with plywood since each layer is arranged so the grain is perpendicular to the next. Obviously a different story for dimensional lumber...

 

I went with 2X4 for the frame. I have built the bottom and top frames and just need to connect the two. I think I am going to wait until next weekend to finish the stand as I will be at my parents house where Dad has more tools(air nailers etc...) and some cabinet grade plywood I can probably talk him out of to skin the stand with. In the meantime, my top frame for the tank came in earlier this week. I installed it today and after a couple of days of curing, I will be leak testing my reseal job. Also bought some eggcrate at lowes and have it trimmed for the bottom of the tank.

 

I used metal braces from lowes to connect my 2x4's. I'm currently in the middle of building my stand myself. Pics are on page 6 towards the bottom. I also painted the back glass of my new tank black to help hide all the equipment and to make for better pics lol.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/what-kind-wood-113421-6.html



I was playing around with some extra spray paint, that is why the braces are camo colored, lol.

 

So I finally got the stand done today at my parents house. The frame is 2x4 with 2 1/2" screws pre-drilled and countersunk. The top is piece of cabinet board(solid wood). The skin is tongue and groove wainscot paneling with mouldings on the top and bottom. Everything is solid wood and the only things bought were the 2x4, all the other wood was leftover from various projects at home. Total stand cost, $15.00. All that is left to do is some corner mouldings, sanding, and staining. Hope you all approve.

 

Stand looks good. The only thing that you might want to add are some strong ties to help reinforce those screws.