I am an amateur woodworker, and I do well for myself. So my son stops by and asks me to build an aquarium stand for him and I agreed especially since he said he would help (you know, the father son bonding thing). After I said yes he said it is a 75 gallon tank, which weighs about 900 pounds full of water and fish.
Approximate dimensions are 50″ wide X 18″ deep X 26″ high. My first though was to build it like a base kitchen cabinet. Three partitions, end ones with doors and middle on with shelves. I would use straps or braces between the sides and partitions (pocket screwed) a face frame from bottom to top and a back dado’d into the back of the stand.
I looked on the internet and the ones they sell are made out of “sturdy” particle board with “special” locking screws. I can’t believe I am to far off a reasonable design. I figured I would upgrade from a 1/4″ back to 1/2″ baltic birch and use a mortise and tenon for the face frame instead of pocket screw.
Does this sound reasonable? I don’t think the fish would like sleeping on the floor.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Denny
Replies
Denny,
Your plans sound OK to me. I made a fairly large cabinet for an aquarium, based on the same concept. It was for all intents and purposes a kitchen cabinet with a wenge top. As a freestanding unit the cabinet had access doors from both sides, which actually reduced the rigidity your back would provide. I therefore had to double up all the interior walls. The cabinets below held the pumps and supplies, the cabinets above held lighting. The construction details were worked out in consultation with a very large aquarium supplier in NYC.
Here's a photo of it during installation in an office space. Not completed, but you get the idea. (The aquarium itself is not yet in place).
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
David, that is a beautiful piece of furniture. I went to your site. A very interesting and great story. My father started woking in a lumber yard, became a carpenter and then started his own business, except that it was a Bowling Alley. I think he regretted this all his life, even though he was successful. I wanted to work with my hands (must be in the DNA, the sawdust doesn't fall far from the tree) and ended working for IBM. I am ready for retirement (after a successful career) and finally getting to work with something I enjoy and from which I get great satisfaction. The picture on your web site http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages/?msg=3634 is really a great picture. I assume this is from a few generations ago?
Denny, I think you might have posted the wrong link, but I assume you're referring to the sepia photo on my website with 6 guys who look like they've never seen an electric tool...The photo was actually taken in 1998 in front of the little house we built for my oldest son's wedding. The guys (I'm the 3rd from the left and my son is next to me) were the actual workshop team at the time, although we were just having fun with the outfits. As it turned out, everybody loved the photo and we've used it ever since.Congrats on reaching retirement. I dearly wish I could arrange to retire gradually over the next few years, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen that way.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
I built an aquarium cabinet about 10 years ago for a 120 gallon reef tank, and it still stands without issue today. I used 3/4 ply for the sides and back, and hardwood face frame for the front. If I recall correctly, it was 4' wide and 24" deep. It was made from cherry, and I put cross bracing (3" by 1") every 12" underneath the top shelf which held the base. It has remained square, and has never moved.
Jeff
I've kept fish for close to 35 years, and built numerous aquarium stands, from 2X4s nailed together to high-end cabinetry. My observation is that it's surprising how much load a wood construction will take if the load is static. In large part, the failure of furniture is due to dynamic loads on the joints (best example - chairs!), and sometimes large swings in humidity or outdoor use.
A few things I'd comment about your design - Because of the potential for wet, it's important to use fasteners (screws, etc...) for joint reinforcement. Glue is not enough. While dadoing a back into the cabinet will certainly increase its strength, it's overkill, and backs on aquarium stands often turn out to be a pain, as they interfere with routing of pump and return lines for filtration.
Until the span gets quite large (i.e., the tank is well over the 100 gallon range), straightforward construction with 3/4" plywood and a face frame is more than sufficient to hold the load, provided the joints are square and true, the tank lower frame is directly over the sides, and the stand is level. That last part is important - it's a really good idea to use 6 blocks screwed into the base and covered by base molding to actually bear the load of the stand, tank, and inhabitants. Make the blocks a bit longer than the base molding is deep, and plan on shaving off some of the length on a few to get the stand to set level on-site.
Tanks (sorry, bad pun) for the suggestions and verifying my thoughts on this. I was actually considering adding the blocks or leveler legs from Rockler,
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5217&filter=32183 as they are rated at 400 lbs per foot. The blocks would work just as well. Getting the tank level on-site, and a good way to do that was my biggest concern after design/construction.
For what it may be worth, here is a past thread on this topic which includes in it a pic of a stand I built and some joinery details:
http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=38153.1
I have only made one. 110/120 gallon? Something like that (long and narrow).
I have one suggestion DO NOT USE MDF or Especially DO NOT USE particle board.
Fish tanks do some strange things (maybe the owner?). Stay with exterior grade 3/4 inch plywood. If it is going to be a salt water tank (mine was) protect everything within 50 feet of it.. Sort of a joke and then again not!
I used some MDF in mine.. BIG MISTAKE.. However, I was able to cut it away and replace with plywood on cleats. Tank up and running at the time. I had to put nylon straps around the base when I cut the wood out. Did not start with the straps but an emergency run to the shop saved the day as the base started to flex!
I had a copper tray under the glass to protect the cabinet top.. Copper was NOT a good choice..
If it is a saltwater tank get some advice from somebody you can find near you that will give freed advice on upkeep. Not easy.. Cabinet, Tank, or the Creatures inside!
Double check what your son is going to use this for. Freshwater or saltwater. Usually in a saltwater system, most if not all pumps,skimmers,sumps,refugiums,heaters and the like are placed below the tank. Therefore alot of open space would be needed down below.
Mark
Thanks, this IS a fresh water tank. Key word being "is". The other big task HE has is to figure out how move the residents of the tank and water to a temporary living quarters so we can put the stand in and move the aquarium off it's current perch onto the new one.
Some quick (and non woodworking related) advice on the tank and inhabitants. Most failures with both salt and fresh water creatures have to do with maintaining the bacterial populations that are critical to maintenance of water quality.
DON'T "clean" the heck out of the tank, gravel, filtration media, rocks, etc... Even chlorinated tap water is sufficient to sterilize these items, and will result in the death of all of the tank inhabitants 3-5 days after starting it back up due to build-up of ammonia from waste products of the fish. Pull most of the tank water out into a plastic garbage can or 5 gallon buckets with siphon hose. Use some of this water to rinse the detritus out of the filtration media, gravel, etc..., and put the rest back into the tank once you have it in its new home.
The fish will do just fine in a couple of 5 gallon buckets 1/4 filled with tank water for a half day or so while you re-set the tank, no aeration required. Treat the replacement water with de-chlorination and de-ammoniation chemicals (even better, get ro/di water from the local aquarium shop and add back necessary trace elements with a commercial mixture). After the tank is back up and the filtration is running for a couple of hours, slowly acclimatize the fish to the new tank water by adding a couple of pints at a time, about every 15 minutes, to the 5 gallon buckets until they're 3/4 filled. That'll be sufficient to get the fish used to the new tank pH and dissolved mineral concentration.
I think good advice you posted.. Nothing you said was wrong but I always had a separate tank with 'good water'. For emergencies! PH etc. the same as the main tank. Maybe you have a secret, I could never get tank water to match until about two months!
Any advice for keeping Sea-Horses alive. I always loved them but I gave up trying to keep them. I stopped, after two tries.. I hated killing living critters that I had no idea of how to care for..
Will - Those of us heavily addicted to this hobby (aquariums, not woodworking, though that's a bad enough addiction on its own...) generally have a water purification system, typically a combination reverse osmosis/deionization. These systems have gotten very inexpensive in recent years (about $150), and I consider them a necessity for saltwater reef tanks (mainly for the evaporation make-up water). The reason is that while commercially available chemicals will convert the ammonia that municipal water systems put in tap water to the less dangerous nitrate compound, that's still fertilizer, and putting nutrients into a saltwater reef tank is a really bad idea because of algae growth.
Regarding seahorses, yeah - they're a real challenge to keep. There are many aquarists that have become skilled enough at it that they breed them and their relatives (pipefish) for the trade, though. To my knowledge, successfully keeping these guys depends heavily on water quality and food. They don't eat non-living stuff readily, so most feed them newly-hatched brine shrimp that have been fortified with algae cultures. Keeping these cultures going isn't rocket science, but is a pain in the butt because it has to be continuously done. They also generally have to be kept by themselves away from other reef inhabitants, which will out-compete them for food.
so most feed them newly-hatched brine shrimp that have been fortified with algae cultures. Always fed 'ALL' the fish live food for them if I could get it!
I never heard of .. fortified with algae cultures.. Maybe my Google searching skills need a bit of work..
They also generally have to be kept by themselves away from other reef inhabitants, which will out-compete them for food.
I had a screen separator I would put in at feeding time... Maybe all the shrimp ran to the other side?
is a really bad idea because of algae growth...
I hear you.. I never had 'big' problems with algae growth. Just sometimes... But not often..
If you want a real go at keeping seahorses, try a separate 20 gallon tank with no other critters (except maybe a snail for clean up), some live rock, a hang-on skimmer, and some live sand on the bottom. The live rock/sand and the skimmer will ensure you have good water quality, and keeping them by themselves will ensure that they aren't harrassed by tank mates. That's a necessary condition, btw - harrassment by other fishes will kill shy species, even if they're separated at feeding time.
To feed them brine shrimp, you have to raise your own with brine shrimp eggs in a hatchery. The algae (that's not actually accurate - the "algae" I'm referring to is actually a species of euglena, which is a photosynthetic protozoan) must also be grown yourself in culture. That's not as hard as it sounds, a successful feeding operation can be 2-3 glass cider bottles and a small air pump, and a light for the algae culture. There's a ton of info about this on the net.
Thanks for the info. I'll look into the 'algy
I had a small tank to raise the brine shrimp. I'll look into the "algae" thing. I do not recall ever reading about euglena. Maybe I did but let it pass through my brain.
Great. Thanks for the critter advice. I'll pass it on to my son...
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