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Aquarium stands

11K views 33 replies 7 participants last post by  FuzzAz 
#1 ·
Hey guys, me again...

I was wondering, what type of wood is the best for holding aquariums. When I ask this question, I need strength to obviously be a big issue... But also, I need to know what types of wood will NOT puff up when they come in contact with water (freshwater, not many woods can withstand saltwater).
 
#27 ·
Perfect!!!
I was at bunnings yesterday and got them to cut up all the sizes i need, ill just have to cut the joints to fit... Thankyou so much Winny.
And btw, Fishforum.com.au isn't as good as this site, australia's abit behind when it comes to fishkeeping, I saw you browsing through it, and was going to say something but I didn't want to offend the fishkeepers on that forum lol... I'm using them to find some oto's lol!
 
#28 ·
A little off topic:

From what I've seen, the fishkeeping hobby is a lot more expensive in AU than it is in the US/Canada. The equipment itself is more expensive, I believe. Also, aren't there a lot of water usage restrictions in AU? How difficult is it to keep a good water change schedule if your water use is limited?
 
#30 ·
Yeah there are water restrictions. But they apply to things like watering your grass or filling up your swimming pool, or washing your car with a hose. As long as you pay the bill when it comes round, its all sweet(that's what parents are for lol).
Australia is very expensive when it comes to fishkeeping, it is as you say. Since all the good brands are imported from other countries, we pay even more ontop of what you guys do...
Thing is, we pay alot less for marine fish, thanks to all the reefs along the Australian coast line. To bad i'm not in to marine yet. Will be soon though, when I can pocket some cash, hehe...
 
#31 ·
Kritas, the joints that you drew at first are definitely weaker than he ones that Winnydapoo has drawn for you. The big difference in strength comes from you cutting the notch in the horizontal frame members. By notching the horizontals, the support of the vertical member is only given to the top part of your horizontal beam. That makes the horizontal beam unable to carry as much weight. To easily understand the strength loss, think of how weak that horizontal beam would be if you cut away all but the last 1 or 2 mm and then let that carry your weight. What you are doing is less extreme so the strength loss is also much less but it is very real.
I usually build my stands with smaller outside frame members but brace them internally with what are called 2 x 2 boards, they measure about 40 mm by 40 mm. I know that sounds small but I do not cut away anything from the support. What I do is put a thinner board onto the outside of the legs as both the decorative surface and to provide support to prevent the stand from moving sideways and collapsing. It takes a little more lumber but is a very strong stand. Mine end up with a tank on top and another on the bottom so they need to be quite strong. I never use MDF because I worry too much about water problems. Some of my stands use plywood at what you would call 15 mm thick and others I make the shelves out of nominal 1 inch lumber which is only really 3/4 inches thick (19 mm). Neither one looks as nice as the MDF but both of those solutions will take a major water spill during tank maintenance without weakening at all.
On the rare occasion that I build a stand with an enclosed bottom, I tend to use panels made from a thin sheet of plywood. I am talking about very thin material at only 6 mm thick. It is plenty strong enough to hold in all the things that you hide under a tank, is easy to finish and will provide an amazing amount of support to prevent the stand folding up due to any sideways forces, like a kid leaning on the stand or a slightly out of level floor.
 
#33 ·
Yeah I know, I made an unintended mistake in my drawing, thats not how its getting jointed together...

Winnydapoo, regarding progress shots.... lmao, what progress? All I have so far is just the timber lengths cut to size... hehe, i've been working on constructing my frog tank, so it might be a while
 
#34 ·
Pine is fine, 2 X 4s or framing studs cost about $2 for a 2" X 4"X 8'. for a large stand use 4 X 4's for the legs. I am almost finished building mine I spent $105 at home depot for all the materials including stain, hardware, side panneling, and a 1 inch thick solid pine table top 52" X 21" that was $35 itself. To just build the frame I would have only spent $40 but I want mine to look more like a piece of firniture. keep in mind pine tends to warp over time, if you want somthing that will last a long long time use a harder wood like oak, poplar, yellow pine. but prepare to spend big $$$. I have also used 3/4" HDF to build a stand, its probably only okay to use for 55 gal. or less. HDF and water do not mix well, basicially it turns into sawdust, so it must be sealed with a sturdy coat of paint. But a 4' X 8' HDF only cost about $30 + $25 for screws, glue, and paint and that should be enough to build a stand. Main thing to watch out for is make sure it is flat, level and sturdy. Unless you are an archetect, rather than try and calculate how strong to make it, just try to go way overkill. Also I have learned google sketchup (free download) is a great tool for these kinds of projects.
 
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