Base Construction Complete

I have finished building the base. It still needs a finish, but I haven't decided how to finish it yet. In the mean time I am turning my attention to the plumbing. I have purchased some 1 inch PVC (again from Lowes) pipe and fittings. I have an overflow box made by EShopps. They claim it has a flow rate of 600 gph which is more than enough for my needs. I think it may need a second u-tube to get that flow rate, but those are cheap.

The current log-jam is the 20 gallon sump I am using. Whether or not this is large enough is questionable. I would rather use a 30 gallon long aquarium, but I'm having trouble finding a source. On-line stores don't want to ship glass aquariums, and none of the local outlets carry them in stock. The local saltwater store has one in the form of a prebuilt sump, but they want $300. It doesn't conform to my design, so I'd rather build the sump myself.

Construction Details

Its time to add a few more pictures. These will be construction details for the panels surrounding the base of the stand. The pattern is a simple flat panel door. I am using 1/4 inch red oak plywood, surrounded by a 3/4 inch red oak frame.

The first picture shows the end of a rail for the front panel. The stile has a simple 1/4 inch channel cut with a table saw. The rail ends were also cut with a table saw. I used a pocket screw jig to drill the pocket screw recess.











This is the panel laid out for assembly. I assembled the panel without glue. The pocket screw connection is incredibly strong. If you use glue, be sure you don't glue in the panel. It is meant to float in the frame.














This is one of the side panels in place. Once the panel is screwed together, I glued it onto the 2x4 frame. It might be possible to screw the end panels in place, but the only way I could see to do it would have involved drilling the vertical supports, or using very long screws. The frame is the real stand, the oak covering is purely decorative. My assistant is demonstrating the strength of the frame, by using it as a play area.

The Stand Begins

This post is mainly a test of uploading images.

This is my 90 gallon tank stand at about 50% completion. I must give credit to Fish World of Richmond for the basic design. The main structure is cut from 8 2x4s I purchased at Lowe's. I would suggest going through their 2x4s carefully. I found about one out of three acceptable for this project. I didn't want to include 2x4s that showed any defect at all since this stand is going to support a half ton of equipment.









All of the 2x4s were cut to length with a good power miter box. I assume that you could do the same with a manual miter box, it would just take a lot longer. The cuts must be 90 degrees so I wouldn't suggest hand cutting. I will try to upload a drawing, but the structure is apparent in the pictures. Most joints are pocket screwed.

2x4 Material List:
4 - 2 x 4 x 48.5
10 - 2 x 4 x 23
4 - 2 x 4 x 30
5 - 2 x 4 x 15.5

Early Stages

Welcome to my blog. My reef aquarium is in the very early stages of planning. So far I have inherited a tank (thanks Alvaro) . I purchased lumber to build a stand. The stand is from a basic design at a local aquarium shop (thanks Fish World). I have completed the frame of the stand built for 8 2x4s, and started to cover the frame with Red Oak. I'll post pictures as I can and see where this goes.