Stand construction started

[ac]

Here are a couple of pictures of the stand I'm making for my 320 gallon. There will be a couple of more braces and then it will be clad in oak. Enjoy.

 

[ac]

picture 2

 

[richard rendos]

Looks good so far. Keep us updated.

 

[foxthorn]

I know you said you'll be adding more braces... where? It looks to me that you should have one going across the middle from front to back. This would add some support for the middle of this pretty large tank.

 

[ac]

Foxthorn,
Your exactly right. There will be a brace across the middle. Then there will be a piece of plywood deck across the top. I'll post more pictures as it progresses. My wife suprised me on Valentines day telling me she's pregnant. It's our first. So it may slow this project down a bit. I may have to start on a nursery instead of finishing the stand. We'll see.

 

[foxthorn]

Hey AC,
Congrats... that's great news. Yeah, I know how it is... Your priorities *will* change.

 

[newfishliny]

thats great for you and your wife "congrad "
ps: I would put cross braces between each 2x4"s on sides / back .
short pieces and stager the hight . this will prevent sway motion.
it will help if you treat the would with some sealer exterior type .
no warpping.
good luck looks good
new fish
Don

 

[ac]

Thanks Newfish,
That's a great idea. That's the main reason to post the pictures to find out if I've missed something.

 

[josh]

Just a bit off topic, you seem like a very handy guy. You might want to think about running some dedicated outlets ( having their own breaker ) and put 2 of them behind the tank. It will save you plenty of headaches down the road.

 

[ac]

Josh,
I was planning on putting in an electical panel with switched, labeled outlets for all of the different things. I find on my other tanks I'm always trying to trace cords to there source in order to find out which ones I need to unplug for maintenance. Hopefully this plan will eliminate that problem. Keep up the suggestions, I love the feed back.

 

[josh]

Ok one other suggestion that you might want to try or might not. I have a friend who built his stand for a 95 gallon. After he built it he did the coolest thing, and it worked out great. Instead of nailing the sides on and making doors, he got some laminant ( very thing and light weight ) cut it to size and attached it with industrial velcro. Since he did all three sides, the corners matched up great, honestly you couldn't even tell that it was on there with velcro. The advantage of course being he has -- total -- access to his stand.
Just something to toss around, you could always give it a try, you wouldn't be out much money at all.