Stand from Cabinet!

[rdeis]

Price for a new stand from Tenecor: $650

Price for stand that matches cabinets already installed from Home Depot: $125 (for corner cabinet)
$10 (reinforcing plywood)
$5 (Liquid Nails)
$20 (assorted other bits/trim to keep it pretty)

Total-----$160 Keep that $490 for the fish.

Pics and tips available if you want to see 'em!

[keith_cny]

post them pictures man!!

[Mr. Limpet]

Definitely post some pics. That sound like a quick and easy solution. Paul.

[rdeis]

OK. I'll try to put together some sort of article with pics.

To start with: Building an aquarium stand from a cabinet has lots of advantages and disadvantages. In my case, a great synergy of things came together to make this the perfect solution for my needs.

Advantages:
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Cabinets in many styles, colors, and finishes are available in-stock at the local home supply store. Rectangles are usually 12" or 24" deep, and can be found in heights from 12"-42" and nearly any length. If you want something huge, you can buy several and strap them together so long as you're careful to make sure that they can't shift relative to one another. With a little luck, you may be able to find something in stock that matches your existing cabinetry, making for a very clean built-in look.

Doors are often sold seperately from the cabinets themselves, which gives you even more style options.

For a little more cash, you can custom order a cabinet from Mastercraft or someone similar. It costs more than the in stock versions, but still a lot less than your average tank stand. Mine was in stock, so I didn't do a cost analysis of this method.

Since these are pre-built, the hardest part of the assembly-- that is getting the thing together straight and square-- is done for you. Also, they are pre-finished so non-woodworkers like myself can have a professional looking stand without hours of finish sanding and varnishes. Very cool.

There's a very popular angled corner cabinet that just happens to match dimensions with the common 24"x24" pentagon corner tank, leaving a 3.5" shelf in front of the main viewing panel.

Disadvantages:
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Nobody makes a cabinet that's designed to hold umpteen-hundred-pounds of water, glass, and gravel on top for an extended period of time. Major structural reinforcement is required to make them hold the weight.

The top and bottom usually have some sort of recess that gets in the way of setting a tank in place. This is especially true if you need flat-bottom support for an acrylic tank, which I do.

All tank stands are subject to problems when placed against the wall in a carpeted room. The tack-strip under the carpet up against the wall prevents the tank from sitting level. Since the cabinet carries the tank's weight around the outside edges, cabinet stands can't go right on the edge of the room either unless you do something to the bottom.

The Plan
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Mitigate the problems while using the advantages! And when in doubt- overbuild for increased strength. The basic steps are here, more detail will come with pictures later (feel free to comment, as I'm 3 weeks away from adding water and would rather find mistakes sooner than later..):

1> To reinforce the cabinet so it can hold the weight, line the inside with 3/4" plywood. The ply is carefully cut to fit exactly along each side panel, so we can take advantage of the neatly square-build cabinet. It should be painted with some sort of sealer to keep water from spills and humidity out, but I expect high-gloss latex to be sufficient because we aren't trying to hold a tankfull of water with this. And, as a bonus- since it's inside the paint need not be pretty.

Judging by tank stands I have seen in the store, completely lining the interior walls is overkill- but my 24x24 is light enough to move myself even fully lines so there's no harm in the extra strength- and it all still fits in one sheet of plywood.

2> To deal with the recessed top, build a top from 3/4" ply. We'll need some sort of subframe to transfer the load out of the ply top, through the cabinet top, to the ply reinforcing walls. It's quite possible that the frame of the cabinet is sufficient to deal with this, but I'm not taking any chances.

3> Similarly, it's possible that the bottom frame is sufficient the take the load the short distance from the bottom of the reinforcing walls to the floor, but I'm not taking chances here either. The subframe is easy to construct, and has the side benefit of moving the load-bearing surface inward-- away from the tackstrip under the carpet, so I can put the stand right against the wall.

[Mr. Limpet]

And when in doubt- overbuild for increased strength.

A motto to live by!

Nice explanation and description.
Looking forward to some pictures. Paul

[Rick_May]

Great writeup, A lot of us have built ulgy stands then try to dress them up, why not start with something that looks nice then built that ulgy stand inside the nice looking cabinet.

Like you said when in doubt- overbuild for increased strenght.

[Denny]

Unless you get a tank over 75 gallons there will be no need to reinforce those cabinets, they will carry the weight fine until you start to soak up the water when you overfill them. if you do that on occation and allow them to completely dry you will be ok. But if you get constant moisture on those low density particleboard(they now call it furniture board, which if you are a true piece of furniture is not a flattering thing)they will disintegrate and fail.

[rdeis]

Really? Given that the backing is 1/4 (maybe 1/8) inch paperboard I didn't want to trust it with anything, even given that there are parts of the frame that are true hardwood and thicker particle board. That and plywood deals with moisture better than particle or paperboards do.

Then again, looking at how little ply is typicly used in store-bought stands I'm quite sure that what I've done is overkill. With a tank/stand that has a more conventional shape I'd have used less wood. (And probably copied the measurements of a stand on display at the store...)

Ah, well- the extra few bucks and minutes for the ply didn't hurt me any. I've got pics taken- just need to find time to move them from the camera to the web. Hopefully this weekend.

[rdeis]

The tank is here!

In the mean time we've added some moulding to dress it up and bought some maple-faced plywood to build a matching canopy.

Just a little more plumbing to do, then find 18" lighting and we're ready for water.

Oh, I still owe you guys pictures! Whoops.. Soon, really...

[ronrca]

Talk, talk talk! All there is, is talk! LOL!

Glad to hear that you got the tank! Now pics are a must! ;D
Sounds like a really nice stand!

[rdeis]

Current state pf the project:

[ronrca]

Looking good! Really good! I like the moldings that you use! Any more pics? Id love to see more detail!

Do you have some time to build me one? LOL! ;D

Thanks for the pic!

[paniza]

hmmm I like that.

Looking good.

[rdeis]

The corner cabinet in its intended purpose.. I decided to forgo the glass door on the stand version.

[rdeis]

Here's the starting cabinet. Note the strips of particle board at the top and bottom- everything else on the back is 1/8" paperboard.

The plywood liner is screwed and glued to these boards from the inside.

Note also the depression on the top, we have to do something about that as well.