Custom fish tank stand

[lorenz0]

Hey, I'm looking for someone who can build a stand for me that will actually look good in my apartment. I honestly would do it myself if I had any skill but building stuff with wood and painting aren't exactly area's I accelerate with. Looking for a "modern" style stand

Anyone know someone who could put one together for me?

[phi delt reefer]

i would strongly suggest the following after building my own stand...

design something you like in sketchup - have the frame built with 1 inch square steel tubing. It will be super straight. Have the welder either weld tabs into the fram for you to screw wooden panels into it or you can use counter sunk magnets. The magnets only work if all surfaces are perfectly flat (used them on mine where the panels bows slightly and they dont hold worth a $hit.) For a more modern look you can use acrylic panels instead of wood but that gets pricey real quick!

Also have leveling legs added to the base so you can easily level it once you get it home.

The steel frame will be lighter than a solid wood stand and much stronger. Maybe Grizz can help you with the design and suggest a local a builder for you. I cant remember whether he is in BC or Alberta - maybe he can even build it for you. Come to thing of it - the stand he build for his 8 footer is what you want to start with. Just go with a different "Skin" for a more modern look. May want to ask some local welding schools if they can take on the project if you pay for materials. Good way to help the local students out while still saving some money. I would assume its a pretty easy project.

Just so you know - I built my own stand it cost about $500 in just supplies alone. Not to metion about a weeks worth of labour between two guys who have never built anything like this before. I would NEVER build my own stand again. I would contract it out in the future. I like complex units with everything hidden so that usually comes at a cost.

If you have an idea i can help you draft somethign up in sketchup - I'm not a pro but a tank stand is easy enough.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by lorenz0

Hey, I'm looking for someone who can build a stand for me that will actually look good in my apartment. I honestly would do it myself if I had any skill but building stuff with wood and painting aren't exactly area's I accelerate with. Looking for a "modern" style stand

Anyone know someone who could put one together for me?

What size of stand? I have a nice one I built that I'm not using anymore. Perfectly fits a tank footprint of 54" x 22" but would also work well with a smaller size.
Edit: Just read your other thread and saw the tank size you're looking at so I guess this one won't work. If I wasn't so busy with renos I'd help you out but I do know a decent cabinet guy who could probably build what you want for a decent price. I had him build me two cabinet systems for my living room measuring 54x18x47 each, cost me $1000 total and he matched the style and color that was in the rest of the house, pretty nice work, solid maple doors but the rest was veneer, but that's the same as most cabinets. You might just have to beef it up a little with some 2x4's after to add more strength.
Not sure I would use metal unless the tank was pretty big, it's harder to work with and make changes later, harder to attach wood finishing to and it corrodes in a salty environment. Wood is actually a better material for the application.

[The Grizz]

You could do the same or similar to Kien's stands, go with Ikea door panels & use magnet to attach to a metal stand. If you use a Marine Enamel to paint the stand it will not corrode. My 8'er show no signs of rust any where even from the time my sump popped a seam.

[lorenz0]

I was hoping it could be done for around $500 but after looking into doing the Ikea route... thats even making its way to my budget on a stand so maybe getting someone to build it for me may be a bit on the expensive side.

Funny thing is the panels I like just happened to be the most expensive ones but they do sell ones that match the rest of my furniture, which are cheaper. If I build it like the one I have my 60 on (cost me about $100 unfinished) I think total cost will be around the $250 margin with the cheaper panels and $450 with the expensive ones.

I'm just worrying about spending the money to do it myself and it looks like sh!t

[sphelps]

The cabinet guy I mentioned built my cabinets for less than I could get the material for and he color matched the stain in the rest of the house. He claims to be cheaper than HD and Ikea and have better quality. Wouldn't hurt to shoot him an email with a sketch for an estimate.

I think he's out of town til late this week so you may not get a response right away.

Lee Loewen
leeloewen@shaw.ca

[lorenz0]

thanks man, I am going to keep that in mind.