Stand and canopy

[Omega]

Hi there guys,

Just want to show my stand and canopy that I am busy building any comments or suggestions are welcome.

The stand is build with 15mm square tubing covered with chipboard with caster wheels with a brake for easy moving.

Planning to cover all the wood with veneer and stain it to a Dark cherry colour. At the end of the canopy there will be two chrome pipes coming down for that new age look lol.

The stand is for a 3ft tank and the dimensions of the stand is 130cm W X 120 cm H X 42cm D.

I know the canopy is skew in the pic but I still need to build the bracket for the hood because it is going to be height adjustable for the heat of the lights so please go easy on me I am still a DIY newbie lol.

After the stand is complete I am going to build an overflow box for the sump.

So please tell me what you guys think

 

[Thaiboxer]

Looks cool! I built a stand a while back and am about to start working on a canopy. How did you address opening the canopy to feed your fish? Or did you?

I'm running a 125 gallon, so the canopy will be about 12" high to allow for lights and such, and it'll be 6' long. I'm thinking of curtaining the back to keep light in, but make it so I can reach around behind easily to feed the fish without moving the canopy or having a trap door to open. Any ideas are welcome.

Nice job!

 

[Omega]

Well I am going to make a stainless steel feeding hole to fit in with the chrome pipes.

The curtain sounds like a good idea but IMO I think the curtain will get wet and start dripping because of evap.

 

[Thaiboxer]

Good point. For all this talk about aquariums I didn't think of the water factor. Duh.

Thanks for that. I'll figure something else out for blocking light.

Any ideas?

 

[Omega]

I don't know what is called there by you guys. It is the thin plastic sheet, Acrylic or something like that.

But what I can suggest is making a flap that you can just lift up dump the food and let it fall back to it's place. Like the most front sides of the canopy's.

And then you don't need the whole length of the canopy but just a small flap or whatever you feed to fit thru the hole lol.

 

[BillyZ]

Looks like a neat stand. The only thing that would concern me was your mention of using casters for easy moving. Fish tanks weigh a lot, even small ones. And if my math is right... this is a big tank. about 655 liters (172 gallons)? If so, 172 gallons of water is 1432~ pounds. Thats almost 1 ton of weight.

I wouldn't recomend putting that much weight on casters.

 

[Omega]

No the stand is for a 30gal I wish I had a bigger one lol but the caster's used is industrial casters and they say it can carry up to 700kg's I don't know how much that is in pound.

 

[BillyZ]

heh! I used your measurements for the stand thinking it was the measurements for your tank! My apologies!

it's not nearly as scary as I thought then

The only thing I'll throw out there then is to consider what that stand will be on. if you'll have this on any sort of carpeting or soft wood those casters will sink in making it tough to move. with 30 gallons of water plus the weight of the stand you're still lookin at between 250-300 pounds (130~ Kilo's)

 

[JProx]

The only thing I'll throw out there then is to consider what that stand will be on. if you'll have this on any sort of carpeting or soft wood those casters will sink in making it tough to move. with 30 gallons of water plus the weight of the stand you're still lookin at between 250-300 pounds (130~ Kilo's)

i completely agree with everything here, i have never liked the idea using casters on aquarium stands. mostly because its an unnessary risk, how many times have you really needed to move the aquarium? and if they fail the aquarium will drop 1-4 inches (depending on caster size) and either break, or pour out gallons of water all over the floor and unless the stand is on a hard floor, like a Tiled cement slab the caster will not work in moving the aquarium, since it will sink into the carpet, or wood flooring, just like billy said. i have seen many casters fail, from kitchen chairs, too many hundred lb + work tables and the end results are either a bruised butt, or broken toes and a sizable mess to clean up afterwards. i wouldn't include casters on an aquarium stand, just my 2 cents though.

and its really strange i have been thinking of building a stand for my 12 gallon bowfront tank, and i was thinking of using a very similar design, how dare you steal my ideas Omega! looks great though, would love to see it fully finished.

 

[Omega]

Ok guys here is the finished product and yes I did remove the casters after a long time thinking about it. Any comments welcome.

 

[mrcrazypants05]

Very different. I think it looks cool. Great job.

 

[DeFeKt]

. this is a big tank. about 655 liters (172 gallons)? If so, 172 gallons of water is 1432~ pounds. Thats almost 1 ton of weight.

There is no way in heck a 3ft tank could be 172 gallons mate
It would have been fine on the castors..

Matt

 

[The Blue Fish]

It's not a problem. You can use casters. Two things make sure the casters are rated for the amount of weight you will be holding up. Make sure what ever you fasten them to can hold the weight as well, not cross members. They appear strong but the best thing to do is attach the casters to the frame itself. I installed casters on my 30-gallon tank. They worked great! I picked up a used tank that is 36.5 x 31.25 x 15.5. I was told it is a 60-gallon but I think it is more like a 75-gallon.Maybe someone here knows? Anyway I made a stand for it. I didn’t put casters on this one. Between the stand, tank, and lighting it's about 10in from my ceiling. In exchange for not putting casters, I installed a moveable shelve, like a drawer without sides for my sump. This makes it easy to work on the sump when needed. If you want caster, I would do it!

Best,

Nick

 

[The Blue Fish]

Also, great work!

 

[The Blue Fish]

Also, great work!

 

[Omega]

Hi guys,

I have a few pictures that I want to add to my thread, I havent been here on AA for a while becuase I found a local forum in South Africa, but I didnt forget you guys and stil pop in now and again

This 24 hour thing is really not working for me because I want to upload photos not wait for a reply first