QuarterMiler
Members
I figured since I just joined here, I should catch up and post up a couple of the DIY projects I've done
. The first 2 were done almost 4 years ago, while the last was done last week. Enjoy!
This is my 125g DIY stand and canopy. All oak plywood, except for the top and inner floor, with pocket hole and glue construction. Front frame is 1x3 oak. All trim is oak molding. Exposed plywood edges were finished with oak iron on laminate strips, which were easy to trim and install and worked very well. Lighting is 2 3' T5 strips from Home Depot, which have since been retrofitted with Sylvania Advanve T5HO ballasts. 3' NO T5 bulbs were nearly impossible to find, necessitating the change. Both pieces were hand finished with 2 coats of Watco Danish Oil.
The second is for a standard 20g, another oak plywood build with leftovers from the first. Same basic construction except that I incorporated a shelf for our movie and game console DVD's. All of my cichlid books also reside on the bottom now. This tank was used to house my shellies(since sold).
The last is a double stand for some 12" depth tanks. I needed to rearrange 2 of my 33 longs for better accessibility. It's 8' long, so there is still room to set up 2 more tanks up to 36" long on the same stand. I used dado style construction, ala Ted Judy's website. I used some left over stainless steel brackets from work to anchor it to the wall because of the thin profile and it is rock steady. Total supply cost was about $30, with total labor time to build and set up at about 5 hrs.
. The first 2 were done almost 4 years ago, while the last was done last week. Enjoy!This is my 125g DIY stand and canopy. All oak plywood, except for the top and inner floor, with pocket hole and glue construction. Front frame is 1x3 oak. All trim is oak molding. Exposed plywood edges were finished with oak iron on laminate strips, which were easy to trim and install and worked very well. Lighting is 2 3' T5 strips from Home Depot, which have since been retrofitted with Sylvania Advanve T5HO ballasts. 3' NO T5 bulbs were nearly impossible to find, necessitating the change. Both pieces were hand finished with 2 coats of Watco Danish Oil.
The second is for a standard 20g, another oak plywood build with leftovers from the first. Same basic construction except that I incorporated a shelf for our movie and game console DVD's. All of my cichlid books also reside on the bottom now. This tank was used to house my shellies(since sold).
The last is a double stand for some 12" depth tanks. I needed to rearrange 2 of my 33 longs for better accessibility. It's 8' long, so there is still room to set up 2 more tanks up to 36" long on the same stand. I used dado style construction, ala Ted Judy's website. I used some left over stainless steel brackets from work to anchor it to the wall because of the thin profile and it is rock steady. Total supply cost was about $30, with total labor time to build and set up at about 5 hrs.
