Jo and I purchased a Hagen 48 US Gallon (182 Litre) aquarium in June 2005 to replace our comparatively tiny 20 Gallon tank which
was home to a plethora of fish who had begun to ourgrow their environment. We spent a great deal of time deliberating
over a wide variety of tanks in all sizes and we finally chose one that was large enough for all of our aquatic
friends and small enough that it could be transported without a forklift. We were very pleased with our decision until
we realized that the only choice in aquarium stand for this particular model was especially flimsy and exceptionally
overpriced. A word to the wise on this matter, the LFS makes some crazy markup on their aquarium stands and hoods and other
accessories and generally take one on the tank sale. In this case, the stand and hood (both of which were just terrible quality) would
have doubled the cost of the setup, so we wisely decided to pass on purchasing the stand and the pathetic lighthood they were trying to
sell us and just purchased the bare tank on it's own.
Over the next week, we came up with a number of ideas for how the stand should be constructed, and ultimately look. After various
ideas and some rough sketches, we made a trip to Home Depot where we purchased all of the materials we
needed for our new stand (well, not exactly, no serious construction project ever involves a single trip to the hardware store!).
In addition to the tank being very narrow (30 cm), Jo wanted the stand to be taller than the average, which provided us with
some serious extra design challenges to compensate for this reduction in stability. The primary concerns were strength and stability,
so we decided that it would be a good idea to overbuild the design somewhat to meet these two needs. The primary goal was
met by using a well-proven strategy which the weight of the tank was evenly distributed across a surface and then passed to a
number of reinforced vertical legs to carry the weight. The leg pieces were reinforced with a number of 2x2 Pine segments
which were both glued and bolted through the actual leg for rigidity. All major surfaces of the stand were constructed from
good-quality 3/4" plywood, which was heavily reinforced. In retrospect, this degree of overbuilding - although an excellent
design mentality - was probably somewhat overkill for this particular tank as it weighs approximately 250 kilograms (500 pounds)
fully loaded, and by our calculations the stand could probably handle five times that amount without difficulty.
We settled on a three-leg design, each of which had a piece of 2x2 Pine along the bottom to further distribute the load and
to improve stability. Each of the three feet extended about 15cm on the back to enhance the stability, and for even more support
we stacked bricks over these rear extensions to minimize wobbling. The weight of the tank itself provides much more
stability than expected, but I credit the design of the stand as to the exceptional rigidity of the whole setup.
The rear of the stand has an approx 8cm opening across the entire length as can be seen in the photos to provide ample
access for tubing and wires, the majority of which connect to the left side of the cabinet where a Fluval 404, an air pump
and a power strip are located. Eventually we may add a powerhead and possibly a sump, but for now we're satisfied with the
setup and we're not really anxious to change the configuration.
We built doors from some laminate Pine and added another piece of Pine along the bottom front of the unit. Hanging doors is
a pain but the end result was well worth the effort. We decided to forego additional door hardware for the time
being as the doors can be easily opened by gripping the top of the door and pulling; only a small amount of effort is
needed to dislodge the magnet door clasps. In addition, the doors aren't opened very often; a few times per week at the most,
and that's usually only to access food or cleaning supplies. Jo had a lot of fun sanding the entire thing after it was complete,
and we took the time to finish it up properly by filling a few small cracks before staining.
In conclusion, the completed stand far exceeded our expectations for rigidity and stability and overall appearance. We
stained the completed unit with some water-based wood stain (primarily due to impatience) which greatly improved the
appearance of the unit. The stand is also far stronger than we ever had expected, I'm sure it could support a tractor
without buckling. Our fish and related aquatica are very content in their new home, and although we haven't yet found the
time to build the lighthood, we will soon, completing the perfect aquarium.
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