How to Design an Aquarium Stand
Everyone loves to look at a nice aquarium, but if you want yours to be a true hobby rather than just an expensive decoration, consider designing and building your own aquarium stand. Anyone can do it, and it makes an ideal hands-on project.
An aquarium stand is a lot like a picture frame: Its whole purpose is to complement something else. As you design your stand, always think of it in terms of the aquarium itself. By designing your own stand, you will learn a lot about keeping an aquarium before you buy even a single fish.
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Instructions
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Before Designing Your Aquarium Stand
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Decide what kind of an aquarium you want to have. Talk to an aquarium expert or aquarium shop manager about this. The choices you make here will set the boundaries for everything else about your aquarium, including the stand.
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Decide whether your tank will be made of glass or acrylic. Glass is probably the better choice, but each has its pros and cons. Talk to your aquarium expert for advice suited to you. Ask what kind of support the specific tank will need from its stand.
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Select a site in your home for the aquarium. This will help you to further determine approximately what size tank you wish to purchase. Keep in mind that a hard floor is preferable to carpet, due to the likelihood of occasional water spillage and the inevitable damage that would be caused by the continuous weight of a full aquarium. Make sure the floor itself is level and will be able to structurally withstand the weight. Make sure that the aquarium will have access to its own dedicated electrical circuit.
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Make a final decision on the approximate volume and dimensions of your tank. Make sure that it will fit where you want it to go. If you plan to have a larger aquarium of 100 gallons or more, consider making the aquarium the aesthetic centerpiece of the room and plan to arrange the other furniture accordingly. Also bear in mind that, regardless of the overall volume, a short, broad tank will be easier to maintain than a tall, narrow one.
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Buy a tank. Once you have a tank, you will have the basic information you need to design the stand.
Designing Your Aquarium Stand
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Choose the building material for your stand. Wood and metal are the two common options. For a do-it-yourself project, wood is preferable. Buy a strong wood that will bear heavy loads over long periods of time. Make sure that it has been pressure treated. (Pressure treatment is a process whereby a chemical preservative is infused into the wood so that it will resist decay from moisture, salt and pests.) Pine is a good choice, or ask your aquarium expert for advice on what wood to use and where you can purchase it.
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Determine the scope of the stand. There are elaborate prefabricated aquarium stands out there, built to look like china cabinets or other fine furniture. Most of this is structurally unnecessary. The essentials are a top for the tank to sit on and the legs to hold it up. The rest is a matter of personal taste.
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Design the stand's legs. The legs must be 4-by-4 and pressure treated. You will need at least four legs, one in each corner. For rectangular tanks longer than 36 inches, you will need two more legs in the middle, one on each side, for a total of six legs. The height of the legs would typically be around 30 inches, adjusted to your convenience. Notch the legs, or have them notched for you at a lumber or hardware store. This will allow the top to rest more securely on the legs, so that the load will pass through the wood itself rather than the screws joining the top to the legs. If you have never done light carpentry work before, consult an expert for more advice.
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Design the top. In its most basic form, the top will consist of four 2-by-4 segments (or 4-by-4 for a tank over 150 gallons) joined together to make a rectangle whose dimensions parallel those of the bottom of your tank. Depending on your tank's requirements, this may be sufficient. It is called an "open-top" stand because there is no support in the middle. Most acrylic tanks and the largest glass tanks will require support along their entire bottom face, in which case you must add a sheet of wood across the top, making the stand "closed-top." Ask about this when you buy the tank.
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Consider heavy-duty pads between the legs and the floor. Depending on the advice you received from your aquarium expert, you may also need to install pads between the tank and the top of the stand.
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Tips & Warnings
Paint or treat the wood to add a protective coating that will further resist decay.
If you are going to have a larger aquarium, clear the room of extraneous furniture that might get in the way when you are moving the stand and then the tank into position.
The top of your aquarium stand must be absolutely level. Even small deviations can lead to structural failure of the tank or the stand.
When in doubt: overbuild. The weight of a full glass tank of 150 gallons of water plus the stand's top can easily approach a full ton.
Glass tanks are heavy. Never attempt to move them by yourself.
