FishProfiles.com Message Forums

hey everyone, long time no see! i bought a 125g tank from craigslist a year ago which came with a stand and canopy, but because it was not kept very well, both were full of mildew/mold and not in good shape. so i decided to make a stand and hood/canopy although i must confess i didn't do as good of a job as i would have liked. anyway, on to the pics!

here is the basic frame which i copied from the old stand. the old one was made with 1x10 and 1x6 boards so i thought i would use 2x4s for extra strength. you can see the old stand in the background of the second pic:




i liked the way the old stand had facing boards, so i added some facing boards on the front and back:





i also added a different type of face board on the sides. the boards along the front and back are for structure, the ones on the sides are just for show:





at this point, "some magic occurs" and the stand is magically finished and brought into the house sorry for the missing steps; when you get on a roll it's hard to remember to take pics of the intervening process before it's too dark to get a good pic:



likewise, i don't have the intermediate steps between "pile of lumber" and "finished canopy with mounted lights"



next post i will document the setup!

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

ok, setup time! first things first, the stand and tank are positioned to be as level as possible in their final placement on the only $#!@% wall in my house which can possibly fit a 6ft tank



also, a quick shot to show how the doors work. i actually had to retro fit the middle doors because i originally made them too narrow for my filter to fit comfortably through the front, and there is no way i'm trying to move the whole setup every time i need to do maintenance on the filter!




and a quick shot of the filter in its place:



now we are starting to put the gravel in. i bought the gravel for the equivalent of $0.12 per pound from a local construction materials place that specializes in stone and gravel. they call this mixture "the cadillac of gravel", otherwise i would have only paid $0.05-0.08 per pound for their other mixes:



now we add more decorative rocks to the tank. i also got these rocks from the same place, also for roughly the same price as the gravel. they were actually a few cents per pound more than the gravel but oh, so worth it





and now we add the hood. i put some large driftwood in the tank, unfortunately i didn't get a good pic of that step before i put the hood on. you know how it is when you finally get close to putting something like this together



and here is how it looks completely assembled and with the lights turned on:



i've since added some plants and lots of fish. current tank mates are:

5 clown loaches
2 discus (soon to be more)
1 chinese algae eater
a boatload of guppies



as usual, it's a work in progress. i'm picking up some corkscrew vals and sag grass later today. when i get a chance i'll put some newer pics up!

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Hi Guy and Welcome Back!

Nice looking tank stand. I gather you made it entirely out of pine then? Good Job, and your comment about the middle compartments and the size of the filter, is a great reminder to others who might also be thinking of building a stand.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Wow! The stand looks great. How long did it take you to build that?

I have read that discus need a lot of cover, perhaps some floating plants are in order?

><>

i just added some taller grasses, and a couple of anubias. my anacharis is practically a floating plant but you'll see when i can get an updated pic uploaded.

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman