# DIY 55 stand



## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

A recent trip to Petco found me buying another tank, this one is my largest at 55g. I really like the minimalist look of the ADA cabinets but I am not in baller league, my wife would divorce me, choke the life out of me or beat me before I ever had a chance to assemble it.. or she may do all of it for that matter so I decided to take a whack at it myself. I have seen a few of them made across the different forums and found some vids while searching Google so I took it all in, applied my ADD and voila!

I still have to drill and mount the doors, they are on shims for the pic. I have euro hinges for them. The interior will be painted black and I am going to mount a power strip as well as lighting so I don't fumble around with a flashlight between my teeth. I have some of those IKEA strip lights that turn on when you open your drawer that may serve nicely. The exterior finish is up in the air still because I made it this far without losing any digits or going to the ER for unscheduled visits related to accidentally slicing, hammering, crushing vital body parts and the thought of sharp formica and a router scares me. 

No clue yet on the actual lighting. 

Comments, concerns, complaints always welcome. 

All cut up and waiting for assembly



The jigsaw puzzle is beginning to take shape



Mostly assembled, need some additional supports added before I flip it to finish assembly



Level on all sides, bonus!!



I built the interior frame after partial assembly, I know I took the hard route but it wasn't that much extra work for me at least. I am overbuilding it by adding the 2x2 supports on top of the 1x2 frame. I just didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling from the 1x2 frame and after I had it in there I went back for the 2x2's. I will add them to all the corners and center brace as well. Once that is complete I will flip it and work on the doors. Hopefully I will have that done this week. I have classes Thursday and Friday so I probably won't get back to finish this until sometime next week. I forgot, it's grandmas birthday this weekend and we will be out of town. 

I am not sure how I am going to face it since I have never worked with laminate and buying a sheet and winging it worries me. Plus it involves another power tool that can increase the odds of that trip to the ER that I have so skillfully avoided so far. Suggestions?







The tank is a little too heavy for my wife to handle so she was not able to place it dead on but rest assured it fits perfect. 



My light fixture idea:



I had it centered in the room but the wife overrode that and centered it to the hallway which is about two feet to the left of where I had it originally. She wanted me to go with some crazy color to match the room decor but I nixed that right away. It's neutral gray and minimalist, no freaking handles, no pretty colors. Period. End of discussion. 

More updates as I progress.


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## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

ahh the ADA cabinets are quite beautiful, this is a very good looking cabinet. Very nice work!


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

Thank you!


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## zof (Apr 23, 2010)

Nice looking project, I agree with the use of the 2 bys instead of the 1 bys with a fully loaded 55 gallon you would probably begin reaching that loading point on 1 bys, always better safe then sorry plus they don't cost that much more.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

zof said:


> Nice looking project, I agree with the use of the 2 bys instead of the 1 bys with a fully loaded 55 gallon you would probably begin reaching that loading point on 1 bys, always better safe then sorry plus they don't cost that much more.


It really did not add much to the total weight either. The funny thing is the tank weighs more than the stand.


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

Very nice! :-D


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

IMO i suggest using white on the interior of the stand. this will reflect more light allowing easier viewing when digging around for fish equipment. kilz mold resistant primer might make a good choice. the only issue here is what your doing with the exterior. alittle white sticking out and showing on a black stand would look tacky ( but atleast something that still can be fixed ) 

regardless, nice looking stand.


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## dhutch (Aug 1, 2011)

onefish2fish said:


> IMO i suggest using white on the interior of the stand. this will reflect more light allowing easier viewing when digging around for fish equipment. kilz mold resistant primer might make a good choice. the only issue here is what your doing with the exterior. alittle white sticking out and showing on a black stand would look tacky ( but atleast something that still can be fixed )
> 
> regardless, nice looking stand.


Possibly go with a grey interior then. I'd def. go with black on the exterior though. Any light color greatly detracts from the viewing of the tank IMHO. And black goes with anything(I'm gonna assume your wife has a say in the color since its in a public portion of the house).

BTW, nice job on your first project. Building things from scratch is so much more rewarding in the end. My old man just gave me another 10 gallon tank, and it'll need a stand. I'm thinking of using solid oak from Home Depot or Lowes to do the project since the stand wont need to be too big.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

Thanks! I am going to most likely go with a light colored interior and that mold resistant primer is an excellent idea, I will probably look into that. There won't be anything showing, I have all the corners and edges battened up tight. The exterior though is another story. I wanted to go with a gray like the ADA cabinets; the wife and I are still 'discussing' the final. LOL


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## SubluxT7 (Aug 20, 2011)

Very nice stand!


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## TexasTanker (May 5, 2010)

It looks great. If I were you... i would leave the color of the cabinet up to the person who chose the color scheme of the room it will be in. If your wife is the one who tends to pick furniture then have you sit on it for a final okay, this would be the equivalent. The way my husband explained it to me is, he doesn't care what something looks like as long as it works right and doesn't look like crap... after that all he hears is blah blah blah Hubby has no responsibility. This is why he let me design his work shop. He get's functionality and for the other 9 months of the year when I'm the only one around to see it, it's also aesthetically pleasant.


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