Building a stand for 120P

[CL_]

Made of 2 layers of 3/4 inch pine plywood glued and screwed together. I have to say, glue really makes a huge difference (as does wood filler ). The tricky part comes tomorrow when I attempt to stain it. It's turned out nice so far, and I don't want to ruin it with a bad stain job. (I will be practicing on some leftover ply) Do any of you guys have any preference on whether to use a rag or brush? I've read several articles on staining pine tonight, but I'm still a little nervous, and would love to hear any tips you might have.
Thanks,
Chris

 

[Joe3329]

Nice job on your stand. Pine is notoriously difficult to stain evenly. It tends to get blotchy. I've tried a number of prestain treatments to try to minimize the blotchiness, but nothing works any better than a 1 pound cut of dewaxed shellac. You can buy Zinsser SealCoat at most Home Depots or Lowes and mix it 50/50 with denatured alcohol to get an approximate 1 pound cut. It is probably easiest to apply this with a brush. It will dry very fast, so don't overbrush it. After the shellac has dried for a half hour apply the stain as directed on the can. I prefer using a rag for most oil based stains.

Gel stains have a reputation for minimizing the blotchiness on some woods. I don't have much experience with them. The few times I have tried them I found them to be difficult to use. They tend to dry too fast on large projects like your stand.

Good luck with your project.

Oh, by the way, Miracles in Glass in Toronto, Canada builds very nice tanks. They just built a Starphire 120 gal. tank for me, and I am very impressed with their work. Great people to work with and reasonable prices, too, considering the quality of the finished product.

 

[Tom Barr]

Good job, this will last a long long time.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[shoggoth43]

Looks good. I pretty much did the same with my 120. I got the longer version though. Since I didn't like the pine look and wasn't going to splurge on the plywood by buying cabinet grade, I went to a flooring place. I snagged a bundle of unfinished white oak planks and glued that to the outside of the plywood. Makes for a very nice looking stand since the oak takes stain very well and also provides a little extra support.

It looks like you went with one of the ADA style stand designs correct?

-
S

 

[CL_]

Thanks guys!

Nice job on your stand. Pine is notoriously difficult to stain evenly. It tends to get blotchy. I've tried a number of prestain treatments to try to minimize the blotchiness, but nothing works any better than a 1 pound cut of dewaxed shellac. You can buy Zinsser SealCoat at most Home Depots or Lowes and mix it 50/50 with denatured alcohol to get an approximate 1 pound cut. It is probably easiest to apply this with a brush. It will dry very fast, so don't overbrush it. After the shellac has dried for a half hour apply the stain as directed on the can. I prefer using a rag for most oil based stains.

Gel stains have a reputation for minimizing the blotchiness on some woods. I don't have much experience with them. The few times I have tried them I found them to be difficult to use. They tend to dry too fast on large projects like your stand.

Good luck with your project.

Oh, by the way, Miracles in Glass in Toronto, Canada builds very nice tanks. They just built a Starphire 120 gal. tank for me, and I am very impressed with their work. Great people to work with and reasonable prices, too, considering the quality of the finished product.

Thanks! I got Cabot wood conditioner yesterday at Lowes while I was there. TBH, I had never heard of Cabot before, but it was $11/ quart, so I assumed (?) it was decent quality (I know- not the best plan) I will be testing today on some scrap pine. Hopefully I can get it to turn out ok. Thanks for the tips!
I've heard about Miracles in Glass on some reef forums. How do the seams look?

Good job, this will last a long long time.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks! That's the plan
The wood only cost me $57. Stain and hardware probably almost doubled that cost. Still not bad, IMO

Looks good. I pretty much did the same with my 120. I got the longer version though. Since I didn't like the pine look and wasn't going to splurge on the plywood by buying cabinet grade, I went to a flooring place. I snagged a bundle of unfinished white oak planks and glued that to the outside of the plywood. Makes for a very nice looking stand since the oak takes stain very well and also provides a little extra support.

It looks like you went with one of the ADA style stand designs correct?

-
S

Thanks! I've done the plank thing you mentioned, but it didn't turn out as nice as I would've liked (though, I didn't get high quality flooring planks- probably the reason right there. I think that's a good idea, actually.) The thing is my stand is going to be flush with the tank. I also want the exposed edges of the plywood. Looks modern, IMO.
I got my inspiration for the stand from
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/71901-ada-120-p-new-setup.html
and kimcadmus' stand here
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/875677-post118.html

Thanks for all of the help guys!

 

[Joe3329]

My tank is 48" x 24" x 24" and has no frame or braces. The seams are black silicone and are first rate. The tank is drilled for a 1 1/2" drain and a 1" return. It is 1/2" Starphire on the front and both ends. The bottom is 5/8" and was tempered after it was drilled. Less than $1000 delivered truck freight to southern NY state. I was very pleased.

 

[shoggoth43]

I ended up dropping my tank "inside" the edges of the stand. So the tank is flush with the plywood for the most part, and the stained oak planks come up around the lower edge of the tank. The exposed edges in the photos look much better than I would have thought they would.

OTOH, I haven't quite gotten the hang of the "just enough and then some" part of building the stand. Mine could probably hold up a truck without issues. But it looks pretty, as long as you're far enough away not to point out all the oopses in the finish.

-
S

 

[CL_]

Thanks for the comments guys! Hopefully I don't screw this up!

 

[hbosman]

Looks great. If you painted it grey like and ADA, it would probably be much simpler to finish.

 

[CL_]

Yeah, if the stain doesn't work, I'll end up painting it.
Here's some pics of the practice piece that I did today. I put on the conditioner, let it sit for about 2.5 minutes, then lightly wiped it off and wiped a light coat on top of that before putting the stain on and letting that sit for about 5 minutes before wiping.

Turned out pretty good, I think.

 

[Joe3329]

Looks great. I like the way the cut plywood edges look.

 

[CL_]

I figured I'd share the novelty mini ADA style stand that I made from scraps for my mini m to bring it closer to eye level when it sits on the counter.

Got the tank on the stand (tank is holding extra plants atm)

Was good practice for staining the real thing. Hopefully I'll finally get the big stand stained today. It rained yesterday and I wasn't able to.

 

[CL_]

Ok, I have a question, I've decided that it would be a good idea to have a "port" of sorts in the middle of the middle brace in my stand, but I don't have a router to do this. Only hand tools and a drill (I do have a 1.5" hole saw bit as well as a 3/4 inch spade bit, so I could drill where I want the corners of the port to be and it would have a nice round edge to it. Is there any way to accomplish this with hand tools, or should I shell out the money to rent a router? (would probably get much better results this way..)

 

[Ekrindul]

Here is an all pine bookcase I made a few years ago. I stained it twice, sanding it down before and after each stain, then applied a laquer. Would give you a different look and maybe a bit more waterproofing.

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/Ekrindul/bookcase.jpg

 

[Joe3329]

Depending on the size and shape of the hole you might be able to use a keyhole saw. Some of them have fairly fine blades. If the hole is close to the edge of the piece, you might be able to use a coping saw or a fret saw.

Good luck.

 

[CL_]

Here is an all pine bookcase I made a few years ago. I stained it twice, sanding it down before and after each stain, then applied a laquer. Would give you a different look and maybe a bit more waterproofing.

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/Ekrindul/bookcase.jpg

Hey that looks great. I will be applying a semi gloss varnish after I have stained it. What exactly does sanding after you stain do to the look?

Depending on the size and shape of the hole you might be able to use a keyhole saw. Some of them have fairly fine blades. If the hole is close to the edge of the piece, you might be able to use a coping saw or a fret saw.

Good luck.

Thanks for the tip! The hole would be 3 or 4 inches from the edge of the plywood so I would still have plenty of material there to give the tank support.

 

[CL_]

Tomorrow I will -finally- be finishing the stand (well, almost) I've decided to paint it charcoal grey. I was too nervous about staining/ not doing it fast enough or doing it too fast, etc. So, tomorrow I will be rolling the primer on the outside (already painted the inside white) I also drilled a few access ports in the stand for filter tubes, power cords etc.
I also got the wood for this tank from Tom on saturday. The extras that were sent to act as packing peanuts made the scape that much better haha.
Here's what I put together

 

[CL_]

Finally done! (minus the door handles)
Foam Roller
2 coats of Zinsser 1-2-3 Primer
~3 Coats of Sherwin Williams 6988 Bohemian Black Interior Matte Latex Paint
You can see the access hole I drilled for filter tubes. Two on each side

Vertigo Picture:

Pics aren't 100% Accurate
Actual Color

Thanks for all of the help everyone!

 

[shoggoth43]

Looks very nice.

 

[pat w]

Nice and clean.

What hardware are you planning for the door pulls? IMO something in chrome or brushed nickel would make it really pop. Nothing to big or it'll distract from the tank.

Here's a 'few' choices: http://www.rockler.com/search_results.cfm?fp=All+Products%2F%2F%2F%2FHardware%2F%2F%2F%2FCabinet+Doors+and+Drawers+%2F+Cabinet+Refacing%2F%2F%2F%2FAttribSelect%3DKnob+Finish%3D%27Nickel+or+Chrome%27&currentpage=1&forcepage=t&ResultsPerPage=50

I kind of like this one.

Or if you prefer the clean look you have now you could go for the internal magnetic toggle closures like these:

I found them here: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=135&filter=door%20magnetic

Just some thoughs.

Pat