# 30 Long Tank Journal **updated 5/7**



## JoeDizzleMPLS

I was planning on finishing up my 75 gallon project before I started on this one, but since that project has been put on hold til Thursday, I figured I'd get a jump start on this one. The reason I am moving everything around right now is because I wanted to get rid of all of my older tanks and replace them with new ones that are better suited for what I have/will have in the future.

This 30 gallon will actually be the future home of my maculatus, but as soon as the tank is finished, my compressus will be calling it home so that I can tear down the 46 bowfront he is in and sell it. Once that tank is sold and I have freed up some space, I'll start another project that will be for his future home (still haven't decided on what tank I want for him).

I started today by building the frame out of 2x4s, same basic plan as the 75 gallon stand except this one is all 2x4s and there are only uprights in the corners. This was much easier to complete, keeping things square is a piece of cake when you are working with shorter peices like these. Here are some pics of the progress so far...


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## Soul Assassin

Nice work, how long did it take ya


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Soul Assassin said:


> Nice work, how long did it take ya


thanks... i think i have about 2 hours into it so far


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## Winkyee

joedizzlempls said:


> I started today by building the frame out of 2x4s, same basic plan as the 75 gallon stand except this one is all 2x4s and there are only uprights in the corners. This was much easier to complete,* keeping things square is a piece of cake when you are working with shorter peices like these.* Here are some pics of the progress so far...


Keeping things square is important for anyone who might be checking into doing this for themselves.

Get a good square.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

yup, a good carpenter's square and a small carpenter's level are great to have within arm's reach when doing a project like this... it's easier to check things as you go along and make adjustments if you need to instead of having to go back and tear things apart when you find out it's not square or level.


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## CuzIsaidSo

Good work Joe

Damn I wish I would've took woodshop in high school. Don't think I could build that. Maybe one day I'll try but for now I'll spend extra $$$ on a stand.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

brian519 said:


> Good work Joe
> 
> Damn I wish I would've took woodshop in high school. Don't think I could build that. Maybe one day I'll try but for now I'll spend extra $$$ on a stand.


i didn't take woodshop in high school either...









a smaller stand like this basically puts itself together, just make sure you pick out straight lumber and that your cuts are square and accurate. after your cuts are made, it's just a matter of putting the pieces together, if you made the cuts right, they should keep everything square on their own.


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## notaverage

Damn you've been busy Joe!


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

haha... with a baby in the house, i gotta get as much done as i can when i have a window of opportunity like this, i'm sure you can relate...


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

I've been working most of the day and I've gotten a lot done. I started working on taking apart my old canopy a while ago and I'm takin a little break now, so I figured I'd post some pics of my progress...

Started out by cutting a piece of 1/2" ply to size for the bottom shelf, notched out the corners, and threw it on...








I messed with this top piece for quite a while... I cut it pretty big at first and then tested it out on the stand with the tank on top, I kept trimming a little bit off at a time with the table saw until I got it to a size that I thought looked good, it extends for 1 3/8" past the edges of the tank.








This pic is just to show that the top is actually a piece from my old canopy... I'm going to use all of the lumber from my old canopy to finish this stand and to build the light box for my 75 gallon project, so that's gonna save me a bunch of money.


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## T-wag

how much did it cost u for the lumber?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

T-wag said:


> how much did it cost u for the lumber?


i have about $14 invested so far in lumber and screws... i still need to buy a couple things to finish it, but they shouldn't come to more than $20, so the total should be around $40 when all is said and done.


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## CuzIsaidSo

Good deal. Keep posting pics


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## Young Piranha

Could that kind of stand hold a 55 gallon on it? It would need to be longer of course, but would that same design be good?

And how much would the lumber & Screws cost?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Young Piranha said:


> Could that kind of stand hold a 55 gallon on it? It would need to be longer of course, but would that same design be good?
> 
> And how much would the lumber & Screws cost?


This same basic plan could hold any tank under 75 gallons, obviously you'd have to make it a bit longer and if you wanted to increase it's strength you could use 2x6s for the top frame. For larger tanks, you could follow the plan in my 75 gallon tank journal.

It really depends on the cost of lumber in your area and what you have on hand. I had everything but the 2x4s and deck screws here, but I'll give a list of materials and costs as if I had to buy everything I needed for the frame.

5 2x4s @ $2.33/per = $11.65
1 pound 2 1/2" torsion head deck screws = $3.00
1 bottle of Gorilla Glue = $4.29
1/2" CDX Ply Handy Panel (2'x4') = $3.49 **Optional**
1/2" Sanded Pine 2'x4' = $8.49 **Optional**

You could leave the frame as is and throw a tank on there or skin the frame to make it look like a piece of furniture, which could cost you anywhere from $10-$100+ depending on how nice you want it to look. For a 55 gallon stand, you would probably need either 1 more 2x4 or you could use 4 2x4s + 2 2x6s, which would bring your cost up to around $15 if lumber costs the same in your area.


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## bigshawn

nice i like


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## His Majesty

nice work joe. quite the craftsman you are


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## Young Piranha

Hmm, you seem like you know what your doing.

Think you could design me some type of stand that woul hold two 55 gallon tanks. Like one on top and one on the bottom.

That would be great ;]


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

I have seen a lot of plans like that on the internet, I'm sure you'd find plenty that would suit your needs with a quick google search.

I didn't really make any progress on the stand today worth showing pictures of, I did some sanding and tested out a few colors of stain that I'm thinking about for the top piece... I'll grab the rest of the stuff I need to finish up tomorrow or Friday.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Finally got back to work on this project today...

Started out by skinning the front of the stand in 1/4" sanded ply so that I could hang the doors...








Just as I was about to hang the doors, I decided to completely change up the plan for this stand once again... I put a piece of 1/4" sanded ply on the bottom shelf and cut the doors so that they would fit in to create a box inside the frame. I decided to go with an open front, I will probably add a shelf or something down the road, but I'm gonna see how this turns out. If I don't like it, I can always just add doors to it later.








I have to run to the lumber yard really quick to grab some more 1/4" ply and outside corner trim, hopefully I can get this finished up tonight so that I can paint it and stain the top tomorrow.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Well, I'm done building the stand, just needs finishing now... I'm going to eat some dinner real quick and then get to work with the wood filler and sand paper. Here's some pics of where I'm at right now...


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## jp80911

looking nice Joe.
you need to come over and build me one for my 180g when I remodel my basement


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## Soul Assassin

looking good joe, youre quite the carpenter

ever thought of using nice wood and staining it?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

thanks guys

ii will probably make some nicer stands in the future using cabinet-grade lumber, but for these stands, i wanted them to match some furniture that i already have, so having a big oak stand with a stain finish would have looked kind of out-of-place. i will be staining the top piece of this stand tomorrow tho...


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Hopefully this stand will be finished tonight so I can start setting the tank up tomorrow...

I was up until 3:30 this morning to get everything prepped for painting, I spent about 4 hours filling, sanding, and priming. This morning I got up and sanded the top piece prepped. Here it is ready for stain and paint...








Here it is after staining, now I just have to wait 8 hours to finish it with poly...


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## His Majesty

it looks good with the staining


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

i really like the color i picked out, it goes great with the paint color that i have for the rest of the stand. it'll look much better when it dries and i get a coat of poly on there... only 7 more hours to go


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## Killabee

that turned out real nice joe. I like the design


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## Grosse Gurke

Looks sweet Joe. I think people underestimate how much weight a simple 2"x4" will hold....that stand could hold up a truck.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

all of my diy stands are way overbuilt... i'm not so much worried about the stand holding up the tank as i am about their strength and resistance to racking with all the big dogs i have running around the house. i like the piece of mind of knowing that they can easily withstand a couple 100 pound dogs bumping into them while they are playing.

i'm planning on setting up another SW tank soon and the stand i make for that will be much less bulky, i want a nice clean look with that one and i won't have to worry about the dogs since it will be set up in my office.


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## Killabee

this stand here doesnt look bulky at all. Especially with the Hollow Square Design


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## Grosse Gurke

joedizzlempls said:


> all of my diy stands are way overbuilt... i'm not so much worried about the stand holding up the tank as i am about their strength and resistance to racking with all the big dogs i have running around the house. i like the piece of mind of knowing that they can easily withstand a couple 100 pound dogs bumping into them while they are playing.
> 
> i'm planning on setting up another SW tank soon and the stand i make for that will be much less bulky, i want a nice clean look with that one and i won't have to worry about the dogs since it will be set up in my office.


Oh...I understand when you are saying. My comment was more to the person asking about how much this design could hold up. You essentially have 4"x4"'s on each corner...I use pretty much the same design on one of my 180's with with just an additional center brace.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

for sure... i was just saying that someone could definitely build this stand with about half the lumber and it would still easily hold the tank. i have seen some really nice stands for 75 gallon tanks that are made to look like a table with nothing but 4 oak 2x3s as legs and a small shelf at the bottom to tie the legs together and provide strength against racking.


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## Killabee

yeah like you posted before ... i just couldn't trust that in my house .. not with a 9 and 10 year old running around the house.


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## FEEFA

Looks awesome so far joe, you truly are a jack of all trades


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## CLUSTER ONE

Feefa said:


> Looks awesome so far joe, you truly are a jack of all trades


Sweet stand. Looks very solid


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Quick shot after the first coat of paint...


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Just waiting on the second coat of paint to dry and then it'll be done... Here it is with stain and 2 coats of poly on the top and 2 coats of paint on the rest of the stand...
















I'm going to let the paint and poly dry overnight just to be safe and then I'll get started on setting the tank up tomorrow. If I get back home early enough tonight, I may start working on the canopy.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Spent the day getting the tank set up, feels good to have two new tanks running (finally). I took these right after I set it up, so the water is a little cloudy, there are bubbles on the glass, and the quality is crap, but I just wanted to be done so I could go relax on the couch.

Here's a wide shot to show what the tank looks like on the stand, I just threw a Coralife fixture on there for now since I'm not done with the canopy...









Here's a FTS, I know the tank looks a little small for the compressus, but this is just temporary until this game of "musical tanks" is over. I still need to add some plants and the ones that are in there need to do some growing, looks kinda empty right now...


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## CuzIsaidSo

Nice work Joe.







You've inspired me to try building something myself.


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## FEEFA

Looks great joe and i'm liking that light also


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

thanks guys... i actually like the light too, but it's just too bright for this tank. it's a 2x96 watt PC fixture, i'm only running one bulb, but even that is over 3 watts per gallon, which is WAY too much light.


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## FEEFA

Holy crap that light packs a punch eh!


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

yeah, it's pretty bright... i bought it for saltwater, but i don't have a saltwater tank set up right now, so it's just been sitting here. i'm still trying to figure out the design for the canopy, i'm making it out of pieces from the scrap pile like i did with the light fixture for the 75 gallon.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

It's been a while since I updated this thread and I had the camera out taking pics of my 75, so I figured I'd snap a couple pics of the 30 gal. The tank looks like crap right now, I'm basically just letting stuff grow and I threw in some plants that I got from Ba20 today. Once I get the 40 breeder set up, I'll do a plant order and get this tank looking good.


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## His Majesty

looking rather spiffing if you ask me old chum

and the tank does go well in its current setting. i approve


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Thanks bud... I think the tank and stand look better than what's in the tank right now. I really need to get that straightened out... I accidentally scratched the glass on the front a couple weeks back so I'm thinking about painting the front and turning the tank around on the stand and then just starting with a whole new scape when I get the plants.


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