New setup: AA 54x24x20 + 50x16x16 sump

Moved, sold my old tank (36x30x20). I would’ve rather kept a 30 deep, but the wall picked out didn’t accommodate a deeper tank. So c’est la vie.

first time building my own stand, so be nice. I am currently soaking the rock in RODI after a 2 day muriatic acid + week long bleach bath

Once that rocks is clean soak in tank no lights for 1 month. Feed and add lots of bacteria to cure so you won't get dinos.

no lights, or a total blackout?

just keep an eye on your nutrients later, I'd say go for 0.05-0.1 po4 and 5-10ppm no3 and you'll be good.
Nice Fir's on the f80

I am sorry but as is that stand will not hold.

It is not safe to screw into the end grain of a board for this application. I think it would be wise to reinforce those joints with aluminum angle, or something of the type.

I would also be concerned with the lack of center brace. Did you wrap the back and sides in ply?

Are you referring to the pocket screws ?

the rear is wrapped in plywood. I added a center brace as with it in place the sump wouldn’t fit.

Think he has the same concern as me. I think it will rack with any lateral force.

You’ll have to explain “rack”

I’m no craftsman; I simply got the plans offline and taught myself how to use the pocket hole tool.
This is the second stand I’ve ever built; I can say that the first stand I built looked like crap and had some slop in the corners.
This time around I used wood glue everywhere and then wood and/or pocket screws. I was very surprised at how strong everything held together. Even when I picked it up, I didn’t feel any give.

No lights

I think he means that if an Earthquake hits, and your tank weight starts going side to side...that stand may collapse sideways. You need something to prevent sideway movement like corner braces, even if it is added to the back corners.

Also, the nails you screwed at the top, I can see it is already splitting your wood. May not be a problem, but you may want to drill a smaller pilot hole next time, and that would prevent splitting the wood.

You may want to add some cross beams (front to back) on the top to support the tank bottom glass as well.

Oh thanks for clarifying.
As mentioned: I added a plywood back, as well as a plywood top, and a pair of diagonal braces to each side. Today I added some angle brackets to all corners just for peace of mind.
That should be enough? If not, I’ll just throw it out and buy 8020

Like on the bottom of your stand, you had some cross beams front to back. Did you add any at the top?

I am referring to this.



This will fail. All four of them in time. Not sure which first but probably this one. If you added aluminum angle to each of these joints it could help. You'll want to get as big of a piece as you can and make sure it is screwed in close to the top, close to the bottom, and close to the middle of each butt joint. I drill my own so I am not sure what is out there but I am sure you can find one with 3 or 5 holes on each side.

End grain does not hold glue or screws well. There are chapters on books about it but I can sum up hours of research with it will fail in time. It will fail much sooner if exposed to humidity or water. End grain not holding screws or glue well is why we have countless other ways to bring corners together, like pocket screws, dovetails, finger joints, miter bits, talons, dowels, etc etc. We wouldn't have any of those types of joinery if you could just screw into end grain.

Racking is the next concern. It is the stand moving side to side with weight on it and not be able to absorb an outside force. Earthquake is a great example but it doesn't have to be something that drastic. A person bumping into it could collapse it. Closing off the back and sides with plywood would help. Marine ply would be your best option, but it is spendy. You could do a Baltic birch as well, which is what I build my stands out of.

Did you paint the wood to protect it from moisture?

If there is still no water in it, I would also highly recommend getting some pond liner and incasing your sump area up a good six inches on all sides. Basically make your cabinet water proof for 6". I think it works out to like 15g for that size. It is a small increase in price, but it will make the stand sturdier as it protects the base from moisture, but also, if there is every a spill, or sump leak, clogged filter sock, slight spill when taking off the protein skimmer lid, etc etc it will save you a lot of clean up. A couple years back my sump seam failed (store bought sump) and having the pond liner meant I wasn't replacing the floors in my house. I just sucked the water up with a shop vac and fixed the seam. The $20 or whatever I spent on the pond liner easily saved me 10 grand. It's just nice to not have to worry about dripping in the sump regardless; even if there is never a a big thing.

Sorry for being so long winded. I had a store bought stand fail on a 65g tank about 15 years ago; and my hobby is wood working. So I am both a bit paranoid and actually know a good amount about this.

I think most of the DIY wood stands are screwing into end grain though.