The Puffer Forum

Hello,

Tried to build my own stand for that tank, but lock of time is the problem. I was on-line for a while now and I got hard time to find a 40 gal breeder stand.

Can you help? Links and suggestions welcome.

40 breeders use the standard 36"x18" welded angle iron stand, almost any store can get you one. Wooden stands are MUCH more expensive, but also available. It's the same stand whether you have a 30 breeder, 40 breeder, 50, or 65 gallon tank.

THX Nick, I will look into.

Iron stand is more what I would like

It's cheap, strong, easy to put a sump under, and I just toss a table cloth that goes well with the room over it before the tank, and it's ready to go.

If you use outdoor fabric from the local fabric store, It will not show water marks or dirt nearly as much as indoor fabrics, and will not rot for decades.

THX

Since Petco had this sale (1gal = $1) I got my self 3 X 40gal breeder tanks. Many people are happy with those tanks.

I will post pictures as soon as I'm done with moving

The last tank I bought at that was my 45, but that was years ago, surprised they are still doing it. I suppose they figure they'll make it up on the accessories and stands.

to add to RTR's comment .. I LOVE black landscape fabric. I wish I could use it for all my tanks but I can not. it stains easily with hard water deposits.. that is my only beef with it.

Actually come to think of it.. I would go with pond liner to cover the tables and stands Waterproof, black, washes easily and is somewhat shock absorbent.

Not sure if it is still relevant, But building it yourself does not need to take very long.
I just finished a stand for my 42 gallon (US) long. It took me little less than one hour.

I will gladly post a picture and construction guide, when my camera is done charging.

As promised. Here are a picture of my newly made aquarium stand. The tank is 42 gallons (US) and measures 100x40x40 cm. The total height of the stand with tank and hood, is 114 cm.



Took me a little less than one hour to make, and cost something like $100 in materials (would most likely be half that with US/UK prices).
It is made of lightweight concrete blocks (autoclaved aerated concrete) and 22mm plywood. The back is just cheap wood fibre board.
Everything is held together by 90mm. self tapping stainless steel screws.

The blocks I used are 60x40 cm. and 10 cm. thick. even 5 cm. blocks would have been more than enough, but I like the look of the thicker ones.
To make a larger space underneath (for sump etc.) it would also work with just the two blocks at the ends. Material strength really isn't an issue here. These blocks are used to make load bearing walls in houses (or complete houses for that matter), and will easily hold any tank you put on it. we are talking many tons here.

The nice thing about this material is that you can treat it like you would a wall. You can finish it with paint, wall paper, tiles etc. It tolerates water and lasts a lifetime.
The blocks can be cut to size with a normal hand saw, and you can even carve patterns in it without any special tools.
As you can see, I have done nothing to mine as I will be covering it with fabric.

The blocks can also be glued together (special glue). It will form a bond that is as strong as if it was a single piece.
A few examples of other ways to go about it (not my pictures):

http://saltvandssiden.akvariefisk.dk/st ... 418E80.jpg
This one is just stacked blocks and plywood top/shelf. No glue or screws whatsoever.

http://saltvandssiden.akvariefisk.dk/st ... FA3F47.JPG
This one is glued together and painted. Something like this would take a couple of hours to make.

If I remember correctly, both tanks are 140 gallons (US).

Good stuff

Now that I got 3 metal stands all the great ideas pop up.

I got 3 new stands for $210. I will post some picture later on.