How to make an aquarium - Part 2 making the stand

Right so you've got your glass all cleaned up lets make something to put it on. The stands that you get in a lot of pet shops are foil board or fibre board and are pretty crappy and massively over priced for what they are.

Making a stand is a piece of piss and although I won't give you the exact plan or measurements I can explain what you're going to need to do.

Where does the support need to be?

So looking at this diagram the horizontal rectangle represents the top of your stand that your aquarium is going to sit on the vertical one represents the legs. If you place your aquarium on diagram A all of the stress is on the joint so the nails are screws are taking the full weight of your tank. If you place your aquarium on B the top is fully supported by the legs and that bad boy isn't going anywhere.

First top tip, provide a full support for your aquarium, what I mean by this is don't just build a frame for the tank to sit on

See how in A we only support the perimeter of the aquarium but in B we support the whole bottom of the tank, this probably isn't necessary but I like the added security that the bottom of my tank isn't going to bust out onto my electronics and gizmos under my tank. I always provide a styrene or foam-board layer between the aquarium and stand to correct any small unevenness that could put extra stress on the silicone joints.

What you should have now looks kind of like a table but those legs need bracing to give the stand some rigidity

By joining the legs up you make everything a little bit more stable. If you want to clad the stand then this will provide even more support, I recommend using screws for your connections and wherever possible use 2 per joint for example:

By using 2 screws or nails you stop the wood spinning around one point this again will add stability.

your new stand is only fit for purpose if you feel comfortable sitting on it, now I am a big dude and weigh a lot more than my nano tanks and my stands do not budge an inch. If it's rocking you're doing it wrong.

Tool list for this build:
- Jigsaw
- Selection of files
- Rotary tool with drill attachment and sanding attachment
- Screwdriver


To see my stand check out the video below.