DIY stand sturdy enough?

[tcfls2]

I am looking at building this stand and wanted to know if anyone has built one like this and if it is sturdy enough.  It would be 3/4" plywood using a Kreg jig for the pocket holes.  I will just have a 35 gallon cube on it, but I am worried about it supporting all the weight.  Here is a link to the video.  Thanks for any input you can give me.

 

 

[LazyFish]

I over build but honestly but I would worry about warping and bowing or separating after years of use. I would build a frame first then skin it with the plywood personaly.

[BioBoy16]

I recently put up a 300 gallon tank for my Gfs boss' office. When the stand showed up, I was surprised how flimsy and thin the wood seemed. I looked at the guy and said this can't be the right stand. You know there is going to be over a ton of weight on this? This for aquariums? Guy shrugged and said nope this is what was ordered. Looked it over and sure enough yes this was the stand intended for the tank. Tank has been up for almost a year now no problems although I still get anxious when I have to climb in the cabinet to fix things haha.

 

Point of the story (i swear there was a point haha) is if you are following good building practices and making a sound cabinet, it will likely hold the weight. These cheap cabinets the large suppliers push out year after year manage to hold considerable weight given their relative flimsy appearance. I have a cheap Walmart cabinet holding up my BioCube 16. not a huge aquarium, but still a considerable amount of weight for some cheap particle board. This cabinet held a 15 gallon FW planted aquarium for years no problem and my biocube is the same with cats jumping on it, people bumping into it, ect. Like Lazy said, over build, make sure you treat the wood to protect it from water spills and it should be fine. If you are still nervous, stack an appropriate amount of weight on it before you put the tank together and nudge/push the cabinet around. No rocking creaking or cracking and you are golden. Better the cabinet falls apart with some weights on it than with gallons of water and ur prized critters spilling onto your floors. 

[tcfls2]

Thank you both for your replies.  I think I will build a frame and skin it with a thin plywood inside and out and then coat it in a waterproof enamel.  I just need something that looks really nice since it is going in my office and I can't take a chance of it falling.

[BioBoy16]

7 minutes ago, tcfls2 said:

Thank you both for your replies.  I think I will build a frame and skin it with a thin plywood inside and out and then coat it in a waterproof enamel.  I just need something that looks really nice since it is going in my office and I can't take a chance of it falling.

Absolutely. My brother does a lot of wood working in his free time. Was just talking to him about borrowing some tools. Don't be afraid to reach out some ideas and I can run it by him. Definitely look at multiple tutorials and pull design elements from each that you like. Draw everything out with measurements before you start cutting and you'll be just fine.

 

Now you got me thinking if I want to replace my crappy Walmart cabinet with a custom one haha.

[tcfls2]

Thank you for the offer, I will probably take you up on it.  I have built a few in the past and they held up fine, but they definitely look homemade.  

[FREAKINRICAN69]

That's a really sharp and well built stand. Bigger tanks obviously would need more reinforcing and counter reinforcement for my personal liking. But that stand it very nicely built.

[Privateer]

I made this with 2x4 and Simpson strong ties….very very strong and should be easy to skin

[FREAKINRICAN69]

13 hours ago, Privateer said:

I made this with 2x4 and Simpson strong ties….very very strong and should be easy to skin

Very nice and simple. Great job on that.