I am building a stand and have a solid frame built now i just need to put some pretty skin on it. I need some ideas I can’t decide what to use my options that i explored are
3/4 oak plywood with oak trim pros is its pretty and sturdy… cons is weight and cost
1/4 oak plywood with oak trim pros cheap and lightweight… cons flimsy and may be hard to work with
cedar 1x4 planks pro durable and nice looking… cons hard to put together may be wavy and trim is limited
pine 1x4 planks pro will line up ok and a lot of trim options… cons heavy and not so durable also could be wavy
I want to stain this and make it look really nice as it will be in the living room trim it to give it style. I will be building a matching hood so whatever i decide the hood will be the same this is going to support a 225 peninsula and I am going to make some nice doors on hinges or pull off not sure which yet there will be two on the 6’ side and one on the ende I made the frame flush on the ends and 3"wider on each side. the frame is 37’ tall the door opening on each end is 33 1/2"w x 31" tall so a 75 g sump will fit nice
also these are the inhabitants it came with besides the obvious know of any problems that could come up with these? Who knows fish because I sure don’t lol I will add more once it is properly set up and I may even tie into my coral system to make maintenance easier and to dirty my coral watar and to clean the fowlr tank thanks
the inhabitants are
Naso tang looks good eating well
squirrel fish looks good eating well
yellow tang looks good picky eater
clown grouper acts weird and haven’t seen him eat but I think he did
And of course the fully grown blue dot ribbontail ray that looks great and is a pig eating from my hand, definitely the coolest thing I have ever had, but I believe I may be donating her to boston aquarium they will be in De. at the end of june to catch rays from the chesapeake. They want to put her in with other rays in a petting tank that is 17,000gallons plus so i believe that is best for her. Would you all agree?
A special thanks to Jason and Bill for moving this thing really appreciate it guys!
A guy I know took a bunch of pallets apart and used the planks to skin his stand, then he stained it all black. Rustic looking with a sense of modern.
Another thought (if you like the look) would be to get a nice Harwood with nice grain, and burn it so the grain pops, then clear it or stain it. Could be pricy though.
yeah, hardwood solid or plywood? the plywood would be reasonable but since its layered i would have to make sure its very protected (it would be) and that I pick good pieces since sanding would have to be light.
Dunk, i skinned my stand with 1/8" plywood. I didn’t sand at all.
It took the stain pretty evenly after wood conditioner. The only spots it didn’t take well were where they had used wood filler, you can see the splotch on the right middle.
No idea! basically the cheapest plywood that comes in 4’x8’ sheets haha.
I had them cut it all for me too fo free (home depot).
I’d try to pick out pieces that don’t have any wood filler if you can.
Obviously it’s not going to be antique furniture quality, but i’m not a carpenter and no one should be getting up close and scrutinizing the stand anyway!
the stand is well on its way I have much more work to do but coming along nicely. I hope to have it done newt week maybe this weekend if everything goes well.
I could use some help moving the tank from the old stand to the new one if anyone is interested. I’ll make the same offer of frags beer and pizza If anyone is interested lol. I am going to remove the rocks and some sand but would like to leave some water in to keep the livestock in. It will involve sliding the new stand next to the tank then just lifting it over and setting it there then move the old stand out and slide the new one in place pretty easy please let me know if you can help I am in Cheswold.
