How to make a 55 gallon tank stand (48X13X20)

48X13X20 << are the measurments

done with the help of my husband and brother
What i bought:

• 3 2x4x10
• 4 2x4x8
• 16 corner angles
• 2" wood screws (DON'T use nails)
• 1/2" wood screws (for the angles)
• 1 can of wood paint
• 1 2" brush

What else will i need:

• circular saw
• drill
• sander
• pencil
• meassuretape
• the triangle to draw the lines (no idea what it's called right now ;) )

already precut:

• 5 pieces of 2x4x54
• 8 pieces of 2x4x34
• 8 pieces of 2x4x15

my husband sanding the rough edges






















measuring from the edge in on where the cross piece goes

measuring exactly the difference on how far apart the piece has to come

screwing on the pieces to the top first, which has 3 long pieces accross














more screwing










an idea how it should look on the top, you see only 2 long pieces for the bottom












finally getting to the vertical pieces, which will be screwed on with the 2" screws first and then angles will be added with additional 1/2" screws
















connecting the bottom and the top piece























final screws :)











hooray, the stand is screwed together :)









now painting it, to match the rest of my furniture in the living room
















done painting, and ready to go into the house








the stand in my livingroom and my tank put onto it It looks awsome, i love it, and it matches my shelving on the right and the left :)
It took me about an hour to build, it's fun and easy it's heavy, but well worth to build yourself I only spend 60 bucks on materials :), which saved me a bunch of money instead of buying a stand I will add later on a shelf on the left, add a door and cover the right side with siding :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What else i bought:
2 sheets of 1/16x24x48 cardboard
1 pack of 1/2" nails





covered the front to about the middle which is 24" high











added another 4" piece on the top












and added shelving right on top of it for all my accessories and stuff i need for a happy fishkeeping ;)









And here is what the final stand looks like with front boards and shelving, and that all for a total of 70 bucks



Try it yourself it's fun
eve

my current fish tank setups and other info

5 gallon tank acrylic tank

1 female betta

1 female platy

couple of plants

bio wheel filter

25 watt heater

regular hood with lightbulb

couple of decorations

colored medium gravel

10 gallon tank glass tank

2 female platies

1 male platy

1 bronze cory

1 spotted cory

2 pygmy cories

submersible cascade filter for up to 20 gallons

submersible heater 50 watt

regular hood with 2 lightbulbs

couple of plants

colored medium gravel

10 gallon marine tank glass tank > this tank will later on function as a sump for my 29 gallon tank

1 occelarius clown fish

5 hermit crabs

7 pound liverock

5 pound sand

7 pound very fine crushed coral gravel

1 submersilbe cascade 300 filter

1 aquaclear filter for up to 20 gallons

regular hood with 2 lightbulbs

29 gallon tank glass tank > this tank will be converted into a marine tank once i give the fry away

17 auratus fry which where spit on March 6h, 2008

several plants

crushed coral gravel

some decorations

1 whisper filter for up to 30 gallons

1 rhena submersible filter up to 20 gallons

1 submersible filter 150watt

regular hood with 1 strip light bulb with a ocean sun 10.000K

55 gallon tank glass tank

1 pair of kribensis

1 pair of blue rams

6 shortfinned serpae tetras

6 giant danios

6 silver tipped tetras

2 kuhli loaches

1 male bristlenose pleco

part crushed coral gravel, medium

part regular light colored medium gravel

bunch of live plants

a couple of decorations

a few slate pieces

2 submersible cascade filters, both reate for up to 40 gallons

2 submersible heaters, both 150 watt

1 glass cover (no hood)

T5 lightning which is actually for marine tanks, which means 2 strip lights one blue and one white output

Co2 will be added soon to furthermore encourage better plant growth

all my tank lights are on a timer, which are set for 12 hours on during the day and 12 hours off during the night

i feed them all once or twice a day

i fast all my fish one day out of the week, to prevent constipation (haven't had any issues with that so far)

all those tanks are established since a while now and have all 0 ammonia and of course 0 nitrite,

nitrAtes are anywhere from 5ppm for my marine tank to 20ppm on the other tanks

other fish which i have kept and have experience with

goldfish (all varieties)

anglefish

guppies

mollies (also all varieties)

tetras (from neon tetras to others)

common plecos

swordtails

african cichlids ( auratus, kenyi's, albion socolfi's, yellow labs)

fish i want to try my hands on later down the road

dwarf puffers

as far as marine goes, i definitely want to try my hands on corals, invertebrates and of course fish for a reef setup