DIY Aluminum Stand

dangit · Sep 25, 2024

For my next tank I’m thinking about building an aluminum stand and building wooden doors and sides to close it up…. Has anyone done this before and have any tips or recommendations? Anything helps!

Reef_at_Sea · Sep 30, 2024

Somoene i know made a aluminum stand with Alux construction profiles.
it looks very clean & easy to construct.

masterofstuff124 · Sep 30, 2024

its called aluminum extrusion. available from many places and sizes.
when cutting its important that your cuts actually be 90degrees. I.e. flat and parallel/perpendicular faces. So get the necessary equipment to setup your saws correctly. Its still sorta early days with this stuff, and aquariums(we need a rocket engineers stand thread, someone lays down the law (follow manufacturer spec atm.)) I don't think we have a good consensus on which type of joints or construction (blind, corner cubes, joining plates, various types of brackets, roll vs hammer nuts.) That said make two flat rectangles for top and bottom and connect them. If its a long tank add extra supports both vertical and horizontal. I think 3030(metric) or 1515(imperial) is likely good enough for everything except maybe a MONSTER 300g. There are a ton of cool attachments for these. ultimately its just a modular design so the sky is the limit. Ive been decking mine out with all sorts of 3d attachments. I wanted a floating light so I ran a long extrusion from my stand to a right angle over the aquarium. With how expensive wood has gotten extrusion feels pretty afforable imo, and the extra stand space is great! that said its pretty easy to just trim the whole thing with wood. a couple holes, nuts, and you can easily make it look like a conventional stand. I think this will eventually take over the whole scene.

Marcus H. · Sep 30, 2024

Build Thread - 40 Gallon Breeder

I bought an Aqueon 40 gallon breeder and a Fuji AIO to turn it into a peninsular tank. Comments: The FUJI AIO is not the greatest. Unfortunately I could not get Tenncor to respond to my emails and purchases were disabled on their website. So it was Fuji or make my own. The biggest issue is...

www.reef2reef.com

Here is my tank thread. I am working on the doors now.

dangit · Sep 30, 2024

masterofstuff124 said:
its called aluminum extrusion. available from many places and sizes.
when cutting its important that your cuts actually be 90degrees. I.e. flat and parallel/perpendicular faces. So get the necessary equipment to setup your saws correctly. Its still sorta early days with this stuff, and aquariums(we need a rocket engineers stand thread, someone lays down the law (follow manufacturer spec atm.)) I don't think we have a good consensus on which type of joints or construction (blind, corner cubes, joining plates, various types of brackets, roll vs hammer nuts.) That said make two flat rectangles for top and bottom and connect them. If its a long tank add extra supports both vertical and horizontal. I think 3030(metric) or 1515(imperial) is likely good enough for everything except maybe a MONSTER 300g. There are a ton of cool attachments for these. ultimately its just a modular design so the sky is the limit. Ive been decking mine out with all sorts of 3d attachments. I wanted a floating light so I ran a long extrusion from my stand to a right angle over the aquarium. With how expensive wood has gotten extrusion feels pretty afforable imo, and the extra stand space is great! that said its pretty easy to just trim the whole thing with wood. a couple holes, nuts, and you can easily make it look like a conventional stand. I think this will eventually take over the whole scene.

Appreciate the details! I have some experience with sim extrusions from sim racing when I’m not reefing. One thing I’ve not done is trim aluminum with wood to give it more of a cabinet look. Do you have any tips on securing the wood to the aluminum?

masterofstuff124 · Oct 2, 2024

havent done it myself. I kinda like the industrial look. My first thought is just to follow somewhat conventional building practice and put a ply face on the front with a hole in the center and then add cabinet style doors. but bolt heads around the perimeter is still somewhat industrial looking. Ive seen people do a french cleat with the panel removeable that solves the bolt heads. Ive seen similar with just magnets. You could slip a captive ply sheet in the inward facing grooves. I think for my own build I will go with some large hinges running the length of the vertical extrusion and some magnets. My next build is a 90g reef Ill be experimenting with some of these ideas and possibly round corner profiles. Innevitably when I do a massive 300 Ill prolly just go for the classic crown molding look as itll be dead center living room another sheet of ply over countersunk flat bolts solves the industrial look in this style. As i said not a ton set in stone and requires a fair amount of diy. Good Luck!