Anyone here have thoughts about modifying aquarium stands? I've been thinking lately about replacing four of my 55 gallon tanks (with 48 x 12" footprints) with 75 gallon tanks (with 48 x 18" footprints). I have two banks fo 55's, one of which is shown below-
As you can see the tanks are on simple particle-board stands with wood veneers; they look nice and work fine if you don't get them wet, and I've had them for many years. This bank has a 40L below one 55, and two 20H's below the other 55, The other bank has two 55's on top and two 40L's below.
Looking for stands for the 75's online, I have not been able to find anything that would allow me to have tanks on the lower level; most of the stands look something like this-
The obvious solution would be to build my own stands, and there are tons of suggestions online about how to do that-
The problem is, all these stands look 'home-made' to me, and I have neither the tools nor the skills to do finished cabinetry work. I'm not knocking these kinds of utilitarian approaches to a fish room; I just view my 'fish room' as another 'living room,' and I like it to look nice. So there's the rub.
So what about making my existing stands 6" wider by building extensions that I could mount on the back? I'd use the same strategy as if I were building the whole stand from 2 x 4's, and the extensions would be 48 x 6" free-standing units that I could secure to the backs of my existing stands, without them being an integral part of them. The crucial factor would be to make sure that the extension and the stand were exactly the same height, but that shouldn't be a big deal. The new arrangement would look similar to my current setup, as the extensions would be behind the tanks, against the wall, largely hidden from view.
Any suggestions appreciated.
As you can see the tanks are on simple particle-board stands with wood veneers; they look nice and work fine if you don't get them wet, and I've had them for many years. This bank has a 40L below one 55, and two 20H's below the other 55, The other bank has two 55's on top and two 40L's below.
Looking for stands for the 75's online, I have not been able to find anything that would allow me to have tanks on the lower level; most of the stands look something like this-
The obvious solution would be to build my own stands, and there are tons of suggestions online about how to do that-
The problem is, all these stands look 'home-made' to me, and I have neither the tools nor the skills to do finished cabinetry work. I'm not knocking these kinds of utilitarian approaches to a fish room; I just view my 'fish room' as another 'living room,' and I like it to look nice. So there's the rub.
So what about making my existing stands 6" wider by building extensions that I could mount on the back? I'd use the same strategy as if I were building the whole stand from 2 x 4's, and the extensions would be 48 x 6" free-standing units that I could secure to the backs of my existing stands, without them being an integral part of them. The crucial factor would be to make sure that the extension and the stand were exactly the same height, but that shouldn't be a big deal. The new arrangement would look similar to my current setup, as the extensions would be behind the tanks, against the wall, largely hidden from view.
Any suggestions appreciated.