Stand Build...

I just nearly had to rethink the whole idea as well. Just got outbid on a 6x2x2 on eBay; it went for £58.17 as well
 
your mate smacked it on a door handle didn't he?

Although i bought a 60x20x24 which would be perfect for this stand; but was also watching a 5x2x2 so i let my mate take the 60x20x24 as it came with a stand and I'd take the 5x2x2. After agreeing that I spotted the bidding details on the bigger one and it looked a bit suspicious, I just fancy something higher than the 60x18x18 that i've got
 
He did yeah, not good, really chuffed with what I have now though.

What are the dimensions of the stand?
 
I saw your advert when you first listed and then when you relisted but it was just too big and too much work for me.

it's:
external - 77wide 24deep 41high
internal - 65wide 22deep 28high

It was originally built so I could have either a 5x2 or 6x2 tank on top and sectioned off underneath to have three 18x18x24 exo terra vivariums for my cresties and frog. But if the idea didn't work out; I didn't want a glass tank filled with 400+ litres of water to drop 3.5 foot.
I just need to order the LED's for the background !
 
I've painted the sides and moved it from in front of the window if that counts as progress?


Although I have just got the wood from Homebase and the LED stuff arrived off eBay the other day. I just need to pick the dimmer switch and then start on the background

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Not sure why there's a white line down it as I only saw it on the picture and I can't be bothered standing up to look at the minute.... pretty sure it's just the light though or i'd have spotted it.

The frame inside it is what's going to attach the background to the stand.
 
Update time I think...

Well all my LED's turned up so I picked up a 5ft sheet of Easipanel from Homebase, screwed it to the frame and drilled 6.5mm holes for the LED's. Then I attacked the with layer after layer of grout to give it a rocky effect; when that was done I went at it with matt black paint and then dry brushed it with grey and it did look pretty impressive.
After it was all dry I fitted the LED's and spent ages soldering them together and admired my handy work as I really shouldn't be left to play with anything electric and hot! So the moment of truth, I plugged them in and................ some came on and some didn't, if i touched the background they all came on so it looks like there's a problem with the earth. Even when they did come on they weren't that bright so I sacked the idea off and just stuck the background in the stand and forget to take pictures of it.

Tell you something though, it's not easy lifting a 5ft tank on your own.. but I got it in place
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The tank... it's 60x18x18 and cost me £140 for

Tank and lid.
4 splash panels,
3 Interpet 4 filters
1 Fluval 4+ filter
2 boxed Interpet 2 filters
A Fluvel 1 filter
Heater
some rocks (one real, one fake and one fake with air pump connector
Arcadia starter (40wattI think)
gravel

I was half way through cleaning the tank when i took the pic, hence the smears

Everybody seems to prefer a black substrate so i'd taken all the gravel out and toddled off to B&Q, returning with 50k of 'midnight blue' gravel for just under £12.
After cleaning them and probably earning myself a Christmas card from United Utilities, i stuck it all and some of the original gravel in the tank; along with some rocks, the heater and an Interpet 4 at one end and the Fluvel 4 at the other... If it's over kill I'd rather unplug one than try and add another if i needed to!

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and yes, Wibbles insists on getting her head in the way.

Pre-topping up with my cresties on top, it looked like
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As soon as I'd finished it my replacement vivs turned up (about 8pm last night). today's job was to fill it and sort out the vivs, so after getting home from work and spending a couple of hours on it we finally have....

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I just need some LED strip lights and a tube for the Arcadia... Some plants, probably live but I don't want heavily planted... and then some fish! not decided what I'll be having but as it's black I want something colourful and a decent size


and i'm never doing it again!
 
looking good, how about ditching the tanks wooden cover/lid and mounting the lights to the inside of the stand then have a flap of wood secured by hinges to hide the top section, would finish it of quite nicely.
 
Cheers... I did kind of consider something like that and it probably is a better idea but....

old mutt chops there moults like nobody's business, so it'd have to go quite far down so the tank doesn't get filled with fur. It's also an MDF stand (although the lid is MDF as well) so I need to be extra careful of condensation... The main stumbling block is that i'd need a 65 x 10inch piece of MDF and then prime it and paint it on both sides, without spending full price just for a piece...

definitely would be better though as i'm limited to movement in there at the minute.
 
Cheers... I did kind of consider something like that and it probably is a better idea but....

old mutt chops there moults like nobody's business, so it'd have to go quite far down so the tank doesn't get filled with fur. It's also an MDF stand (although the lid is MDF as well) so I need to be extra careful of condensation... The main stumbling block is that i'd need a 65 x 10inch piece of MDF and then prime it and paint it on both sides, without spending full price just for a piece...

definitely would be better though as i'm limited to movement in there at the minute.

Two bits of glass cut to shape from the local glazier and some plastic E profile (scroll down a little) should make a nice sliding lid :) I have a big german shep, i know what you mean about hair, its a nightmare!
 
Two bits of glass cut to shape from the local glazier and some plastic E profile (scroll down a little) should make a nice sliding lid :) I have a big german shep, i know what you mean about hair, its a nightmare!

I've built plenty of vivs but didn't even think about sticking sliding doors on the top of this. Probably because of the slash panels

Looking good. But the brown has to become black

i hadn't even thought about that either.. but i see what you mean now you've mentioned it... Although i might go for a drop down flap instead as it'd give me more room.
 

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