Barney, you learn by doing. And, years ago I was complaining to a co-worker about not being able to afford good tools. He set me straight. He said, when you do a DIY project you are saving a lot of money, so take about half of that money and spend it on a good tool that will make your project turn out better. Then, the next time you do a DIY project, do the same thing, with a different tool. Eventually you collect the needed tools to do your best job, you learn to do good work, and you are still saving lots of money.

I used that logic when I remodeled my house. I ended up with a fully equipped wood shop! Since then I have downsized by selling the house and buying a condo, so now I'm back to just hand power tools. But, I still remember what I learned.

I finally got the doors installed today, just plain rectangles of 3/4 oak veneered plywood, cut to fit inside the opening in the front. I used surface mounted hidden hinges, which are the greatest invention of all for those of us without the tools to install cup hinges.





Now, I need to install a couple of small shelves inside to make it easier to store fish food and fertilizers, while still leaving room for the filter and CO2 reactor. The electric outlets will probably just be what I now use, chained short cord extension cords, with two timers controlling a couple of the extension cords.

After that I will be staining it to match the existing hood, and clear finishing it. I think I will just use the same door knobs as on the present stand. And, I'm still not sure what kind of cushion to use between the glass and the stand.

I'm so pleased with the cabinet I decided not to short change myself on electrical hookups, so today I installed electric outlets flush with the back wall of the cabinet, using a GFCI to protect all of the outlets. I couldn't find a 5 slot junction box, so I used a 3 and a 2 slot box. This will allow me room to plug in two mechanical timers for the lights and the CO2 solenoid, plus room for all of the other electric stuff that goes with an aquarium. This is the nicest electrical hookup I have ever had in a stand, made possible by doing it before the tank is up and running, insead of a rush job after setting everything up.

It is now stained and clear coated with water base urethane, glossy. The doors are not yet re-attached - that will wait until I move it to the final location. I also found a good cushion for between the tank and the stand. It is a sleeping bag mat made of closed cell polystyrene foam, for $7 from Big 5 Sporting Goods store. The other option was 6 mouse pads at $4 each from OfficeMax.

Today I made the change over to the new stand, and I am now totally exhausted! I forgot just how much work is involved in doing that. All I now have left to do to complete the switch is to install the light and the doors on the stand. One change I made from my last post - the blue sleeping bag mat was too thick and hard for what I wanted, so I found heavy duty cushioned shelf liner to use instead. It is little beads of rubber each attached to each other to make a mat of beads. It seems to work find, and doesn't look nearly as ugly as the blue stuff would have. I will post a photo tomorrow.

Here is the final product - final except for door knobs. Don't ask how I can open the doors without knobs for now!

well you did a very good job. On to the next project now

Vaughn,

Nice job all the way around. Good advice on "learning by doing".

Have you considered using an open top?
I intended to use different wood and bleach the wood first, then do several coats of the poly but sand it down good in between.

As you mention, doing it right from the start helps, and the finish is no different.
I made cabinets for a Van Conversion company years ago and also made tank stands as a side business.

I think it cost me about 50$ for A 240 GALLON tank hood and stand, and I sold it for 300$ back then.
Took about 2 hours each if I made 3-4 at a time.
But I had the shop and could use it after hours.

You are really limited with hand tools though.
The cut precision goes way down but if you are careful, sneaky etc, you can do quite well.

I learned how to fill in mistakes very well in the Van place and got a lot of how to with all sorts of different materials.

Great job

Time to scape and then scape some more.

Regards,
Tom

Thank you Sintei and Tom! I got the knobs on yesterday - I just removed the knobs from the old cabinet and installed them on this one. After I set it up Monday I increased my continuous water change flow rate to about 1.5 gallons per hour and ran it at that rate during daylight hours until this morning, when I left it at the more normal .5 gallon per hour, and I expect to reduce it again to the original .2 gallons per hour by tomorrow. The water is clear, no leaks, I like the looks of it, so my excuses for not trying to learn aquascaping are just about gone!

beautiful work!