Just for My Fishtank.net
- Thread starter strout
- Start date
Well my first mistake, my first of many to come I am sure. I bought a piece of 3/8 inch plywood for the stand top and two 1/4 inch sheets for the floor and the back of the stand. The 3/8 is fine but the 1/4 just isn't think enough, went back and bought 1/2 inch. No big deal but it was a $40 error. I got three coats of a water repellant white sealer primer on all three boards so that hopefully, weather permitting, I can get all three borads on the stand this weekend and move the stand into the house. Does anyone see a problem with having the stand enclosed all the way around, guess I should have asked this question earlier? I need a place to mount all the equipment, MP40 controls, Apex Controller, power strip etc. mounting them inside the stand on the back wall is the only place I can think of putting them. Thats the reason for the thicker plywood. Any suggestions or does this sound good?
I don't think you want to enclose the stand completely because that makes it hard to run power cords for anything you might add in the future. Of couse, you can always cut holes in the back. If you have a lighted refugium planned, you might want some of the back open to help keep the equipment cooler in summer. If you're planning to add a chiller, it shouldn't be enclosed.
I pretty much finished the stand yesterday, going to be a beast to get it in the house. I went ahead and enclosed the back of the stand. I will have to cut out some holes for the power cords, I was thinking of installing two cut outs on the back for two fans (one on either side of the stand) one pulling in air and one blowing air out from under the stand. Lucky I made the stand 6' long for the 48" long tank, the 40 breeder sump takes up most of the room under the display tank section of the stand, the top off tank may have to go under the quarantine tank section. I willpost some updated pics after I get the stand into the house. When I say finished the stand, I mean just the frame part, the wifes son will skin the frame for me, no telling how long it will take him to do that though 
Still have to cut out a hole where the overflow pipes will come thru the stand and have to install a small shelf for the Bubble Magnus dosing pump.
Still have to cut out a hole where the overflow pipes will come thru the stand and have to install a small shelf for the Bubble Magnus dosing pump.
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Tuesday I requested price quotes from two companies for my tank. One is the dealer that the LFS uses for his tanks, DSA, think they are a Texas based company, the other is Miracles, they are located in Canada. I requested a quote from DSA on one tank:
48x30x25
Euro braced, no center brace
Black silicone
Overflow box centered on the back panel
Sprayed on black vinyl paint on the back panel
I also requested a quote for the same tank from Miracles, plus I requested a quote for my dream tank
its pretty much the same tank, except they make a tank where the overflow box is part in the tank and part outside the tank. In the picture I saw the box protrudes into the display tank about 2 inches or so and the overflow drain pipes and return pipes are outside the tank. Frees up some space in the display tank, we will just see how much extra that cost.
48x30x25
Euro braced, no center brace
Black silicone
Overflow box centered on the back panel
Sprayed on black vinyl paint on the back panel
I also requested a quote for the same tank from Miracles, plus I requested a quote for my dream tank
its pretty much the same tank, except they make a tank where the overflow box is part in the tank and part outside the tank. In the picture I saw the box protrudes into the display tank about 2 inches or so and the overflow drain pipes and return pipes are outside the tank. Frees up some space in the display tank, we will just see how much extra that cost.
LOOKING REAL GOOD!!! I have not ran a fuge or skimmer in a couple years now on my SW stuff since I discovered the scrubber technology. I still run an oceanic 150 trickle on my FW 75G African tank. So far it has not became a nitrate factory yet.
I like that rack even more now, it looks really great, that was a great idea. I hope you don't mind when I rob that idea from ya. LOL.
I like that rack even more now, it looks really great, that was a great idea. I hope you don't mind when I rob that idea from ya. LOL.
All of the pictures that I see online of peoples tanks, the ones without a canopy, jmo, look the best, my wife takes a bunch of pics with her new camera. So I knew I didn't want a canopy over the new tank but I also new my wife wouldn't let me hang the lights from the attic. Kept trying to come up with an idea until I saw a post by a LFS owner in Louisiana in a local forum of one of his tanks with the light rack he had made, new after that, its what I wanted, gave him a call to make me one. The down side was when he made it, go figure, its the reason for the whole thing, he didn't look at or get a AI LED light fixture to make sure the way he was making the part that holds the 3 lights would fit. I told him at the start he needed to do this, he didn't and when I got all of the way back home ( I Live a pretty good ways away from him) the lights didn't fit. I took that part of the rack to a friend and he is modifying it for me. Its painted with, what I would say is the stuff that they use for spray in bed liners in trucks, but not real rough. My next step is to work on my Top Off water system, I am sure I am going to have to make some kind of bracket for the parts that sit in the sump, its a Tunze system, but, I have to clean my shed today and that will be an all day job. Oh, I do have a job, every six weeks we get a Friday, Saturday Sunday off unless they make me work it The pump in the middle of the sump will run the Manifold, the pump on the far right of the sump is the return pump.
camera. So I knew I didn't want a canopy over the new tank but I also new my wife wouldn't let me hang the lights from the attic. Kept trying to come up with an idea until I saw a post by a LFS owner in Louisiana in a local forum of one of his tanks with the light rack he had made, new after that, its what I wanted, gave him a call to make me one. The down side was when he made it, go figure, its the reason for the whole thing, he didn't look at or get a AI LED light fixture to make sure the way he was making the part that holds the 3 lights would fit. I told him at the start he needed to do this, he didn't and when I got all of the way back home ( I Live a pretty good ways away from him) the lights didn't fit. I took that part of the rack to a friend and he is modifying it for me. Its painted with, what I would say is the stuff that they use for spray in bed liners in trucks, but not real rough. My next step is to work on my Top Off water system, I am sure I am going to have to make some kind of bracket for the parts that sit in the sump, its a Tunze system, but, I have to clean my shed today and that will be an all day job. Oh, I do have a job, every six weeks we get a Friday, Saturday Sunday off unless they make me work it The pump in the middle of the sump will run the Manifold, the pump on the far right of the sump is the return pump.
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I have just added some DIY LED's to my tanks and they are really impressive, I was always a halide guy until I put some 12,000 and 19,000K LED's over my 10G nano. Boy, did the corals pop to lively colors. My brother thought I bought new corals!! Well I hope your shed cleaning goes fast so you can get back to tank. I need to do mine but, I am working on my scrubber today for the 10G nano. I am converting it from a horizontal flow to a vertical flow so I can get the benefit of using both sides to consume nutrients.
LEDs will make them corals pop. The first time I saw LEDs over a tank was at the LFS, I just couldn't belive how great they made the corals look. I new then I would have to have LEDs over my new tank. Got the shed cleaned today and was able to get a bit done on the tank. Got the shelf for the dosing pump mounted in the stand and have the dosing pump siting on it , redid my manifold, just have to glue it now. Going to take the top off system out of the box tommrow and see what I have to do to mount that.
, redid my manifold, just have to glue it now. Going to take the top off system out of the box tommrow and see what I have to do to mount that.Well, lets see what I got done I got the power strip mounted today twice. I mounted it the first time where it would be in the way of the drain and return lines *crazysmil I got the Tunze Top Off system installed, that kinda confused me a bit. They include in the box two magnet set ups, one that holds both the sensor and the float valve ( thats the one I used) the othe magnet set up is to use if you were going to use the sensor on one set up and the float valve on the other. Why the two different set ups? I also got the Apex controller mounted. I got the tubing ran from the dosing pump into my three jugs, have to buy some more tubbing, ran out of what they supplied with the pump after running it to the jug. Bought a few plumbing pieces from Lowes for the return line, seems like when ever I get back home from Lowes, there is always another piece I forgot to get To tell the truth, I am just about out of things to do until I get the tank.
I got the power strip mounted today twice. I mounted it the first time where it would be in the way of the drain and return lines *crazysmil I got the Tunze Top Off system installed, that kinda confused me a bit. They include in the box two magnet set ups, one that holds both the sensor and the float valve ( thats the one I used) the othe magnet set up is to use if you were going to use the sensor on one set up and the float valve on the other. Why the two different set ups? I also got the Apex controller mounted. I got the tubing ran from the dosing pump into my three jugs, have to buy some more tubbing, ran out of what they supplied with the pump after running it to the jug. Bought a few plumbing pieces from Lowes for the return line, seems like when ever I get back home from Lowes, there is always another piece I forgot to get To tell the truth, I am just about out of things to do until I get the tank.