mpdharley's new 360

[mpdharley]

Come along and join with me in my insanity! The new tank build has started. This process includes ripping up the carpet, redoing the flooring and then building everything else. I'll be building the stand, tank and sump.

Right now, the going is slow since I haven't refinished the floors yet. But, the carpeting has been pulled up and I got to use a mini jack hammer on my foundation!!! Gotta love any projects that require you to use major power tools inside your house!

I'll post pictures shortly of the all the steps, but first I wanted to post the diagrams of the tank, stand, sump/fuge and get comments, suggestions, etc.

Posting of update pictures will be a little slow until the flooring is done -- we are going to go with stained concrete in the new fish room -- so please bear with me. Once the building starts though, I will post pictures of each phase.

Tank Specs
The tank will be 6' x 4' x 2' which is approximately 360 gallons using 3/4" acrylic.

For the fuge, I'll use 3/8" acrylic.

Here are are the diagrams.

Stand - Top View



Stand - Side Views



Sump/Fuge



Tank - Side View



Tank - Top View


Mike

[PelagicMagic]

he's back!

[Ikaria]

Can't wait to see the updates as this progresses!

[teach]

I'm sure it will be amazing!

[mpdharley]

I updated some of the diagrams, but kept the original file name, so the diagrams above are the updated ones. I changed the orientation of the drawers in the stand and added the vents that I want, to make sure that I get some airflow through the stand.

And, some pictures

Carpet is up, Gee, I wonder if Dawn would let me just have the padding???





Guess not, cuz she's pulling up the padding!



Man, this concrete is going to be a pain to clean!




She even took out the tile from landing!

[mpdharley]

Jack Hammer in the house!!!





My father-in-law gets to have some fun!


Now that everything is up, got to put down the cleaner and let it sit overnight

[mpdharley]

Even with bringing out the big tools, we kept our injuries to a minimum (for once :-) )



Now that all of that is done, the sealer has been put down so now we wait. We might even get to put the stain down this weekend.

If we can, then it's time to run to Home Depot and buy lumber!!!!!!!

[mecold]

Are you building your own tank?

[Loverotties]

Great pics so fare!Good Luck!

[Ocnreef]

Wow.....I can not wait to see how your floor turns out and Tank of course. With the 30"+ opening, I would consider using double 2x6's on the top.

[mpdharley]

Originally Posted by mecold

Are you building your own tank?

Yep, I'll also be building a new sump.

Originally Posted by Ocnreef

Wow.....I can not wait to see how your floor turns out and Tank of course. With the 30"+ opening, I would consider using double 2x6's on the top.

Not being a structural engineer -- I'm curious as to how double 2x6's might be necessary because of the size of the opening? Is it because of weight distribution? By doubling the 2x6's, each 2x6 carries less weight, therefore it's okay to have a wider gap between the vertical supports?

[mpdharley]

The sealer was put down last night. Although parts of the floor in these pictures may look wet, it isn't. The sealer has soaked in. While soaking in, the sealer also pushes dirt and other deposits that are in the concrete to the surface. The whiter the area, the more deeposits were underneath the surface.







Of course, work of this nature requires that the operator keep himself well hydrated

[mpdharley]

The floor was cleaned before the sealer was put down. This is what the sealer "pushed up" from inside the concrete. This was just way to cool!





Now we get to sweep up this stuff and stain the floor!

[sea devil]

I see you work on your tank like I do. I'm partial to Bud or Crown lol

[Ocnreef]

It would be similiar to a header for a window or door opening in house construction. More of a saftey factor. I would actually sandwich a piece of 1/2" ply between the 2x6's to give you a width of 3-1/2" which is the same width dimension of your 2x4 uprights (legs).
Since you are going to top it with a full piece of 3/4" plywood, you possibly could stay with a single 2x6 because the load will be distributed across the whole top and not just on the edges. For the stand deck, I would consider putting the cross bracing at 16" to 18" centers.

Weight wise we are talking about a small car........3000 plus lbs. I would want a little saftey factor built in.