[thefatman]

well, it was pretty darned good day here. mother nature provided me with lots of sunshine and temps in the 70's, allowing me to work in the driveway instead of garage.

murphy must have been on vacation because he didn't bother me a single time today!

so, with so much in my favor, i got the entire frame put together. got the bottom (sump) shelf put in. got the frame and shelf for the refugium put in. got the top (tank) shelf put on as well.

the only thing the bottom portion needs now is skin, doors and trim.

tomorrow i am making the cabinet/storage unit that will sit atop the tank shelf, next to the tank. this will be used for minor storage and also hide the plumbing etc.

i'll also be putting the canopy together tomorrow as well.

i'm anticipating getting it all skined and ready for stain by monday afternoon, and have the stain and first poly coat on by monday night ... that of course, depends on whether tomorrow and monday are as nice as today was.

i'll tell ya waht this puppy is STURDY!! i used liquid nails on all the seams/joints as well as 2 5/8" screws. on the legs i couldnt get screws into them because of the way they are mounted, so i picked up some angle brackets and put on two per leg, mounted with 1 5/8" screws. the legs also have liquid nails on the joint as well.

the shelf for the refugium doesnt seem like its very high, but that's just dude ot perspective. the stand is 37" high and 6' long and 2' deep. the shelf for the fuge is 11 1/2" high. this puts the top of the fuge, 5" higher than the top of the sump, which gives plenty of room for the 1" drain line that will come out of the fuge into the sump. this also left me with about 8" from the top of the fuge to the 2x4 beam to be able to put a door above the fuge that will give me access to it for macroalgae removal, feeding of horses, etc... and then the space behind the 2x4 will allow me to mount the light for the fuge, so it will be out of my way, and i wont have to deal with it when working on the fuge.

so far, it's coming out exactly as planned.

 

[thefatman]

a closeup of the mounting brackets for the legs.

 

[thefatman]

framing complete, top and bottom shelfs installed (3/4" plywood)

 

[thefatman]

size perspective of the stand compared to asia the ever present helper

 

[aquaticsdeptleader]

looks good think youll need a foam pad

jim

 

[thefatman]

framing for fuge shelf

 

[Rick O]

Looks good Jay. You're lucky to have your helper.

 

[thefatman]

and finally, the fuge shelf

 

[Casey]

Jay good job looks nice Jay what did you have for lunch from McDonalds ??

 

[dbelshe]

Lookin good , Jay. It is very satisfying building your own equipment, isnt it. Keep up the good work

 

[thefatman]

foam pad? you mena as in between the tank and shelf ? if so, yeah i agree. i'm plannign to use 1/4" styrofoam sheet, same as i did on the current stand. i jsut dont trust the plywood to be completely even.

also putting it under the fuge and sump as well.

thanks guys for the compliments. i'm hoping to have it done by monday night, so this week i can get started on the plumbing. i imagine the plumbing will take me a while because i want it all done right, and nice/neat and glued in etc..

yeah my helper is a godsend. the most fun for her was getting to walk on top of the stand to insure it was sturdy hey i was there to catch her jsut in case

 

[Joel]

isn't there supposed to be water in a box on top of that? Looks good Jay, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[MontanaRocknReefer]

DIY'ers must be blessed!! Very nice workmanship and sure is nice to have a helper! Keep the pics coming!

 

[Buzz_Hog]

I've never bothered with using plywood on top of the stand...

My tank sits on the 2x4 frame and the facade covers the base of the tank.....

This would also work well for those with 6 inch DSB's....

 

[93solsi/gsr]

You did a **** good job on that, have you thought about running trim around the top of the stand to kinda hold the tank in place and centerd on the top? Thats how my stand is I am gonna try to post some pics of it tomorrow if I can.

 

[thefatman]

solsi, the stand is far from complete, the tank wont be centered on the top shelf, i'll attach a picture of roughly how the completed project will look. the inside "middle" shelf will hold a 20 gallon refugium that will be visible through the stand, the lower right shelf will hold a 29 gallon sump. the top "main" shelf will hold the 75 gallon tank, as well as a shelving unit for storage and hiding the plumbing. then a canopy will cover it all.

the pics posted earlier are just the completed lower framing and shelves. oh and yes there will be trim all the way around, etc..

buzz, i know the 3/4" top shelves aren't necessary, but i use them for a number of reasons. first it ties everything together and really helps increase sturdiness. and it makes the finsihed product look nicer, IMO,. and alos because keep in mind, the stand is oversized. the tank is only 48x18 footprint, but the stand is 72x24 footprint. so if i didnt cover the top, there would be a 6" open gap behind the tank

i'll be using the trim/facade to cover the trim of the tank, but i'll have the complete dsb showing in both the display and the fuge.


solsi, the darker trim board between the two tanks in the diagram, will cover the lower trim on the tank in front and on the side. i assume this is what you were talking about to "hold the tank in place" ?

 

[tyler]

woah, i like the fact that you can see the fuge. doesn't look like you have much access too it though.

 

[thefatman]

yeah that's just because of the way it was drawn out, i wasnt sure how everythign would fit together.

the fuge actually has a space over it about 8 inches high that will allow a door for my arm to go in, this is actually larger than the space in the canopy of my current tank. it's just hard to picture, due ot the drawing, but on the stand itself (i did a test fitof the fuge in place before putting the bracing in an exact spot) there is lots of room. behind the lower double doors is also a 29 gallon sump, and with a test fit of that, plenty of room as well. the tank is 30" wide. the door opening is 30" same as over the fuge. the door opening will be 30" x 6" samewidth of the fuge. my current canopy over my 55 only has an opening of 5" high, so this should more than suffice.

later tonight i'll have pics posted of todays progress, which should have everything completed except for maybe skin and stain. i'll do a shot with tanks in place, then it will all be much clearer

 

[CAT]

Lookin' good

I know they called you names for getting your wood cut at the store but it sure makes things go together smoothly

One suggestion if you're as messy as I am when you're working in the tank... I used several coats of 'spar' varnish when I finished my cabinet, it's the stuff they use on wooden boats so it holds up to all kinds of spills in the long run.

 

[thefatman]

lol oh yeah i'm a "tad" messy lolol

for the inside i'm going to paint it entirely with marine paint, and then put a wipe on acrylic poly over it.

for the outside, it'll be stained and then get 3-4 coats of acrylic poly over it.

i'm going with acrylic poly this time instead of noraml poly. the acrylic verssion is able to be cleaned up afterwards with plain water instead of mineral spirits.. (bad memories from the last stand using mineral spirits..ie: smoking after cleaning my hands )