46G Bow stand/canopy construction

[Safir]

Grr - i moved some pictures and made the post above all wonky...

and i can't edit it now.

so anyway: stained and urethaned with the tank on it:

MH ballast and power center installed upside down under the top of the stand:

detail shot... I left 6" of space behind the tank for equipment and/or plumbing. the stand is 6" depper than needs to be, and the hood will be 6" deeper than needed, then there will eb filler pieces that fill the gap in between - they won't be attached to the stand or canopy so that any piece can be removed when needed.

and since the water had cleared up this morning - with 64 lb of rock in it - fiji LR, but it spent the last year or so in a tupperware container with water and a powerhead, it is alive, but doesn't look it... the coralline algae is starting to bloom and color back up already under my NO flourescent, can't wait to get the MH on it

waiting for a mini ammonia spike to go away (i attribute that to the water/sand being in a tupperware for 4 days and adding the rock) then i'll call up TBS and get some "real" live rock

 

[itstheantitang]

Wow! looks very nice.

Where did you order the lr?

 

[Safir]

LR came from a local who was getting out of the hobby.

supposed to be almost 50 tomorrow, so work should begin on the hood, at least as much as I can do myself

 

[Cinderblock]

Nice and clean looking. When you get pictures of how you completed the doors, please post. I am making a stand for a smaller bowfront aquarium this weekend.

 

[Cody Ray]

Very nice!

 

[Safir]

Today's canopy progress - I slept 'till 3:30 PM so i got a late start on it...

Frame is complete

With the MH mounted:

I'll skin it tomorrow (and take the blue plastic off the inside of the reflector - doh)

looks like my host is having issues again - pics will show up eventually

 

[Safir]

Today's progress so far:

still to go today, two coats of white paint on the interior, rip down the 1/4" oak "trim" and even out the edges top and bottom with the router - tomorrow i'll attach the trim, two coats of stain, two coats of polyurethane, and it'll be done :bounce1: :bounce2: :bounce3: :dance:

 

[Safir]

trim and stain are on - urethane tomorrow, then it'll be done - w00t

doors to come later this week

 

[Safir]

a few detail shots of the way the top opens, and looks more like one piece when closed:

Finally - it appears that 6" behind the tank might have been a little bit too much:

 

[alien9168]

Thats a funny picture. ^^^

-alien

 

[Safir]

the fiance saw a tail sticking out from back there, so ran to get teh camera - he jumped up there, and sh ecouldn't get him out because he wouldn't back out and she coudln't get her arms in there to grab him heh.

 

[alien9168]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7055765#post7055765 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Safir
the fiance saw a tail sticking out from back there, so ran to get teh camera - he jumped up there, and sh ecouldn't get him out because he wouldn't back out and she coudln't get her arms in there to grab him heh.

sounds like a really funny moment.

-alien

 

[Safir]

By popular demand - door construction.

I am not terribly happy with the way the doors turned out - the 1/4" skin didn't come out as well as I had hoped it would - I already have a design change in mind that should fix that problem, BUT these will do, as I am getting married the 14th, so our parents will be in town and the fiance wants doors on the stand and all the lumber/tools/sawdust gone... I'll build another set at a later date, I've got enough left over plywood to do it, or at least take the skin of these and modify them.

the modification I want to make is to add a third cross piece in the middle, as the 1/4" skin is not keeping it's curved shape through the center

The doors were constructed in a similar manner to the rest of the stand, 3/4" plywood frame giving them their basic shape, 1/4" oak plywood bent over this frame to give the bowed shape

There is a small piece across the bottom - this serves two purposes. First, it keeps the plywood structure square (and allowed me to square up the "stubborn" pieces with a little force.) Second, it creates "pockets" in the doors for storage of food, testing chemicals, etc for easy access

The skin is essentially two layers thick - the first layer is exactly the size of the frame, while the second layer (the trim) overhangs 3/4" on the outside edges, and 1/2" on the inside edges - this allows the back of the trim to sit flat against the outside of the stand, and give an even look when compared to the trim on the stand, instead of being set out an extra 1/4" - I think it gives the doors a more "built-in" look. the overhang also gives the doors room to operate and covers all the gaps.

FWIW, not including tools I had to pick up to complete the project, this stand cost approx. $226.23 - this includes a lot of screws and nails I did not use, and I have a lot of stain/paint/polyurethane ef tover as well, so the cost was really less than that - If you had this sort of stuff lying around from previous projects you could get teh cost down pretty well - the "lumber only" cost was only $177 - The Oceanic 46G bowfront stand alone is $269 and canopy is $109 - so this represents a substantial savings, along with the opportunity to have something that better matches my existing furniture, and is much sturdier, IMO.

This was my first time building anythign like this, and as such, I am quite happy with the results - I know the second one would have come out better, and gone together faster (thi one suffered a number of design changes along the way.

 

[alien9168]

If it makes you feel any better, I like the way the doors turned out.

-alien

 

[Safir]

unfortunately, with stain and urethane on them, i feel that the lack of curve is even more obvious but i appreciate the kind words.

It should be relatively easy to fix, as I can just pull off the skin, add the center brace, and re-skin it.

I didn't make any progress mounting the doors, because my TBS rock arrived yesterday, but I should get them mounted and get completed pictures today. I'll fix the skins on them sometime after the wedding.

 

[tptp279]

so do you have a pic of the finished stand and canopy?

 

[Skorpinok]

I notice that you're using 1 MH bulb for you're bow tank - what do you think of it so far with the shadow affect in the middle?

 

[tptp279]

I know you are asking him but i cut out the center brace and nylon bolted a piece of clear acrylic there in it's place.

 

[Safir]

this is the best full sht i'v got right now. I really wasn't very hppy with teh way the doors turned out, and plan on re-doing them when i get some time, as I was a little hurried to et somthign on tehre before the wedding.

There is a pretty pronounced shadow from the center brace, as you can see in the picture, but i don't let it bother me - one nice thing abotu it is no algae grows i nteh shadow :lol:

I plan to add some t5 actinic at some point and hope that that will help to fill in the shadow and even things out, as i think two MH's would just be too much in a tank this small.

 

[Skorpinok]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7363043#post7363043 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tptp279
I know you are asking him but i cut out the center brace and nylon bolted a piece of clear acrylic there in it's place.

Is this something you did to you're own tank?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7363232#post7363232 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Safir

this is the best full sht i'v got right now. I really wasn't very hppy with teh way the doors turned out, and plan on re-doing them when i get some time, as I was a little hurried to et somthign on tehre before the wedding.

There is a pretty pronounced shadow from the center brace, as you can see in the picture, but i don't let it bother me - one nice thing abotu it is no algae grows i nteh shadow :lol:

The doors looks pretty good - in my opinion... What type of SE bulb are you using and what's the length of the bulb?