600 gallon Acrylic Reef

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In my evergoing quest to reduce the contents of my wallet.....here is what remains of 12 lengths of 1x 6x 8 feet oak after cutting down, biscuit joining to make boards and routing etc to make stiles.

DSCF0058.jpg


I assembled one each of the doors (top and bottom) to gauge the size and look. Now its a day of sanding, gluing and clamping...

BTW, thats my new glass cgaes frag tank the pieces are sat on.

Paul.
 
im going T5s.

I just ordered my next of 8 bulb hood for the big tank. That will leave with 2 of the 2 bulb retrokits which will go over the frag tank.

P.
 
Paul,

Are you going to still run a couple of MH's to get the look or are you going total T5's on the bigun?
 
I really dont know Steve,

The T5s are brighter than the MH, so it gives an illusion of depth....but the corals look so much better onder T5s.....its a tough call. Plus, I have to buy the T5 units....

I really dont know.

Hopefully at the time of the meeting I will have the two 8 bulb T5s at the front and the 4 400w MH at the back......we can then have a debate over what looks best.

P.
 
fwiw Paul, I have noticed all the frags I buy off people take on such a different coloring under my T5's versus the VHO's and MH's other people are using. Even the frags i recently got from BigScott take on a different look under my T5's versus his T5's, but he's got more blue spectrum than I. I really love the shimmer your 600 has with the MH's going but somethin' bout these T5's is just too cool. With as shallow as your frag tank is do you think that PC's would work just as good?
 
I really dont rate PCs for much more than growing soft corals and macroalgaes. You can get SPS to grow, but the growth rate is way too slow.

T5s are ideal as they give better coverage than MH when spread out over the tank.

P.
 
Just a thought, if you had majority of T5's over a tank, with one or two small MH's, I mean like the 100watt or smallest size available, would you still get a shimmer on the water? I have thought about adding more or less a couple "spotlight" MH to the sides of my 150, tilted towards the center of the tank, if they will give off this afffect, but seeing how the t5's are a bit brighter I don't know if they'll overpower the shimmer effect. (I know you run both and still have a shimmer, but you got some mega halides going over your tank.
 
Adam, you should look into Japanese tanks. They often light their tanks similarly. They have spotlights for their higher light corals. It's a very interesting look.
 
Hey Paul how are you attaching the wood to the metal stand? I am in the process of planning an upgrade and would like to do a metal stand possibly. I already have one on my frag tank and love it.

Also how do you make those doors like, on top of the frag tank?

Thanks,
Kyle
 
Kyle

Q1. I am using liquid nails to hold certain part against the stand, However, the wood on the inside is held in place by being glued/nailed to the other pieces of wood. Then I will have wood strips the thickness of the stand that the outside and insdie pieces will attach to. ...does that make sense?

Im not using hinges on the doors. I will use rare earth magnets to hold them in place. Makes them easy to remove.

Q2. As for the doors....you need a table saw, a planer, a router table and a biscuit joiner.

Buy the wood strips, plane them all down to the same size. Rout the edges flat and biscuit join 3 pieces to make each panel. Then cut down the sides and top.

Using a matched 3 piece router set all the grooves are cut and the doors put together. Assuming you cut all correctly, they will be square and flush.

Its almost impossible without a dedicated router set. The one I used was $120.

Does that help any?

Paul.
 
Don't forget running back and forth to Woodcraft about 10 times until you find the bit set you want :)

You also need a crate load of clamps.

T
 
Actually what you really need is Tim.

He is right tho, to make these doors we needed 20 large clamps as well. All in all, the tools we had to buy amounted to more than the cost of the wood.....and im not sure I have finished spending yet.
 
Just as an update,

Im hoping to get the doors glued together tonight.
I put the crown moulding up and Lynn has done the painting and the papering of the wall/ skirting/ crown.

Next task is to finish sanding the routed edges of the oak for the top doors. Then its just a case of putting it all together....sounds simple doesnt it.

My second set of T5s have arrived at Steves (Wet pets) in Norman, so Im hoping to get them on as soon as possible so that the corals color up prior to the meeting at my house.

Paul.
 
Ya know Paul, I love my woman for her willingness to help out with my fishies all the time, but i think you got yourself a keeper. Painting and papering the stuff, seems like everytime I'm over there staring at your beutiful tank, she's fixin' something round the house, lol.

I can't wait to see what those T5's do for the coloration in your tank!
 
Lynn is a powerhouse. She never stops....makes me tired watching her all day!

She has done an enormous amount to get the wall and surrounds done for the upcoming meeting.

P.
 
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