Buildup of a 210 gallon Reef

[thrlride]

One side will have a door for sump removal. The other will have a dummy door. I'd like to find a way to make it look like there is no door on the one side.

Any ideas?

 

[countertopguy]

What kinf of doors are you planning to use? Frame and panel or slab?

 

[thrlride]

The fronts were going to be frame and panel, like the 90 I built. I'm not sure what I'm going to use on the one side.

 

[countertopguy]

Why not do the same on both sides? Why not have a door at each end?

You could always make an extra door and mount it to the panel on the end so it looks like a door. I added panels above my doors to add some interest. I'll try to find a photo.

Steve

 

[countertopguy]

Here is a shot of my stand

You can kind of see the fake panels above the doors. This is to fill the gap between the doors and the structure of the stand

Steve

 

[thrlride]

Where are you located in NC?

That looks awesome!

I was going to make a door for the right side and then the same door for the left side, I just wasn't going to make an opening on the left side.

On second thought, I probably should go ahead and make an opening on both sides.

Do you think I will be sacrificing a lot of strength by making the skin in panels instead of a solid piece?

 

[countertopguy]

I am in Elon. Near Burlington. We have a really sweet lumber dealer in town. It would be worth the trip to get the wood for your stand. I would be happy to show you around for frags

Check out my thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=553005

I took alot of inspiration from your original 90 thread especially your hood.

If you check out the framing on the ends of the stand you'll notice I beefed it up pretty good. This was overkill but cheap insurance.

Steve

 

[rdmpe]

Hi Thrlride,

I'm setting up a 180 also. I'm currently working out some plumbing "issues". Best Laid Plans & all ... I tend to overcomplicate things I think.

Did you decide on two doors or four? I did my stand with four doors and I'm really glad I did. I thing two big doors would be more of a pain to deal with. Big doors to swing open you know? I'm sure you know, the bigger the openings the better for working under there!

Great choice to make the stand 40". I sure wish I had made my stand taller. Mine is only about 30" and it really limited what I could do for a sump, skimmer, etc.

I went with a glass cages tank, I know you mentioned that you were scared away from them. I'm pretty happy with mine. I have to admit it is a budget tank in terms of the finishing touches. I had to clean up some silicone with a razorblade and the black plastic trim isn't pretty (but would typically be hidden behind wood anyway). But for a savings of $800 or so for a custom tank, it was the way to go for me.

My stand is all made from 3/4" oak plywood, no 2x4's etc. except for one going across the top in the middle front to back. After looking at large tank stands at several LFS and seeing how poorly almost all of them were made (typically particle board and big wire staples!) I decided to follow their lead on using weight bearing walls but with much more solid construction.

I have to admit though, if I did a frame and could remove the skin, that would be really nice too. Makes it easy to work on plumbing with the skin panels removed!

So do you have your Dart pump yet? I have one on a closed loop. It is an awesome pump! Super quiet and powerful. I have a Sequence Tarpon for my sump return, running some penductors. Not sure if I'm going to keep this setup or change to a Dart with no penductors. With the Dart I'll end up pulling a lot more flow through my overflow and sump though, which I'm not sure I want to do...

Well, I'll be following along!

 

[rdmpe]

Hmmm - double post - sorry bout that!

Well here's another thing you may find use for. I wanted a good strong top surface for my tank to sit on (it sits flat on the bottom glass with 3/4" styrofoam between the wood and the glass). I got a piece of 3/4" hardwood plywood, 11 ply, for about $30. It was normally over $50 but this one had a gash in it, making it pretty useless for furniture. So I asked them what they wanted for it damaged as it was (just cosmetic). It's much stronger and flatter than the typical 3/4" roofing type plywood. So if you can find a piece that the forklift scratched, etc. you can get a good deal on it...

 

[thrlride]

countertopguy,

Your stand and canopy are amazing, very nice!

We have a hardwood place here but I think they are kind of expensive. I paid almost $200 for the trim on the 90 stand and canopy for just red oak.

Is the place up there better than that? How far away from Charlotte are you?

 

[thrlride]

Hi Thrlride,

I'm setting up a 180 also. I'm currently working out some plumbing "issues". Best Laid Plans & all ... I tend to overcomplicate things I think.

Did you decide on two doors or four? I did my stand with four doors and I'm really glad I did. I thing two big doors would be more of a pain to deal with. Big doors to swing open you know? I'm sure you know, the bigger the openings the better for working under there!

I was going to make it two doors like this stand. Since the stand is taller and the sides and middle (using 2x6's on the ends and 2x4 in the center) are larger as well I figured it would just look bigger as opposed to two huge doors. At least I hope so.

Great choice to make the stand 40". I sure wish I had made my stand taller. Mine is only about 30" and it really limited what I could do for a sump, skimmer, etc.

I went with a glass cages tank, I know you mentioned that you were scared away from them. I'm pretty happy with mine. I have to admit it is a budget tank in terms of the finishing touches. I had to clean up some silicone with a razorblade and the black plastic trim isn't pretty (but would typically be hidden behind wood anyway). But for a savings of $800 or so for a custom tank, it was the way to go for me.

I haven't fully counted out glasscages yet, their customer service reputation is what has me worried the most. I do like the idea of a low glass iron though.

My stand is all made from 3/4" oak plywood, no 2x4's etc. except for one going across the top in the middle front to back. After looking at large tank stands at several LFS and seeing how poorly almost all of them were made (typically particle board and big wire staples!) I decided to follow their lead on using weight bearing walls but with much more solid construction.

I have to admit though, if I did a frame and could remove the skin, that would be really nice too. Makes it easy to work on plumbing with the skin panels removed!

So do you have your Dart pump yet? I have one on a closed loop. It is an awesome pump! Super quiet and powerful. I have a Sequence Tarpon for my sump return, running some penductors. Not sure if I'm going to keep this setup or change to a Dart with no penductors. With the Dart I'll end up pulling a lot more flow through my overflow and sump though, which I'm not sure I want to do...

I haven't gotten the dart yet. I'm waiting for a used one to come along or one that was purchased and never set up. My finances are quickly dwindling due to the time of year and the fact that I am going to loose overtime very soon so I am trying to penny pinch the best I can. I'm sure my panworld will suffice until I can get the dart, heck, it may be enough anyway as long as I keep the head pressure down. They say you only want 5 - 10% sump turnover anyway. This pump would get me near 5%. The dart would have to be turned way down.

Well, I'll be following along!

 

[thrlride]

Hmmm - double post - sorry bout that!

Well here's another thing you may find use for. I wanted a good strong top surface for my tank to sit on (it sits flat on the bottom glass with 3/4" styrofoam between the wood and the glass). I got a piece of 3/4" hardwood plywood, 11 ply, for about $30. It was normally over $50 but this one had a gash in it, making it pretty useless for furniture. So I asked them what they wanted for it damaged as it was (just cosmetic). It's much stronger and flatter than the typical 3/4" roofing type plywood. So if you can find a piece that the forklift scratched, etc. you can get a good deal on it...

That's a good idea. I know that glass cages recommends using the 3/4" foam between the tank and stand, I've researched and AGA recommends the opposite for their tanks. I guess it has to do with construction.

 

[rdmpe]

I guess the AGA tanks must be made to be supported around the edges, whereas some others are made to be supported across the whole bottom such as glasscages and miracles in glass.

If you want to see some detailed info on my dealings with GlassCages I did a thread about it with lots of pictures in the vendors section: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=627299
It will not hurt my feelings if you don't use them! Just thought you might be interested...

 

[thrlride]

I love how all the GC threads turn like that. LOL That's what scares me though. I pick up one of his tanks and have it messed up, then having to wait months to get another one or having to drive all the way to TN. to get a good one. When I have the dinero for the tank I want it in good shape and ready to get wet.

 

[thrlride]

Well, I went to Lowes and found that exact jig. I'll play with some wood I have lying around and see how it goes.

 

[countertopguy]

Make sure to use clamps to hold down the pieces as you screw together. The way the screw goes in, it wants to pull the pieces out of alignment.

Steve

 

[thrlride]

Do you recommend a corner clamp or just clamp them to a flat working surface?

 

[countertopguy]

Just clamp to a flat surface. The joint is self squaring assuming your cuts are square. You really only need to clamp the piece that does not have the pocket screw hole in it. It is the piece that will want to move.

Steve

 

[thrlride]

A pic coming soon but I got the entire front panel done.

It was quite simple to get it all square.

I did learn that you cannot trust the little marks indicating the degrees on a Craftsman miter saw.

 

[enforcer8621]

pocketscrewing is the best way to go by far. My parents own a woodshop and we pocketscrew nearly everything. We use a machine that does it in one step and it's sweet. I remember when we first started we used to have to line everything up with a drill press and that was a pain. Now we can pocketscrew about 50 holes in a few minutes. I'm excited to see how everything turns out.