RedEDGE2k1
Member
I'm back!
I was forced to sell my 2yr old 30g reef during college when I took an internship in Florida and had to move away from Auburn for the summer of '06. I graduated the following fall, and moved to Atlanta in January of this year to start life in the "real world." My girl bought a townhouse, and with all that floor space it didn't take long for me to start pondering a new reef tank.
This time, it will be done right. I wasted a LOT of money on the 30g from impulse buying and a general lack of knowledge. Since rekindling my interest in reef aquariums I've spent countless hours over the last month or so reading up on Reef Central -- everything from T5 vs. Metal Halides to protein skimmers and UV sterilizers. The research is by no means complete, but in the mean time I bought a new Perfecto 90g Corner-Flo tank at Aquarium Showcase (great store) here in Atlanta, and started designing a home for it.
Here's my Sketchup model / design:
I modeled it somewhat after a custom cabinet I saw in Aquarium Showcase. It had a $3,000 price tag! No way I'm paying that.
I chose to keep the top shelves open (no cabinet door) to give the unit a less blocky appearance. I think it turned out nice.
I plan to setup the 90g reef in our living room, and I want a custom piece of furniture for it to rest in. I *hate* the look of run-of-the-mill aquarium stands & canopies that we've all seen a million times. IMO, 99.9% of the manufactured stands are cheap and cheesy looking...I can't put that stuff in a new house! So, I downloaded Google Sketchup (free), a program taught to me at Auburn as part of my building science curriculum. What an amazingly simple, powerfully effective, cost-saving piece of software Sketchup is. I was able to model the entire aquarium cabinet in textured 3D, without ever picking up a pencil (much less cutting a piece of wood). After about 9 hours of mouse-clicking on this lazy Sunday, I finished my design and exported a movie animation of the build sequence. The animation can be downloaded here:
90g Cabinet Build Sequence
Low Quality (12mb)
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/smithdu/Cabinet_LOW.avi
In addition to the cabinet itself, I also modeled our living room to scale, so I could get a feel for how big/small the cabinet should be. I didn't want to overwhelm the living room, but at the same time I wanted the tank to have a good presence. Sketchup allowed me to tinker with countless size possibilities.
I didn't show dimensions in the movie, but they are integrated in the model. So, from there I can get exact measurements of each wood component of the cabinet.
A few notes on my design:
1) For the most part, the entire cabinet will be constructed of 3/4" sanded plywood. This is sold at Home Depot & Lowe's for $35 per 4x8 sheet. I will be painting & faux antiquing the cabinet, not staining it, so I don't need the expensive wood grain of hardwood ply. This will save a lot of $$$.
2) The drawers are fake. The cabinet doors & drawer fronts are unfinished oak, and are available from www.cabinetdoorsandhardware.com
3) In certain areas, such as the rear structural panel and the side panels (the plywood parts directly supporting the tank), I used a solid piece of 3/4" ply, with rectangles cut out of it to reduce weight. This will make the stand stronger (no screw connections) and lighter (no wood where it's not needed).
4) The animation begins with the 2x6 header and 2x4 vertical/horizontal members being installed to support the tank over the 4' span @ the cabinet doors. Of course I will be using a sump, so I didn't want any obstructions when the two cabinet doors are open. The center piece (between the doors) is just for looks, and is removable.
5) The tank sits on a solid piece of 3/4" plywood, which spans the entire 7' width of the cabinet. Everything above this sheet of plywood makes up the top section of the cabinet, and is not attached to the bottom section. This will allow the two pieces to be built/sanded/finished/moved (up 2 flights of stairs!) seperately from each other.
6) There is a 3" gap between the sides of the tank and the cabinet. This will allow Vortech pumps to be used, with the motors hidden in the cabinet.
7) The tank will be maintained via an access panel on the front/top of the cabinet, which is completely removable. The seam of the panel is hidden by trim. The entire panel will be held in place with cabinet door magnets.
8) The 7' cabinet height allows an abundance of room above the tank for metal halides as well as room to work. I plan to mount 2x250 MH and 2x54w T5 Actinics to a light rack, which I will suspend above the tank with metal chains from Home Depot (attached to the "roof" of the cabinet). This will allow me to raise the light rack up high when working on the tank, and if the need arises, I can unhook the chains and remove the lights altogether, in one piece.
9) The bottom/side cabinets will house switches, ballasts, and other misc electronics. This will help keep them free of salt creep.
10) For canopy cooling, I'm going to install the quietest 4" fans I can find. One or two blowing in, and one or two blowing out.
I will begin the physical build as soon as I can gather the materials and buy a couple new woodworking toys. This build gives me a good reason to use my new garage and give Dewalt a lot of money!
I'll keep you guys posted. In the mean time, let me know your thoughts!
Take care-
Dustin
I was forced to sell my 2yr old 30g reef during college when I took an internship in Florida and had to move away from Auburn for the summer of '06. I graduated the following fall, and moved to Atlanta in January of this year to start life in the "real world." My girl bought a townhouse, and with all that floor space it didn't take long for me to start pondering a new reef tank.
This time, it will be done right. I wasted a LOT of money on the 30g from impulse buying and a general lack of knowledge. Since rekindling my interest in reef aquariums I've spent countless hours over the last month or so reading up on Reef Central -- everything from T5 vs. Metal Halides to protein skimmers and UV sterilizers. The research is by no means complete, but in the mean time I bought a new Perfecto 90g Corner-Flo tank at Aquarium Showcase (great store) here in Atlanta, and started designing a home for it.
Here's my Sketchup model / design:
I modeled it somewhat after a custom cabinet I saw in Aquarium Showcase. It had a $3,000 price tag! No way I'm paying that.
I chose to keep the top shelves open (no cabinet door) to give the unit a less blocky appearance. I think it turned out nice.
I plan to setup the 90g reef in our living room, and I want a custom piece of furniture for it to rest in. I *hate* the look of run-of-the-mill aquarium stands & canopies that we've all seen a million times. IMO, 99.9% of the manufactured stands are cheap and cheesy looking...I can't put that stuff in a new house! So, I downloaded Google Sketchup (free), a program taught to me at Auburn as part of my building science curriculum. What an amazingly simple, powerfully effective, cost-saving piece of software Sketchup is. I was able to model the entire aquarium cabinet in textured 3D, without ever picking up a pencil (much less cutting a piece of wood). After about 9 hours of mouse-clicking on this lazy Sunday, I finished my design and exported a movie animation of the build sequence. The animation can be downloaded here:
90g Cabinet Build Sequence
Low Quality (12mb)
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff269/smithdu/Cabinet_LOW.avi
In addition to the cabinet itself, I also modeled our living room to scale, so I could get a feel for how big/small the cabinet should be. I didn't want to overwhelm the living room, but at the same time I wanted the tank to have a good presence. Sketchup allowed me to tinker with countless size possibilities.
I didn't show dimensions in the movie, but they are integrated in the model. So, from there I can get exact measurements of each wood component of the cabinet.
A few notes on my design:
1) For the most part, the entire cabinet will be constructed of 3/4" sanded plywood. This is sold at Home Depot & Lowe's for $35 per 4x8 sheet. I will be painting & faux antiquing the cabinet, not staining it, so I don't need the expensive wood grain of hardwood ply. This will save a lot of $$$.
2) The drawers are fake. The cabinet doors & drawer fronts are unfinished oak, and are available from www.cabinetdoorsandhardware.com
3) In certain areas, such as the rear structural panel and the side panels (the plywood parts directly supporting the tank), I used a solid piece of 3/4" ply, with rectangles cut out of it to reduce weight. This will make the stand stronger (no screw connections) and lighter (no wood where it's not needed).
4) The animation begins with the 2x6 header and 2x4 vertical/horizontal members being installed to support the tank over the 4' span @ the cabinet doors. Of course I will be using a sump, so I didn't want any obstructions when the two cabinet doors are open. The center piece (between the doors) is just for looks, and is removable.
5) The tank sits on a solid piece of 3/4" plywood, which spans the entire 7' width of the cabinet. Everything above this sheet of plywood makes up the top section of the cabinet, and is not attached to the bottom section. This will allow the two pieces to be built/sanded/finished/moved (up 2 flights of stairs!) seperately from each other.
6) There is a 3" gap between the sides of the tank and the cabinet. This will allow Vortech pumps to be used, with the motors hidden in the cabinet.
7) The tank will be maintained via an access panel on the front/top of the cabinet, which is completely removable. The seam of the panel is hidden by trim. The entire panel will be held in place with cabinet door magnets.
8) The 7' cabinet height allows an abundance of room above the tank for metal halides as well as room to work. I plan to mount 2x250 MH and 2x54w T5 Actinics to a light rack, which I will suspend above the tank with metal chains from Home Depot (attached to the "roof" of the cabinet). This will allow me to raise the light rack up high when working on the tank, and if the need arises, I can unhook the chains and remove the lights altogether, in one piece.
9) The bottom/side cabinets will house switches, ballasts, and other misc electronics. This will help keep them free of salt creep.
10) For canopy cooling, I'm going to install the quietest 4" fans I can find. One or two blowing in, and one or two blowing out.
I will begin the physical build as soon as I can gather the materials and buy a couple new woodworking toys. This build gives me a good reason to use my new garage and give Dewalt a lot of money!
I'll keep you guys posted. In the mean time, let me know your thoughts!
Take care-
Dustin
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