It begins... 345-gallon Starphire in-wall system

[mrcrab]

Thursday the 9th was a HUGE day. Major accomplishments and cudos to the crew.

Viewing hole cut

We painted the header and drywall with a paint on shower pan liner to act as a vapor barrier.

Final leveling

The stand legs are notched 6 x 6's that have been through bolted onto the stand base. I'm thinking if catastophe strikes the house will collapse around the tank. :eek1:

Cleaning crew (frag) hard at work

Everything ready...foam in place

 

[mrcrab]

Contemplating the lift

HEAVE HO!!!

We actually heaved a bit too much ho! We thought the drywall would hold the front of the styrofoam in place but the tank pushed it forward bowing the drywall and rolling it under the tank. We had to do a bit of adjusting.

 

[mrcrab]

Tank in Place

BTW that's a 55 gallon drum under the stand. Do you think I'll have enough room to navigate under there?

Viewing Side

Tank has been filling since 9:00pm on Thursday night and it's almost full now. I'm running an air, water & ice 75 gal/day unit with a pump.

It absolutely amazes me what can be accomplished with a few pizzas and a couple of cases of beer. :beer:

Overall a top day with no casualties.

 

[mrcrab]

Well the boys took a well deserved break and started again on Monday. As I said my goal is to create a living picture. The viewing hole was lined with a 45 degee piece of wood that will act as the edge of the matt for our framed picture. Couple of coats of mud to smooth the matt out.

I called a local picture framing company with regards to the size the matt and a frame should be for a picture of this size. We settled on a 5" matt and a 5" frame. We had toyed with the idea of using crown moulding as the frame but decided it would stick out from the wall too much and settled on three pieces of trim moulding glued together to get some depth and the width we wanted.

Installing the hinges on the catwalk

And this is were we are at as of about 15 minutes ago. Catwalk in place and almost full. Guess I better get started on the plumbing.

The sump will be a 120 aga tank that arrived at my LFS today. Baffles should be in place within the next day or two.

Salt arrives tomorrow, today actually, and I will rig a temorary sump so we can get some circulation going and salt mixed.

 

[Bax]

Great progress!

Love the catwalks, very good idea!

The framing and finish on the viewing panel is really nice too!

 

[jnarowe]

very nice picture frame. cool idea! I WOULD BE TOTALLY STOKED...

 

[daywn]

with the catwalk being hinged up,where are you drains gonna go to?

btw,nice tank.keep the pics comeing.

 

[mrcrab]

daywn

So...where were you when we were designing them, HUH?

I'm going to run the overflows all to one side and cut a hole in the side catwalk (not installed yet). They will be static. We'll run the plumbing through there.

 

[jnarowe]

So I am interested to know why you need the catwalks to hinge up?

 

[mrcrab]

jnarowe said:

So I am interested to know why you need the catwalks to hinge up?

If the hinged down they'd be smacking me in my bald head while I was working under the tank in the sump/frag tank. It can't be static as it will interfere with ingress and egress through the side door. Only other way is up.

 

[mrcrab]

Some progress today. Fedex delivered 4 buckets of reef crystals. It's on sale at Foster's and Smith BTW. Around $34 a bucket and very cheap delivery around $12.

Two buckets are in the tank mixing. I plumbed the overflows to a temporary sump and turned the RO back on to finish filling. I also drilled the bases for my rock pillars. More pics tomorrow. I'm hoping to be making pillars ala Sanjay.

 

[jnarowe]

Ok so the long shot with the door in the backround shows the catwalk down and what you are saying is that it interferes with the door? Like the door opens inward and won't open with the catwalk down? So is the catwalk normaly up, and just down when you need it? Does it have legs or are the hinges strong enough to hold you?

I see you got the tank nice and high since there is a Brute can under the catwalk with room to spare! That's really nice. My tank is much lower because of low ceilings and ductwork passing right over the front of the tank. Of course, that really neccessitates the catwalk!

 

[mrcrab]

My garage floor is 7" lower than my dining room which necessitates the tank being that high to afford a good viewing height. The can underneath the stand is actually a 55 gallon poly drum. The catwalk will be normally up. 4 X 4" solid brass hinges along an 8' span as well as removable 2 X 4 legs. I do hit my noggin on the ceiling if I stand up on the catwalk but suspect most of my time will be spent bent at the waist leaning into the tank.

The door opens out, but it would interfere with anything of a decent size going out through that door.

 

[jnarowe]

well, you found a solution!

 

[polywise]

that stand needs some help. You need to add more verticle supports,and some more bracing . Do you feel it is safe enough?

Just my opinion.

 

[dfleary]

Is your garage (where the tank is) heated in the winter and/or cooled in the summer?

 

[mrcrab]

polywise said:

that stand needs some help. You need to add more verticle supports,and some more bracing . Do you feel it is safe enough?

My house will fall down before my stand fails. Have another look at the beam we manufactured for it. It's not just a piece of 2 X 6.

dfleary said:

Is your garage (where the tank is) heated in the winter and/or cooled in the summer?

Yes with one vent directly over the tank and very well insulated including the garage door.

 

[tedu]

Was wondering how you supported the front of the platform, any pics ?

Also any detailed pics of how the rear supports were shaped / attached ?

(looking for ideas for my 270)
Thanks!
Ted

 

[mrcrab]

tedu wrote:

Was wondering how you supported the front of the platform, any pics ?

Also any detailed pics of how the rear supports were shaped / attached ?

The front of the stand rests on the horizontal 2 X 4 and the weight is transfered by the vertical ones. It is secured to the frame with screws from underneath the horizontal one.

I don't have pics of how the legs were cut out. The 6 X 6 was notched on 2 sides. I believe it was 1 1/2 inches deep and not sure how high. I can find out tomorrow. The frame rests on the notch. The frame was then leveled and the legs marked then cut. Then they were drilled through the stand frame and the legs, 2 bolts on the long beam and 1 bolt on the short side. It was through bolted with 1/2" carriage bolts.

If you still don't understand, let me know and I'll see if I can make a sketch and post it.

 

[Rock Anemone]

The framing is beautiful! Can't wait to see more pics!