JCR's Reef
New member
Well I'm ALMOST done with my new stand. I got a little bit further than what the pictures indicate since the camera decided to die on me. The stand is all Red Oak measuring 5' long x 31" wide x 33" tall (I think). I built the stand with 4 doors on it so I can access it from all sides. I wanted a stand big enough that will allow me to store a wide sump and to put a frag tank underneath, but also wanted the room to work underneath and not have a rats nest down there either. There's still alot of work left. Mostly just finishing details and alot of hand sanding:hmm2: The top and bottom will be fully wrapped in the molding you see already started. There is still going to be another coat of stain (Red Mahogany stain) and finished with some type of resin seal. Hopefully it will shine like I want it to and be a darker color with a hint of red. The inside of the stand is mostly a finished look with some stained wood and some black paint on the back wall and up on top to help seal it off. I'm liking how its turning out so far. I was going to do a marble tile top but I think it would of been too much and would have weighed a ton which would make moving it a bear. I dont plan to be where we're at forever. I also wanted to do a build I will appreciate and will want to hold on to for as long as it will last me. Hence the reason I went with Miracles out of Canada. Once we move into a house later on, I plan to keep this one for a reef only and have another fish only tank so I can keep the not so reef safe angels.
So here's a few pictures to show some of the progress being made. I've only had about 3 Friday nights to work on it since school is pretty much kicking me in the rear right now and weighing me down.
I'm thinking this will be the side with the frag tank plumbed into the sump. I might build another inside wall to block light out from the sump so I can keep the sump mostly a cryptic zone. The frag tank will also act like a refuguim, running my light cycle at night to keep my Ph stable. I still need to decide what I'm actually going to do because I want to plumb the frag tank with a shut off valve so I can turn off the frag tank from my main tank when I recieve new corals that will be treated.
Of course you guessed this might be the front of the stand:thumbsup:
A little shot of what the inside looks like.
And here's where the new rimless tank will sit. I dont have the tank for the exact gap that was need but I tried to allow for about 1 1/"2" in between the trim and the tank incase I want to run some type of lighting around. I'm still up in the air about it but I was wanting to run some blue lights that will turn on at night and illuminate/glow around the display tank.
The display tank is a Rimless and being built by Miracles Aquariums out of Canada. I went with these guys because of the great quality they put out since I plan on keeping it long term, and they have good customer service. I just recieved my invoice for it which tells me they are finally finished with it :celeb1: I still have to call and verify shipping, but they picked a great week to plan on shipping it out I'm sure :thumbdown . Oh well. The tank is going to be 48"Lx 24"Wx 20"H and the front viewing pane is going to be starphire glass. The overflow will be in the middle since I like to view my tank from all 3 sides. I only went with 1 drain (1 1/2") since I dont plan to push alot of water volume through my sump at one time, and a 1" return. I'll just have to get a little creative as I'm wanting the middle of the tank open from rockwork and not wanting to see the overflow. I might make a rock wall cover that will wrap around it and put some coral colonies on it to conseal it futher. I'm also going to build an acrylic cover to sit on the overflow to stop fish from jumping in it. I dont know whats better, fish jumping in there and not being able to get them out or them carpet surfing hoping you catch them in time
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I'll keep up dating this thread as time moves on so I have a log for myself to refer back to and to share my experiences with everyone else.:wavehand:
So here's a few pictures to show some of the progress being made. I've only had about 3 Friday nights to work on it since school is pretty much kicking me in the rear right now and weighing me down.
The display tank is a Rimless and being built by Miracles Aquariums out of Canada. I went with these guys because of the great quality they put out since I plan on keeping it long term, and they have good customer service. I just recieved my invoice for it which tells me they are finally finished with it :celeb1: I still have to call and verify shipping, but they picked a great week to plan on shipping it out I'm sure :thumbdown . Oh well. The tank is going to be 48"Lx 24"Wx 20"H and the front viewing pane is going to be starphire glass. The overflow will be in the middle since I like to view my tank from all 3 sides. I only went with 1 drain (1 1/2") since I dont plan to push alot of water volume through my sump at one time, and a 1" return. I'll just have to get a little creative as I'm wanting the middle of the tank open from rockwork and not wanting to see the overflow. I might make a rock wall cover that will wrap around it and put some coral colonies on it to conseal it futher. I'm also going to build an acrylic cover to sit on the overflow to stop fish from jumping in it. I dont know whats better, fish jumping in there and not being able to get them out or them carpet surfing hoping you catch them in time
. I'll keep up dating this thread as time moves on so I have a log for myself to refer back to and to share my experiences with everyone else.:wavehand:
