Mike's 140 Cubish Build

[miwoodar]

Time for an update....

Draining the old tank...the pics were taken with the flash and without actinics or MH so the colors aren't the best. I think they are pretty neat anyways.

Bye bye little guy! I wish this thing was able to clean itself in prep for the sale.

Everything is doing great. The corals and fish are all A-OK. No bleaching. The STN on my tenuis has completely stopped and all of the impacted tips are nearly covered again. The green slimer, which had been at the surface for many months has already started to cover it’s tips too.
The kiddo approves. So does his girlfriend.

 

[miwoodar]

New toys

This thing is dashiznit. Hand down. Hmm, maybe I should have put my dirty woodworking hands down so they weren’t in the pic.

Finally, a *real* magnet scraper.

I tried this out last night. The ripples and faint glow look fantastic. I initially wanted to do LEDs again but I like the look of this even better. It's less of a pin point than an LED. The entire tank ends up with a faint glow instead.

 

[miwoodar]

And back to the tank itself…
The ATO is soon to be installed. I don’t know how I ever (EVER) lived without one.

Here’s the FTS with my old hood precariously balanced on top. It’s only being held on by less than a half an inch on each side. Every time I pop the top it wants to slip off and crash to the floor.

Here’s the support that will be foamed and put under the rock on the right. It might change a little before I apply the foam. BTW, the PVC plus Great Stuff piece I added to the 65 last year will be reused as well. The foam is still in great condition.

 

[miwoodar]

And the wood work. The crown has been installed on the canopy. I ended up gluing the corners, letting them dry, then hand driven brads and glue to attach it to the frame. A punch was used to recess them below the surface. The doors are only on to check the fit. They will be coming off tonight so I can putty over the nail holes and sand/stain tomorrow.

Here is another pic with the doors open and top up in case I need to work on the lighting or deep dive into the tank.

We’re going to experiment with the dye and end up with something between these two finishes. The dyed and stained piece is on the left. The right piece has received a straight Java stain. After seeing this stuff I’m never buying stain from Home Depot again!

 

[spleify]

AWESOME MAN!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike everything is coming out beautiful!! Man I am so jealous, what a beautiful tank and build.

Really, really awesome work bud. Let me know if you happen to frag that Milli this weekend.

Keep up the great work, again, awesome build!!

Spleify

 

[miwoodar]

Thanks Leif. What did you use to patch holes and/or scratches on your build? Did you use putty or a glue and sawdust mix?

 

[spleify]

Putty. If I ever have to fill big holes I use a glue sawdust mix, but I still leave it short and finish with a like colored putty.
Glue simply just won't stain, putty usually does real well, especially when you are staining as dark as you are.

HTH

JMO/E

Spleify

 

[miwoodar]

I've set up a test piece with a light putty, a dark putty, and two glue + sawdust mixes. I'm going to test the stainability tomorrow. This might push back staining the canopy until Sunday. Hopefully a clear winner will be found.

 

[melev]

It is really coming along nicely.

I have the same cleaning magnet. Love those, and the pads last a very good long time.

 

[LooseHip]

That canopy turned out really nice. I like the design and accessibility it has..

 

[erics3000]

WOW..I love your shelf..Everything looks great>>>>>..................

 

[miwoodar]

Thanks Marc, Derrick, Eric for the kind words.

Marc - what material would you suggest to use on the wet side for an acrylic tank for a Hammerhead magnet? It just had a velcro like texture. I'm not so sure the material I've put over it to protect the acrylic is the safest. I thought it was but now I'm starting to wonder.

Stain and laquer were applied this weekend. Pics to follow maybe this evening. I heart gel stain on alder wood. I'm sooooooo glad that I didn't chicken out and pay someone else to do the finishing.

 

[melev]

There is an acrylic kit for that magnet, and it comes with some type of white felt-like material. Be sure to replace the outer one from time to time to, don't wait until it is so flat that it (the wood) starts leaving marks on the acrylic.

 

[miwoodar]

Hmmm...I think I need to go look at the replacement pads I added to my order. IIRC, I only received the blue pads which I assumed were for the outside only. No?

 

[melev]

Yes, the blue pads are the outside felt. Usually when I've ordered replacement sets, it was a set of pads, both wet side and dry side. There is an actual acrylics pad set.

For now, some white felt would probably do the job, but as you can imagine, felt has very little grip / friction. Using it very often is your best defense, and it is absolutely imperative you don't accidentally get even a single grain of sand on that pad. And don't do what I did one day, and somehow hit an asterina. I had no idea that stupid little starfish could do so much damage with its tough surface. I really marred the side panel of my angled tank accidentally one day. :mad2:

 

[miwoodar]

That gives me one more reason to hate asterinas. I'll definitely check the box for the inner pads. I can't imagine that I missed them. Hopefully they are there though.

 

[miwoodar]

Update time...

Melev - no wet side pads were included in my box. I'm going to contact Algae Free and see if I was supposed to receive a set.

Before getting to the pics, I must say, I am in awe of the people out there that have gone fully monty to huge dream systems. The work that goes into something as small as this 140 is taxing to say the least. Cheers to you if you have pulled off the big one.
:beer::beer::beer:

Pics.....

Remember this? The 'glue in the wrong order blunder'?

Here's an in-progress pic showing the corner and two nail holes being filled (one sanded, one raw).

Here's the final product. Who would ever know?

 

[miwoodar]

Applying the tint...

Applying the laquer after staining...

I'm very pleased with the finish. Everything is turning out as well or better than I could have hoped. The order of operations:
* Sand
* Sand
* Sand
* Tack Cloth
* Stain
* Tack Cloth
* Laquer
* Tack Cloth
* Steel Wool
* Tack Cloth
* Wax

 

[miwoodar]

Two 250 watt 20K's and four VHO actinics. I fired it up for just a moment last night after getting it on top. The color is perfect for my taste. I can't wait to test the par. Last time I tested it over my 65 gallon tank the readings were ~600 about 4 inches down and they dropped to ~300 or so by the bottom. That was with only two VHO's and the halide reflectors were partially obscured.

Woah - dusty! I was in such a rush to finish installing everything that I failed to wipe off the dust. That will be tonight then I'm going to go to bed early....stayed up way too late last night (mid morning) working on this.

 

[miwoodar]

And finally, two water alarms. These things would have saved us twice in the past year. We had a 5 gallon event followed closely by a 10 gallon event. $15 (e-bay) for a little piece of mind is nothing.

WARNING - 5 gallon water bottles like the ones you get from the grocery store will eventually crack around the base.