My 54 corner build

damac20

New member
Come along for this wonderful journey as I build my 54 corner tank! I bought a 54 corner off a local reefer recently to put in my home office. When I bought it, it came with a brown wood stand and wood trim around the tank. I am painting all of that black and building a DIY canopy.

Here is a pic of the stand before the paint job.
brownwoodstand.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]

Then yesterday I built the shell of the canopy using 3/4 inch plywood and 2x4's. In the picture you can also see the roll of aluminum I am going to use for the skin of the canopy.

canopywithroll.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]

Here is pic of the canopy shell mounted
canopyshellmounted.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]

For lighting I am going to use a 250w MH with an icecap ballast. I am going to be running radium 20k bulbs I just love the color they put out.
canopymountedwithlightc.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]
 
bottomupoflight.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]
This morning I am going to mount the skin on the shell of the canopy. For the skin I am using roofing aluminum that I picked up at home depot. I chose this to give the tank a more modern look with clean lines. I am gluing it to the shell using some construction adhesive.
canopybeforeshell.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]

Here it is all glued. Once it dries I will spray paint it black to match the rest of the tank.
canopywithshellunpainte.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-09[/IMG]
 
Tagging along! I have the same tank still setup as freshwater, and I'd love to see how you set this up! Looks great so far!
 
I added 3 powerbrite strips, these things are sweet! Great color.
powerbrites.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-29[/IMG]

I got some live rock today from world wide corals. Its 45 pounds of totoka rock. I like the way it looks tons of texture. I had never seen it prior to today.
liverockspreadout.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-29[/IMG]

I finally got water in the tank! Here is the first shot at the corner aquascape. I'm not so sure I've happy with it.
aquascape1.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-29[/IMG]

Close up
aquascapecloseup.jpg

Shot with SCH-i910 at 2009-08-29[/IMG]
 
Looks great. Thanks for the step by step as I am sure you had fun with this project and very worthwhile.
 
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