Scott26's 90 Gallon Wave Front Build

[scott26]

Well got to redo some wood work this weekend in order to make all the wood look similar when staining.

Here is the stand as it sat Friday.

Here is the bottom wave not wanting to stain correctly.

Here is me show that bottom wave what happens when it doesn't do as I SAY!!!! :violence-uzi: :violence-torch:

I had to take a jig saw to the bottom wave where is connects to the bottom board because of all the glue. I also had a chance to rework the bottom to curve with the doors better.

Here is a scrap piece from the new board you can see how well the stain goes on all nice and even.

Now the kerfing begins AGAIN.

Here is a kerfed up board I am leaving some extra solid borad to measure up correctly because I am not going to kerf this all the way the reason I am going to leave about 3" or so on each end of the board un-kerfed is because I want to be able to sand the edges to be flush with the side board. Something I forgot to do the first time.

Board ready glue ready hold downs ready.

Set and forget.

 

[scott26]

I got some wood filler from wal-mart and filled in all the kerfing marks on the front and turned it upside down so I could pour more glue into the kerfs.

 

[jmahfouz]

This is gonna be amazing, great setup

 

[scott26]

This is gonna be amazing, great setup

Thanks, I am hoping to have water in it in the next few weeks.

 

[MarineGirl411]

LOL. You're funny. I don't think the stain looked bad on the bottom piece. This is going to be an awesome tank. Get it set up already! ;-)

 

[scott26]

Update

Update

Well it has been a while since I have updated this thread so I thought I would catch get you up to speed... I am done with the stain and sealer and varnish of the stand which was a process for never having done it before talk about a learning curve but I think it turned out well... I am going to post pics later... Now all that I have to do is assemble the stand and glue a few pieces of PVC together (I left apart just in case anything changed) and I can start to fill with water hopefully this weekend.

 

[scott26]

LOL. You're funny. I don't think the stain looked bad on the bottom piece. This is going to be an awesome tank. Get it set up already! ;-)

You sound just like my wife but I am a perfectionist. So it must be perfect or at least good enough so only I will be bothered by it.

 

[scott26]

Picture Update

Picture Update

Okay now that I have all the pictures ready to go time for a real update get ready your eyes will be amazed! lol.


So I got the bottom board all glued on and filled with filler as I left if from the last post.

While that was drying I re did some paint on the main 2x4 uprights since I got them pretty dirty with my hands moving it around so many times. Here is a shot with a fresh coat of paint.

Next I painted the back of my doors white to match the inside of the stand.

Then I got to working the bottom wave the next day starting off with some wood conditioner.

Then a coat of stain.

You can see that the stain did the SAME THING AGAIN! What a disappointment.

 

[scott26]

So instead of ripping it off and trying again I worked with what I had. What I did was I took a towel of stain and added to the light areas in the wood and let it set up for about 5 min and wiped off excess... I did this about 4 times to get the stain to somewhat match the darker spots.

Still not quite as good as the top wave but it will do.

Here is a shot off all the boards waiting for sealer/varnish.

After some trips to Sherwin Williams I was finally able to get the right finish products I wanted for the aquarium I must have went back there 4 times to get the right stuff.


Well this last Saturday was the day (11-12-10) for sealer / varnish so I got to work I taped up most of the sides to make sure any excess drips would not go onto the white side of the boards.


This is a fresh coat of satin sealer.

Here is a shot of the top board after some drying time you can see it has the perfect sheen to it not to shinny and not to dull.

 

[scott26]

Now onto the varnish here it some pics of the fresh coat of varnish.

Here are the wave fronts after some drying time.

Oh and in case you didn't know like I didn't this stuff really attracts the insects so if you are going to do this outside use a bug zapper or something because this is what I came back to the next day after I let it dry. A moth decided to try a bath in the varnish and caked himself into the varnish so now I have a moth impression on the top board. But this will not be seen so I will just have to let it go even though my perfectionist side is telling me to redo it.

Okay now for some good shots all the work is finally done and I finally get to set up the stand for the final time in the area where it is going to be on display.


Here are the doors all ready to go.

Here is everything in the house waiting to be assembled... You have no idea how hard it is to try and move this aquarium stand by yourself it is a really odd shape... I had to enlist the help of a neighbor.

 

[scott26]

I had to wait for my wife to get home in order to get the stand moved into position and the aquarium on top of it. so in the mean time I assembled the doors and back board onto it.

We were finally able to get the aquarium on top of it and the sides on so here are the final stand shots.

And that is it for now... it is really nice seeing it in the living room all done up it really lets me know it is almost time to start filling it with water all I have left to do is some PVC and clean up and assemble it and water can start flowing.

 

[RocketSurgeon]

Looks AWESOME. Can't wait to see it with water.

 

[scott26]

Looks AWESOME. Can't wait to see it with water.

Thanks, same here.

 

[Coasterfrk]

Dude... Two Words Reef Keeper

 

[scott26]

Dude... Two Words Reef Keeper

I don't have to many corals yet but that does sound like a good nick name... but if you are talking about getting a controller I have a friend who makes controllers for a living so he is going to throw one together for me for next to nothing.

 

[scott26]

Well I have a small update with the holiday's and all I have not been able to get much done I want to start to fill it with water but I had to change some things.

I was going to use slip to slip 1" bulkheads for the standpipes and the return plumbing coming out of the sump but I got to thinking if I ever have an issue with it I am going to have to cut the bulk head off the piping! Which is a waste of money.

So I took back the slip to slip bulkheads and exchanged them for some slip to thread on the nut side bulkheads that way I can just unscrew them if the time is ever comes. I will have to installing everything this weekend hopefully and start to fill with water.

But in the mean time I was able to get some other stuff done. Now I had seen this done on Mevle's reef so I can't take the credit for the idea. But I was on my way back home from the family visit and stopped by Target for the after Xmas sales, and I picked up two gift wrapping containers which will be perfect for my RO/DI reservoir and one for a salt water container.

They are going to sit in the back corner of the aquarium where they should be kept out of site I am going to have to run an RO/DI line from under the sink all the way over but it should come out really well. I have going to have to see what position I want them it but this is where they are for now.

I was also working all getting everything mocked up for the water to be added. So here are some pictures of what the back of the aquarium looks like as of now.

I was also able to exchange the magnets that were used to hold the doors shut with some of the pop back ones you would use on like a glass coffee table.

So this is what it looks like now.

I hope to silicone up the bottom board and get some spa flex for the return plumbing and get it running this weekend.

Cross your fingers.

 

[scott26]

Tap Water Test Done!

Tap Water Test Done!

Well I was finally able to get my tap water test done and it almost went without a hitch. There were just a few little things that went wrong and were obvious and I should have caught.

Fist when I was filing the sump up I got the center area almost all filled and then I remembered that I never attached the PVC quick coupler to the pump! So I lost about 1.5 gallons onto the floor before I remembered. I had towels on hand so I think it is good just slightly damp afterword.

Next I got it all hooked up and started the pump and tried to adjust the flow to the fuge but used the wrong ball valve and was turning down the pump maintance ball valve... woops caught that quick as well so once I opened it back up I realized I forgot to shut off the ball valve for water changes and shot out a little water from the spout.

And finally I had forgotten to drill siphon breaks for the returns so the sump almost got flooded!... I caught that in time and lifted the u-tubes up to break the siphon.

So I drilled the siphon breaks and went for another test run all went well perfect test run... Then a bulkhead leak... the center sump bulkhead was leaking where the threaded PVC goes into the back of it so I drained the middle section and took it apart and added extra Teflon tape and it is all sealed up now.

Anyway enough of the talking lets get to the pictures!

To do the fresh water test since I don't have access to a faucet for a garden hose outside I used my garden hose and attached it to my washing machine! Worked like a charm.

Sump Filled.

Tank Filled.

Both Filled.

The towel for those little mistakes.

I was even able to shoot a video of how the water flow worked and the lighting system installed an running.

Water Test Video

 

[scott26]

Here is a sump video.

40 Gallon Sump Video

 

[scott26]

Plexi

Plexi

I was able to pick up some black plexi glass from a plastic store somewhat near by and I was able to install it into the overflow box. This way instead of seeing the inside of the overflow and the elbows you just see more black background. I left the bottom uncovered though so that light can still shine through the bottom.

 

[RocketSurgeon]

And finally I had forgotten to drill siphon breaks for the returns so the sump almost got flooded!... I caught that in time and lifted the u-tubes up to break the siphon.

So I drilled the siphon breaks and went for another test run all went well perfect test run...

So you are relying on just a couple small holes to keep from flooding during power outages? These holes can't possibly get clogged up with algae, food, or snails can they? I would like to see a safety measure for a safety measure, just for good measure. How's that?