So it begins...

[alexkharden]

Pics.

 

[alexkharden]

Busy, busy day.

I started off by finishing my quarantine stand.



Then I began working on a stand for my water barrels. My thought was to build a stand for one, and have the other slide underneath it. As you can see, that didn't work out well.



So I tore that apart and put on my thinking cap. Space has become a premium in my room, but I need those jugs, so I had to figure out something. While I was working it out, I hung the rodi board and then mounted my rodi and booster pump. Doing that made me realize that I needed to go vertical. So I did. The saltwater for my AWC will sit on the floor to the left of my sump, and the rodi for ATO and mixing will be suspended above my tank, like so.



Once that was done, I grabbed the wife and we mixed up and poured the leveling compound for the tank stand. It actually ended up being a fairly simple process.



I gotta say it, that looks so freaking cool. One problem with my pour though, I forgot to oil the damn forms before pouring. GAHHHHH!!!! So I may have a VERY difficult time getting those forms off when it's all dried. I'm a dumb ***.

That's about it for the day.

Hey, what's the best way to thoroughly clean these to make them safe for rodi and saltwater? They're food grade, and used to contain some form of dry goods, like grain maybe, from the smell.



Thanks, and thanks for reading!

 

[rickztahone]

Awesome build thread. I am following along. My dream tank has been to do a 240g tank in wall, but that is for a FW setup, for a SW setup, it just seems more logical to have 2 sides exposed as you benefit more from a more square than long footprint. Love the way this has come through. My father-in-law is a construction foreman and my brother-in-law is a construction work who specializes in hanging drywall. Over the years I have helped with demos and wall hangings and moving plumbing and so on, nowhere near your level mind you, but it is nice to be able to see an area of your house and saying, "yeah, I could make that in to this ____"

Good luck to you, and I am definitely following along. If you put this much work to your build, I can only imagine how much will go in to your actual tank.

 

[alexkharden]

I'm what they call a jack of all trades, master of none. The drywall was, by far the worst looking part of this build, to date. It's hard to see in the pics, and I'm thankful for that, but there are micro-bubble holes, shallow seams, and rolls in the surface from imperfectly matched up joints. My wife and I joke that we suck equally bad at drywall, but differently bad in different aspects. So between the two of us we can screw up the job, front to back, lol.

I've worked in construction before, but only some roofing and some finished hardware work. Very little drywall, and no plumbing, electrical, or HVAC. My framing experience comes from building a few decks and additions when I was a teenager, so nothing extensive there either. Basically everything I know is self taught, and mostly self taught since the invention of Google (how did we ever live without it before?).

All that to say, if I can do it, pretty much anyone can. True, it may not look like a professional did it, but let's be honest - if you wanted it to look like professional work, you'd either become one or hire one. I have no desire to do either, so amateur is what I'll get. I'm ok with that.

Thanks for following and for posting, I thought everyone was sick of my posts and was ignoring the thread now, it's nice to know someone is rooting for me!

 

[rickztahone]

Busy, busy day.

I started off by finishing my quarantine stand.

View attachment 339012

Then I began working on a stand for my water barrels. My thought was to build a stand for one, and have the other slide underneath it. As you can see, that didn't work out well.

View attachment 339013

So I tore that apart and put on my thinking cap. Space has become a premium in my room, but I need those jugs, so I had to figure out something. While I was working it out, I hung the rodi board and then mounted my rodi and booster pump. Doing that made me realize that I needed to go vertical. So I did. The saltwater for my AWC will sit on the floor to the left of my sump, and the rodi for ATO and mixing will be suspended above my tank, like so.

View attachment 339014

Once that was done, I grabbed the wife and we mixed up and poured the leveling compound for the tank stand. It actually ended up being a fairly simple process.

View attachment 339015

I gotta say it, that looks so freaking cool. One problem with my pour though, I forgot to oil the damn forms before pouring. GAHHHHH!!!! So I may have a VERY difficult time getting those forms off when it's all dried. I'm a dumb ***.

That's about it for the day.

Hey, what's the best way to thoroughly clean these to make them safe for rodi and saltwater? They're food grade, and used to contain some form of dry goods, like grain maybe, from the smell.

View attachment 339016

Thanks, and thanks for reading!

I have always used bleach to clean these and then rinse and use SAFE to neutralize the bleach just in case. Then, let it air dry.

Question, the way you have that storage barrel hung, will it not get in the way of your lighting? Will it not create a dark spot at the front of your tank?

 

[alexkharden]

I have always used bleach to clean these and then rinse and use SAFE to neutralize the bleach just in case. Then, let it air dry.

Question, the way you have that storage barrel hung, will it not get in the way of your lighting? Will it not create a dark spot at the front of your tank?

Sigh. Yes, probably. Honestly i didn't even think about the lighting. All my thoughts concerning the problems with that design revolved around accessing that front corner of the tank.

Didn't even think about the lights. I can mount one under that stand, but that would only put the light like 2" off the water. Crap. I may have to give it a go, but if worst comes to worst I still have 10" of play between the top of the barrel and the ceiling. I could cut it close and decrease the clearance from 10" to 1". That would put me about 11" off the water, for that light, which isn't perfect, but better.

Maybe I could spot-light at an angle for that portion of the tank. It would throw some shadows, but I could get a few shade loving corals to go there and say it was planned, lol.

 

[juzz.raath]

In regards to your micro bubble holes.. I'm a painter and I'm unsure if you've done your final coat but if you haven't use an outdoor wall paint as a first coat (we call it duragaurd here in Australia). It's much thicker and will fill these micro holes no worries.

Make sure you use a matt finish and a long nap roller (be thoroughly!) then paint over it with your finish colour..

Great read and nice build. Keep the posts coming!

 

[alexkharden]

Ya, we're finished now. It's all painted. The holes are filled in with color, but are still visible on close inspection. I have other projects planned though, so the next time I do drywall I'll be sure to try that. Thank you!

 

[alexkharden]

Question, the way you have that storage barrel hung, will it not get in the way of your lighting? Will it not create a dark spot at the front of your tank?

Thank you for pointing this out to me. Spent some time thinking, and decided to go with this instead.



I'm actually going to leave the 2x4's up top to attach grab bars to. that'll give me something to hang on to when I have to lean out across the tank, especially since those barrels going there cut off a bunch of back tank access.

I also pulled the forms off the stand top, and even though I forgot to oil the forms I think it came off pretty darn well.



I filled in the couple of cracks and chips with drywall mud, so I should be ready to rock and roll!

 

[alexkharden]

I'm probably also going to need to build a small permanent scaffold above the sump and down the side to have a safe, higher place to stand while working in the tank.

By now Home Depot is worshipping me, and I haven't even started on plumbing the aquarium yet.

 

[alexkharden]

So, been busy again. I have, built a bench top for the room, patched the holes made by my failed rodi barrel above the tank attempt, painted said holes, made a wheeled dolly for the bottom saltwater barrel for easy moving, installed the polywall around the tank opening, caulked the polywall and the trim around the tank opening, and cleaned up the room, dining room, and my tools.

Remaining is pretty much just caulking and painting the trim around all three areas, installing the tank, installing/caulking/painting trim around the display faces of the tank, and building a scaffold above the sump to stand on during tank maintenance - in that order. After that it's pretty much all aquarium setup and maintenance. I can't believe how much work this has all been. These aren't, quite, "after" pics - but they're pretty damn close.

Anyway, on to the pics.

 

[fscmocsaj]

Wow awesome job!

 

[rickztahone]

Thank you for pointing this out to me. Spent some time thinking, and decided to go with this instead.

View attachment 339285

I'm actually going to leave the 2x4's up top to attach grab bars to. that'll give me something to hang on to when I have to lean out across the tank, especially since those barrels going there cut off a bunch of back tank access.

I also pulled the forms off the stand top, and even though I forgot to oil the forms I think it came off pretty darn well.

View attachment 339286

I filled in the couple of cracks and chips with drywall mud, so I should be ready to rock and roll!

That is why we start these build threads right? For advice and pointing out something that you may have missed? I actually thought having the barrel up there was a great idea, but saw the lighting problem quickly after I thought it was a great idea lol.

I'm probably also going to need to build a small permanent scaffold above the sump and down the side to have a safe, higher place to stand while working in the tank.

By now Home Depot is worshipping me, and I haven't even started on plumbing the aquarium yet.

I bought so much stuff during my last build too that one of the check out clerks knew me by name.

 

[rickztahone]

So, been busy again. I have, built a bench top for the room, patched the holes made by my failed rodi barrel above the tank attempt, painted said holes, made a wheeled dolly for the bottom saltwater barrel for easy moving, installed the polywall around the tank opening, caulked the polywall and the trim around the tank opening, and cleaned up the room, dining room, and my tools.

Remaining is pretty much just caulking and painting the trim around all three areas, installing the tank, installing/caulking/painting trim around the display faces of the tank, and building a scaffold above the sump to stand on during tank maintenance - in that order. After that it's pretty much all aquarium setup and maintenance. I can't believe how much work this has all been. These aren't, quite, "after" pics - but they're pretty damn close.

Anyway, on to the pics.

View attachment 339409

View attachment 339410

View attachment 339411

View attachment 339412

View attachment 339413

I think you did a bang up job in the end. Everything looks nice and neat. When is the tank getting set in?

 

[alexkharden]

Wow awesome job!

Thank you!

 

[alexkharden]

I think you did a bang up job in the end. Everything looks nice and neat. When is the tank getting set in?

One of the Home Depot guys asked me if I'd thought about getting a job there, since I likely knew where everything was. In addition to this, I mostly remodeled our house when we bought it 2.5 years ago. Also remodeled/flipped the house we lived in prior to this one. I've probably spent 50k there, easy, in the last 7 years. I was super upset when I realized, after 4 years of major shopping there, that I could've been getting a 10% veterans discount the whole time. probably could've saved a couple thousand. Irritating, but it is what it is.

Tank moving day is supposed to be this coming Friday. Supposedly there are 5 guys coming over to lend a hand, but it's like herding cats, so we'll see.

 

[rickztahone]

One of the Home Depot guys asked me if I'd thought about getting a job there, since I likely knew where everything was. In addition to this, I mostly remodeled our house when we bought it 2.5 years ago. Also remodeled/flipped the house we lived in prior to this one. I've probably spent 50k there, easy, in the last 7 years. I was super upset when I realized, after 4 years of major shopping there, that I could've been getting a 10% veterans discount the whole time. probably could've saved a couple thousand. Irritating, but it is what it is.

Tank moving day is supposed to be this coming Friday. Supposedly there are 5 guys coming over to lend a hand, but it's like herding cats, so we'll see.

My friend is a Marine vet. He told me he always asks if they give discounts wherever he goes because he tells me he has been surprised by a few places that told him they do, lol. So, lesson learned, always ask everywhere.

 

[alexkharden]

I know now that Lowe's and home depot both do, and Menards does not.

 

[alexkharden]

Well, all of the caulking is done. No trim painted yet. Also finished cleaning, bleaching, and rinsing the hell out of the 75g sump tank and the 20g qt. The other 20g I have leaks, but I talked to the guy I got it from and he says he'll swap me out with another one, so that's cool. Only thing is, it's drilled, so I'll have to cut a patch and silicone it on to cover the hole. Oh well, it'll only be a qt/ht - I doubt the fish care about aesthetics.

Tomorrow is SUPPOSED to be the big move day, and wouldn't you know it? A freaking blizzard. I say again, a freaking blizzard is supposed to begin tomorrow at like noon. Seriously?

 

[rickztahone]

Well, all of the caulking is done. No trim painted yet. Also finished cleaning, bleaching, and rinsing the hell out of the 75g sump tank and the 20g qt. The other 20g I have leaks, but I talked to the guy I got it from and he says he'll swap me out with another one, so that's cool. Only thing is, it's drilled, so I'll have to cut a patch and silicone it on to cover the hole. Oh well, it'll only be a qt/ht - I doubt the fish care about aesthetics.

Tomorrow is SUPPOSED to be the big move day, and wouldn't you know it? A freaking blizzard. I say again, a freaking blizzard is supposed to begin tomorrow at like noon. Seriously?

lol. The best laid plans my friend...