The Crack House

[spscrackhead]

I wanted to start a build thread for a few reasons. To me and I believe many others, planning, building, and creating the tank is something that we enjoy immensely in this hobby. I am also an equipment junkie and looking under the stand is sometimes just as enjoyable (maybe impressive is the word) as the corals themselves.

Lets kick this off with a little back story as that seems to be the popular thing to do and I just like talking about myself. :lolspin:
I have been in the hobby since I was about 16. My first job was at a LFS, so I have been around for a while. I have had mostly smaller tanks as honestly, the huge tanks just aren't super appealing to me.
Fast forward to three years ago.
I had joined the Air Force as a Loadmaster on the C-17 and had to break down and sell my setups. It was an absolute dream come true! I truly enjoyed my time in this position. The only downside was I was gone far too much to have a tank, one at the level I really wanted. So my wife fed out betta while I was away.

Well, now the Air Force has too many Loadmasters! Lets reclassify you!
So one cross country move later here I am, Luke AFB just outside Phoenix AZ.

LETS GET A TANK!!!:bounce3:

Searching Craigslist I came across a Redsea Max S650 that was just the tank. This tank is larger than I was looking to go, but the price.... I drove out and purchased the tank before we even had a house! From time to time the wife makes sure to bring this up :fun2: I introduced myself to the neighbors by asking for help moving the tank inside the house, before we moved in, before the cable was turned on, before the water was turned on! Are you starting to see my fiendish ways? :lolspin:

We moved in and had the water turned on along with other things, but they aren't important to this story! So lets leak test it.....
<a href="http://s1380.photobucket.com/user/nokernicknokare/media/20160421_161245_zpsw5towlo3.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah170/nokernicknokare/20160421_161245_zpsw5towlo3.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20160421_161245_zpsw5towlo3.jpg"/></a>

Whew it all stayed in that box!

Started to acquire some equipment.
Vertex Alpha 170
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48x24x8 frang tank
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Emerald 39 in the background
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[spscrackhead]

I was checking out build threads here one day and stumbled across an amazing build where the guy built his stand from barn wood. WOW :bounce1: This stuff was killer!
It turns out he was local and builds stands on the side for fun.
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These are a few renderings he had done up before he got to work. The stand is on the tall side (I am kind of a tall dude, not freakishly tall, but I do help out a lot at the grocery store on that top shelf).
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[spscrackhead]

This hobby takes you places you would never expect and you get to see some really cool things!
I took a trip out to a local lumber yard that specializes in re purposed wood. I will keep the verbiage short and let the photos do the talking.
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[Devaji108]

nice build sir! I did a barn wood skin on my 75 build yeas ago...not as nice as you guy will build I am sure..but i did like it.

good luck with the build.
I so can relate to getting the take before moving in...haha
welcome back to the addiction...

 

[spscrackhead]

nice build sir! I did a barn wood skin on my 75 build yeas ago...not as nice as you guy will build I am sure..but i did like it.

good luck with the build.
I so can relate to getting the take before moving in...haha
welcome back to the addiction...

Thank you for the kind words.
I'm hooked, it's bad! haha

 

[spscrackhead]

The stand I finished myself, I like the antique somewhat vintage style so I played to that. Chalk paint, followed by some distressing and then finally a dark brown wax finish. More on that later. The doors are done with this awesome wood called mushroom wood. It was used to make boxes that mushrooms were then stored in. Enzymes from the mushrooms eat away at the wood giving it this really neat finish.
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Lets get to progress photos of the stand.
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[spscrackhead]

<a href="http://s1380.photobucket.com/user/nokernicknokare/media/IMG_4162_zpslu1dwsrv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah170/nokernicknokare/IMG_4162_zpslu1dwsrv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_4162_zpslu1dwsrv.jpg"/></a>
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That's one HUGE pile of sawdust!
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[hann1bal]

I prefer Meth.

 

[tklb]

Really like the look of that stand.

 

[tjm9331]

That's a great looking stand so far. Looks like the build is coming along nicely!

 

[spscrackhead]

I prefer Meth.

To each their own.

Really like the look of that stand.

Thank you!

That's a great looking stand so far. Looks like the build is coming along nicely!

Not fast enough haha.

 

[tjm9331]

Not fast enough haha.

Never is lol

 

[hann1bal]

Keep the pics coming! Love it.

P.S. How much $$ was the lumber and stand supplies?

 

[spscrackhead]

Keep the pics coming! Love it.

P.S. How much $$ was the lumber and stand supplies?

I am not 100% sure on this, but roughly 300 was spent on materials all said and done. A few miscommunication errors (me not being clear) added a bit to this. The paint is also a multi layered process that you will see soon!

 

[inthedeep2]

awesome woodworking there. cant wait to see the progress

 

[homer1475]

Awesome woodworking skills! Only thing I would have done different, skin the netire stand in that mushroom wood. Pretty cool looking repurposed wood.

 

[truffle22]

Amazing stand!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rpc07]

Following along. Awesome start

 

[spscrackhead]

awesome woodworking there. cant wait to see the progress

Awesome woodworking skills! Only thing I would have done different, skin the netire stand in that mushroom wood. Pretty cool looking repurposed wood.

Amazing stand!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Following along. Awesome start

Thank you all for the kind words.

 

[spscrackhead]

I decided to try out pukani rock. The stuff is supposed to be super porous! A big downside is that it can come with a ton of organic material on it which can easily be taken care of.
When I placed my order I asked for larger pieces with interesting shapes and specifically NO boulders....
<a href="http://s1380.photobucket.com/user/nokernicknokare/media/20160505_121830_zps6unenhar.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah170/nokernicknokare/20160505_121830_zps6unenhar.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20160505_121830_zps6unenhar.jpg"/></a>
I wasen't exactly happy with my order.
Now, rockwork to me is super important. I really enjoy aquascaping and get pretty into it. And I like to think the scapes I end up creating look pretty good. I took this rock as a challenge.

I proceeded to acid bath and bleach clean the rock to give me a good start, remove all those organics.
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I then got to work chiseling and sawing and basically working this rock to give it shape. I used hydraulic cement to affix pieces to give me the shapes I wanted.

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This photo shows all of the rubble I created doing this work. The beer is only there for size reference.....
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And these are the three pieces that will make up the aquascape of the tank.

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