Well I've figured it was time to unveil my latest secret project. Ive had this tank set up for a couple of months now but never got around to posting about it. I picked up my new tank around January 2017 and it took me a few months to build the stand how I wanted it. Since I'm a year late lets get started with some pics.
I picked up a Deep blue rimless 80 gallon tank from Coral reef connection and spend 3-4 months working on the stand when I had time. I wanted some larger then what I had but still shallow. I really liked the dimensions of the deep blue since it is shallow enough where I don't feel like i have to go swimming to get a lost frag. I also wanted this tank to be dead silent.
This was the image my wife had in mind for the tank.
So with this image I dutifully got to work.
Starting with the shell of the stand: I used rocket engineer template with 2x6 boards for the header. I had to go on a quest for wood that wasn't completely warped. I eventually ended up at a smallish lumber shop in Harrisburg where they had a nice selection of wood and a much nicer table saw/jointer than me. I had them cut the wood down to size for me and join one edge to get a very flat surface. Even with them doing the brunt of the work it was only a little more to get it there vs HD.
Then the face frames:
Then onto to the trim and side cabinets: I build the side cabinets from scraps of ply I had left over from the top and back of the stand. The far left is going to be my electrical cabinet and the right is going to be misc storage.
And finally onto the cabinet doors. These were made out of 1x3 pine boards and MDF for the inside panel with plenty of Kilz smeared on. I'm lucky that my father has a shop with random tools and bits. So I used his router table to make the raised panel doors. Eventually I routed the outside of the doors to give them alittle something more.
A dry fit test before final gluing and finishing.
A few coats of paint and some swearing finally got the stand in place. Once I got it in I realized that I should of measured twice as my trim made me a quarter inch too large. Which caused me to have to pop off the trim and square it up on the front.
To the finished product. I still have to figure out how to hide the gaps between the wall and the stand.
Here's a before picture to show the huge difference from my old tank to the new.
Here's proof that the tank finally saw water and had life in it after half a year of working.
I plan on running most of the same equipment from the old tank with some new additions.
Lighting: 2 Radions (gen 2 and gen 4)
Flow: 2 MP40s
Return: Vecrta M1
Skimmer: Skimz SN123
Heaters: 125 watt Jager and 300 watt finnex
Controller: Apex 2016
Dosers: 2x DOS (1 for dosing, one for AWC)
I picked up a Deep blue rimless 80 gallon tank from Coral reef connection and spend 3-4 months working on the stand when I had time. I wanted some larger then what I had but still shallow. I really liked the dimensions of the deep blue since it is shallow enough where I don't feel like i have to go swimming to get a lost frag. I also wanted this tank to be dead silent.
This was the image my wife had in mind for the tank.
So with this image I dutifully got to work.
Starting with the shell of the stand: I used rocket engineer template with 2x6 boards for the header. I had to go on a quest for wood that wasn't completely warped. I eventually ended up at a smallish lumber shop in Harrisburg where they had a nice selection of wood and a much nicer table saw/jointer than me. I had them cut the wood down to size for me and join one edge to get a very flat surface. Even with them doing the brunt of the work it was only a little more to get it there vs HD.
Then the face frames:
Then onto to the trim and side cabinets: I build the side cabinets from scraps of ply I had left over from the top and back of the stand. The far left is going to be my electrical cabinet and the right is going to be misc storage.
And finally onto the cabinet doors. These were made out of 1x3 pine boards and MDF for the inside panel with plenty of Kilz smeared on. I'm lucky that my father has a shop with random tools and bits. So I used his router table to make the raised panel doors. Eventually I routed the outside of the doors to give them alittle something more.
A dry fit test before final gluing and finishing.
A few coats of paint and some swearing finally got the stand in place. Once I got it in I realized that I should of measured twice as my trim made me a quarter inch too large. Which caused me to have to pop off the trim and square it up on the front.
To the finished product. I still have to figure out how to hide the gaps between the wall and the stand.
Here's a before picture to show the huge difference from my old tank to the new.
Here's proof that the tank finally saw water and had life in it after half a year of working.
I plan on running most of the same equipment from the old tank with some new additions.
Lighting: 2 Radions (gen 2 and gen 4)
Flow: 2 MP40s
Return: Vecrta M1
Skimmer: Skimz SN123
Heaters: 125 watt Jager and 300 watt finnex
Controller: Apex 2016
Dosers: 2x DOS (1 for dosing, one for AWC)
