120 Gallon Build

[snyderjasond]

Hello everyone... I don't post much as I generally balancing full time work, working on my master degree, numerous other hobbies (too many by my wife's standards) and as of recently a new born baby girl.

I Figured now was a good time to start. A little back ground. In the grand scheme of reef aquariums, I am relatively new. I have had 2 marine aquariums over the last 9 years. I started with a 12 Gallon JBJ all in one, moved to a 60 Gallon Cube about 2 years ago when I moved into my home with my wife and new we would be staying a while.

When we moved in I wanted to build a 200 Gallon deep dimension reef. started framing out a tank stand, upgrade my filtration to a LifeReef sump (love it)... so why isn't this build thread called 200 Gallon DD build... well, after the stand sitting in my living room for now two years (unfinished) I decided it was two large of an area and it made more sense to scale back my very large aspirations to a more sizable 120 Gallon.

The Plan...

1. Build new custom tank stand (I have lost some of my build photos, I apologize in advance) I will post those below in a following post, I just need to them all together.

2. New Sand
3. New Reef Rock.
4. New electronics
5. Migration my awesome Neptune Apex System
6. Run for several months
7. Move fish over to new aquarium

I don't want to move my old live rock over as I have some very unwanted pests that I have not been successful in ever removing.

At this stage, I am about 90% complete with my stand. I am using a modified design of Dustin Smith. His build can be found here http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34868

I have modified these plans for a 120 gallon. I will not be using the side book shelves. Only the base, and a simple canopy. I have also use different trim work to give the stand and cabinet door more of a nautical theme with embossed rope trim of varying types.

 

[snyderjasond]

Ok, so as promised here are photos that I still have of the build...

The is the core of the stand. The stand as has been built with 13ply Baltic Birch cabinet grade plywood. All joints have been screwed and glued with pocket hold joints used for all screws. Tightbond II waterproof wood glue has been used on all joints.

You can see that I have several vent openings on the back of the stand. Not yet drilled or installed are two variable speed fans which will help provide cooling. They will be mounted on the back of the stand blowing into the stand creating a "someone pressurized" cabinet thus forcing warm air out of the stand. My thought behind mounting them on the outside blowing, is that they would not be subjected to the moisture by being mounted internally. The Fans I used can be found here. Because the fans are variable speed, I'd like to do some research and figure out if it is possible to mod in a way to connect and control speed from my apex.

The next few photos cover the additional electrical outlets that I am installing within one of the side cabinets. This will allow, access to accessories that I don't need to control with an my apex and want to be able to control with an on off switch without taking up valuable power bar outlets.

The left side cabinet, I used a shelf jig to allow for a couple of moving shelves.

Rough Cabinet without trim

Various Trim

NOTE... The next few photos showing trim work are upside down.

Im testing out joints for the doors using just my table saw... unfortunately I cannot use a dado blade on my saw, so I have to run more passes with my saw and test often.

Lastly... Door pulls.

Home depot, has several great cabinet knobs that are made by Liberty Seaside, I have it narrowed down to these two.

I am leaning towards the turtles.

Stand Finish: I plan to finish the plan in a white milk paint, and then washing the trim with a darker color along and then finish off with a matte poly finish.

 

[snyderjasond]

For anyone who is curious about what tools I am using for this build. I figure I would post. to show the simple tools that can be used to build this. I am by no means a professional wood worker, I am very much an amateur.

Ryobi Electric Brad Nailer (Used for all Trim) I love this tool for most of my wood working projects.
Dewalt Compact Table Saw
Kreg jig (Pocket Holes)
Dewalt Drill
Flush Cut Saw
Kobalt Miter Saw

 

[snyderjasond]

Boxes of reef saver rock have now shown up. About 100#. I also have an assortment of rubble rock that I picked up for free. I'm going to try to carve these up a bit into some smaller sizes with passages

 

[Reef_Junkies]

The stand is looking good!

 

[snyderjasond]

Thank Joe! It's been quite the project... with school, work, a pregnant wife and now newborn. I feel like the project has taken forever. I guess I should just run with the old saying, nothing good in this hobby happens overnight.

 

[Dextereef]

Yeah 120's rule!! wow man that stand is legit! you're a pro.

 

[snyderjasond]

Dextereef, Thanks... Can't take all the credit. Read plenty of forum posts, reviewed designs etc. I keep hoping that it will be strong enough and then I think what my stock stands are like and I am momentarily relieved. It's not perfect, but I have been real happy with it so far. By the time I finish the doors, Im sure ill be installing child locks on the inside.