187 Funky Dimension Prbly Gonna Flood Floors Build.

[Asonitez]

Well bad news and good news.

1. SCA has of course gone radio silent on my refund. I'm giving them until Monday afternoon then filing a charge back on my Discover Card via PayPal.

2. To date I have contact (stand builders in 4 states and about 10 handy men and cabinet makers in charlotte and surrounding areas.)

I have got projected dates between 5 to 8 weeks.
1 quote for 850 painted and 550 I paint.
1 quote for over 1150 shipped flat packed with instructions on how to assemble the stand.
1 guy and I have been texting and finally went radio silent 2 guys have gone on vacation for a week or more and Craigslist was a bust.

The Good News

Still no lead on a stand. Today on a whim while working I decided to measure out some things do some research and with 1 hour before most shops started closing:

My new stand will be

96 X 30 X 38

I'm using rocket-engineers post to build the stand the reinforce the area of the stand where the tank will sit with braces.

I will sand, kilz and wrap the entire stand with 1/2" smooth sanded ply and simple doors. With ventilation built in

The stand will be lit inside with waterproof RGB LED and a section of the Stand will house the calcium reactor and the other part all of the electronics.

 

[Husker]

I think you will like building it yourself. You will probably save money and it is a good excuse to buy neat things like a table saw and miter saw. I found the hardest part finding non twisted wood.

I know how you feel though, I got my tank last winter and am just now finishing the stand due to having stand makers bail.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Well bad news and good news.

1. SCA has of course gone radio silent on my refund. I'm giving them until Monday afternoon then filing a charge back on my Discover Card via PayPal.

2. To date I have contact (stand builders in 4 states and about 10 handy men and cabinet makers in charlotte and surrounding areas.)

I have got projected dates between 5 to 8 weeks.
1 quote for 850 painted and 550 I paint.
1 quote for over 1150 shipped flat packed with instructions on how to assemble the stand.
1 guy and I have been texting and finally went radio silent 2 guys have gone on vacation for a week or more and Craigslist was a bust.

The Good News

Still no lead on a stand. Today on a whim while working I decided to measure out some things do some research and with 1 hour before most shops started closing:

My new stand will be

96 X 30 X 38

I'm using rocket-engineers post to build the stand the reinforce the area of the stand where the tank will sit with braces.

I will sand, kilz and wrap the entire stand with 1/2" smooth sanded ply and simple doors. With ventilation built in

The stand will be lit inside with waterproof RGB LED and a section of the Stand will house the calcium reactor and the other part all of the electronics.

Nice man.. can't wait to see how it turns out. it will come out a lot cheaper that those quotes you got and you get to keep the table saw etc.. the fans are you going to have them blow into the stand area or pull out away from the stand? back of the stand going to be open of closed?

 

[Asonitez]

Well good news is that last night I made my first cuts of the top and bottom rails today i.e. I'll be cutting the legs side and other support. I haven't screwed anything together yet just dry fitting everything

The funny thing was that I had to literally build all of my tools to support my building of the tank lol. The saw horses alone took like 1 hr for both lol.

 

[Husker]

I thought finding non-warped, straight pieces of pine was the most laborious part. You are at least past that point.

 

[Xclusive Reef]

is this just standard home depot wood?

 

[Asonitez]

is this just standard home depot wood?

This wood is from Lowes.

The wood will be sealed and painted to prevent any mold mildew or warping/buckling/humidity damage.

 

[timrocks311]

Great build so far! Be aware using knotty wood for the outside of your canopy. The knots can bleed through paint. You might want to coat them in Shellac to seal. This happened to me with some trim wood. Ideally you want to use the premium/trim wood (or whatever they call it) without knots.

 

[timrocks311]

sorry, double post.

 

[hatfielj]

Not to be discouraging from trying a DIY project, but when it comes to glass aquariums, I always have a custom steel stand built. Especially for a tank that large. It's worth the extra cost to have the piece of mind. For all the money you're spending on new tools and supplies, it wouldn't be that much more. Good luck. The tank looks great though and you've got a great spot for it

 

[Asonitez]

Well started the assembly tonight and things were going well before I ran out of light.

2 things about the rocket engineer stand and about wood in general.


8' 2x6 are not really 8 feet. I had to trim off some and will need to trim off the bottom as well.


My measurements are as follows and I cut using a miter saw. The only thing I may not have accounted for was the width of the blade. I cut ON my lines instead of on the outside edge of them leading to what I think added up to be a fraction of an inch all around.

At first I was incredibly ticked because I cut all my End pieces.

The saving grace is that my 2x6 will have multiple cross braces at the top. After test fitting them they pushed it out the top rails a little bit and I got my 30". After I add in my ply wood wrapping and my top piece I'll have more than enough width and support.

Also the tanks glass is very wide meaning that the full surface of the glass will be supported on braces and the wide section of the 2x6.

Due to the width of the 2x6 I may need to cut the back rail to clear my bulk head holes. I will add vertical supports at the cuts and horizontal support as well.

Y'all think I should recut the end pieces to make it 30". I want to say it's maybe 1/8" or less

 

[Asonitez]

Nope wood is cheap and I have extra

I recut the end pieces and got my 30"

I did this in the garage at like 10:30 lol. It would have seriously bothered the hell out of me. As I suspected cutting on the outside of the line worked wonders.

Good news is that the other pieces I cut can still work as cross braces for the sump!

I'm traveling for a few days so next update will be Monday. I should have the entire thing framed out and ready for some Kilz paint. Then the wrapping begins.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Husker]

Looks good. This was a good excuse to buy some woodworking tools, I think.

If your frames are square and there isn't any twisting on the boards, everything should fit together nice and square/level.

 

[Txdragonslayer]

Nice man.. can't wait to see how it turns out. it will come out a lot cheaper that those quotes you got and you get to keep the table saw etc.. the fans are you going to have them blow into the stand area or pull out away from the stand? back of the stand going to be open of closed?

Do u have the name of these fans from Amazon, or perhaps a link?

 

[Asonitez]

Do u have the name of these fans from Amazon, or perhaps a link?

AC infinity

 

[Xclusive Reef]

What brand are those clamps? I was motivated and bought table saw, router and jig saw lol a little fathers day treat to myself.

 

[Asonitez]

The clamps are from harbor freight and cost 7 bucks each. Easily one of the most useful items I bought.

 

[Asonitez]

Update!!!
With all the stress of my build and stand issues the last few weeks I took some time to spend Father's Day with my dad. He's a carpenter but in jersey so he couldn't help me too much with my build. I did take the time to show him my plans and we tweaked a few things. We also murdered some porgies and sea bass in Massachusets.

Tonight I'll be back to the stand getting the rest of it framed out!

New update tonight

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Holy Cow man i fish a lot and i have not seen a load that good. Sea bass is probably my favorite fish to eat. Nice fishing man. I went out to home depot on father day morning and picked up porter cable air compressor with 3 nail guns, jig saw, circular saw and router... Plan to build a 4 in 1 work bench.

 

[Asonitez]

Yeah man! 3 guys 5 sea bass limit we went out 2 days so we got about 30 sea bass. We catch our limit of porgies and clean and freeze then to eat all summer for fish frys and grills etc we also give a LOT to family and friends who end up giving us a few bucks for there next fishing trip lol.