Fish building/man cave build!

Dierks

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BTW @Lowell Lemon I am finally going to build one of the frag tanks! lol

I will take photos and post the build progress. I am 3d printing and overflow and post that process as well.
I bought my first frag tank today! I ended up buying a 50-gallon Lowboy... Excited about it, and hopefully, it will work out as well as I hoped. I do kind of wanna set it up as a shallow lagoon tank.
 
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dantimdad

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I bought my first frag tank today! I ended up buying a 50-gallon Lowboy... Excited about it, and hopefully, it will work out as well as I hoped. I do kind of wanna set it up as a shallow lagoon tank.

that’s the plan. 30”x30”x8” lagoon/frag/mangrove tank.
 
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dantimdad

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A filtered shot of the Grandis Palys in the 12 footer.

grandispalys.jpg
 
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dantimdad

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I am waiting on a few more parts to finish the stand for the lagoon tank and then I will cut the PVC sheet top and shelf and then start assembling the tank.

I really hope to have water in it in two weeks.
 
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dantimdad

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Hot dog! The parts are early and out for delivery!

I got all the acrylic in my room adjusting to temp.

I am starting on cutting the stand parts now.

Where did I put the needle applicator bottles.....
 
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dantimdad

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Dry fit of the lagoon tank:

lagoondryfit1.jpg

lagooondryfit3.jpg


Doing this one a little different than I normally would because my bench isn't wide enough. I am going to finish the stand, put the 1/2" pvc top on it and make sure it's dead flat. Then I will put down painters tape and build the tank directly on the stand to make sure it has really tight fitting joints. Then I can move it off, take off the tape and finish up.

Bubly can for size reference. It'll hold about 29 gallons at the height of the overflow I am going to run.
 
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dantimdad

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So still a bit dizzy today. Just part of it I guess. But, I still am moving forward with things.

So, you start with this pile of parts and tools:

standpartsandtools.jpg

connectorparts.jpg


The longest part of the build is make this pile of trash from peeling the protective file off:

trash.jpg


took nearly an hour to peel 16 pieces of extrusion.

Then, you preload your brackets with nuts and bolts:

bracketsloaded.jpg


That's just part of them. And sorry for not vacumming the rugs first.

Then you build the side frames:

sideframe.jpg


Then add cross pieces and set the tank on for a photo opp:

testfitstand.jpg


I ordered a couple of wrong brackets and am waiting (again!) for them to come in. I am going to go ahead and cut the top and bottom shelves and then weld up the tank in the next couple days.

Again, sorry for the mess.
 
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dantimdad

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If anyone has a couple mangroves, let me know. The ones I got off amazon just slowly faded away. I have kept them before and not had issues. They just outgrew what I had them in so I gave them away.

I want a couple for the back of the lagoon. Or maybe just one. Depends on what I can get.
 
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dantimdad

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Printing off a bunch of right angle clamping jigs. Was going to cut the corners off a few composite squares from Harbor Freight and decided that would cost about $30 and make them useless for anything else.

8 of these will take 400 grams of filament that I paid $16 a kilogram for and some time. I love having multiple printers at my disposal. ;)

rightanglejig.jpg


I will use these, spring clamps and acupuncture needles for the glue up.
 
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dantimdad

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i have to say thanks to @Lowell Lemon. He gave me the confidence to be able to do this. Almost 3 years ago, I wanted to build an acrylic top off container to specific dimensions but I was leery of acrylic fabrication. He helped me source the acrylic and said " You can do it. You build everything else!" Just the shot in the arm I needed.

Thanks buddy!
 

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