Rebirth of my octocab tank

[davocean]

I'm finally rebuilding my reef tank, a new SCA 120g
I'm using the same cabinet that I had on my 150g, my octopus design that I built myself(I'm a Contractor/Carpenter)
I built a new frame for this, and then cut down my octo cabinet 6" on each side and rebuilt it, still finishing that process but the main part is pretty complete.
This is what I have going on right now.

New SCA 120g 3 sided starfire


New frame

 

[davocean]

Here is the cabinet, I had to take off 6" on each side using a circular saw, wasn't easy but I'm pretty happy w/ what I got as far as seams go, still pretty well balanced to fit tank I think.
I had to pull crown moulding to cut it down, just finished putting new crown on canopy, still need some trim work on cabinet base.

 

[davocean]

So this week I had to tackle a new problem, my new place comes w/ this really rough and extremely unlevel floor, 5/8" out of level in the 4' space this sits.
Normally I could do this in shims or rip a couple boards, but the stone is very uneven on the surface, lots of deviations.
On top of it my tank is trimless, so it needs full support across the entire bottom.
On top of that this is a rental, I can't do anything that can't be undone later or cause any damage.
So I have done something similar to this for others before, works quite well.
I first laid down heavy plastic sheeting.
I then ripped a couple boards at 4' long, 3/4" at one end, 1 3/8" at the other.
I made a center support so frame does not bow out when I pour concrete, and I placed that flat at top w/ a void below it so mud can flow under.
This also helped me screed the concrete and made a good guide(My concrete skills are not as good as wood work skills, I needed all the training wheels here!)
I used a high strength fast set concrete to create a pad for my tank stand to sit on.
I then laid a hardy backer board on top w/ quickcrete polyeurethane sealant to help ride over any minor deviations.

 

[davocean]

Here's the tank on pad, came out pretty darn level, no shims needed.

 

[L.A.]

That is amazing. I wish I could do stuff like that, you're an amazing artist! That probably looks so cool when the lights are on inside the canopy.

 

[davocean]

Thanks for compliment!
Yes it does look pretty cool w/ lights on it, pics don't quite do justice.
I plan to add LEDs to the glass above w/ maybe a reflector to better even out lighting of it.
I purposely used a glass color somewhat darker than what my display is, that way eyes are drawn to the tank first, I mean that is the star, then to the pretty picture frame around it so to speak.

 

[-Logzor]

Very tasteful and nicely done!! Wish I had those skills!

So glad you didn't do seahorses.

 

[Tahoe61]

Very cool.

 

[davocean]

Lol, no Logzor, but I did almost do jellyfish or squid, thought about putting a color changing rgb LED strip or something behind it for color changing lights, thought that would be cool.
I rarely build things for myself, wanted this one to be personal, I have an octo tattoo, figured this fits me best.

 

[danangelo]

My favorite stand ever looking great Dave can't wait to see what you do with my rocks.

 

[AsphaltPays]

Awesome job! Beautiful setup

 

[davocean]

My favorite stand ever looking great Dave can't wait to see what you do with my rocks.

Thanks Danny, all that rock has been soaking, I made some acrylic pillar holders so I can form a cool scape.

 

[davocean]

Got some 5/8" acrylic rods and made some better pillar bases this weekend, can't wait to play w/ scaping soon!

 

[danangelo]

Cool you're finally getting it up and running

 

[duke4130]

Tagging along

 

[kschweer]

Definitely following this one! Very good idea to fix the uneven floor problem.

 

[davocean]

Finally!

 

[davocean]

So tap used for leak test, all went fine, but I decided to fine tune my drain.
I love this tank, but the plumbing from SCA is not the greatest, so I ditched what it came w/ and made my own.
The overflow is tight and the holes are bored fairly close, so I used braided hose and flex line.
I originally used hard plumbing for my drain at sump, but there was some splash noise, so I went w/ flex, and a 22 degree elbow, happy to say it works like a champ.
My plumbing might look a little rough(I'm a carpenter, not a plumber) but I have to say this is probably my quietest tank so far, almost no sound at all, and my water level is perfect.

 

[davocean]

A little krylon fusion on anything that might show through overflow teeth.

 

[davocean]

Also I started playing around w/ my scape, this is first run, I'll fine tune a little when it goes into tank.