Show Off and Discuss Your Red Sea Reefer Series

[Centerline]

I'm working on it now. Got the base painted for the wall but am confused on how to line everything up and assure it is level. I need to mount a 4"x4" beam to the wall and have 2 wooden dowels coming out of it. The dowels are going to go into 1 1/4" PVC pipe to support the canopy. Getting it all lined up is the trick. The image below is a poor attempt at showing what I'm trying to do, lol. PVC pipe inside, 4x4 with dowels (cut to size) and lag bolted to studs. Hopefully!

The image makes it perfectly clear. If I were mounting that 4x4 to the wall and wanted it dead level I would do the following.

Use a stud finder to locate the studs.
Measure the appropriate distance from the floor and indicate the hole locations using a level. You will need a helper.
Predrill one of the hole locations you just marked.
Drive a bolt partially in and rest the level on it to double check the other location in indeed square.
Make any adjustment needed and predrill the second hole.

Nice looking chair! - Herman Miller?

Should come out dead level.

BTW, I suggest pre drilling for bolts as it is pretty easy to split a 2x4 with a bolt (I've done it many times). It also makes it much easier to drive and keep straight.

 

[incloud design]

The image makes it perfectly clear. If I were mounting that 4x4 to the wall and wanted it dead level I would do the following.

Use a stud finder to locate the studs.
Measure the appropriate distance from the floor and indicate the hole locations using a level. You will need a helper.
Predrill one of the hole locations you just marked.
Drive a bolt partially in and rest the level on it to double check the other location in indeed square.
Make any adjustment needed and predrill the second hole.

Nice looking chair! - Herman Miller?

Should come out dead level.

BTW, I suggest pre drilling for bolts as it is pretty easy to split a 2x4 with a bolt (I've done it many times). It also makes it much easier to drive and keep straight.

I agree with everything you've said and got a good grip on how to get great results. I prepped everything, pre-drilled, and aligned but I don't have a drill press so manually drilled the holes for the dowels by eye and they came out pretty crooked and pointing out. I don't see any way to get them in through the canopy now as planned as the entry point is wider than the point of measure. I'll post a couple pics in hopes you can see what I'm saying. I think I'd have been better off using your brackets (metal) instead. It would put a hold on things but if the offer for white brackets at 26 1/4" is still on the table just name the price to ship them. Unless there's a way to get this to work but I don't want to skimp on anything and regret it either.

 

[Tastee]

Here is my RSR 250, 1 year old now.

I do have one question, apologies if it has already been answered as I haven’t been through the entire thread yet!

Does anyone cover the ATO?
I was considering making/getting made a simple acrylic lid I can slip on the top of mine to stop evaporation and detritus landing in it.

 

[Stpatrick]

I have been without a reef for to long. I ordered my 425XL this morning. Build thread coming soon.

 

[ourcoralreef]

Here is my RSR 250, 1 year old now.

I do have one question, apologies if it has already been answered as I haven’t been through the entire thread yet!

Does anyone cover the ATO?
I was considering making/getting made a simple acrylic lid I can slip on the top of mine to stop evaporation and detritus landing in it.

I made a custom one with a lid and i see droplets on the. Over all the time so yes i would recommend putting a cover just make a tiny hole so it doesn’t seal it completely not letting water out

 

[Stpatrick]

Christmas came early this year I am on the reefer train now! Build thread coming soon.

 

[Lbrod126]

Christmas came early this year I am on the reefer train now! Build thread coming soon.

Yewww! Enjoy dude welcome to reefer thread look forward to seeing your build!

 

[incloud design]

Update on my canopy progress as I got all the pieces for my mounting plans cut and ready to assemble. I ran into an issue drilling 4x4 beams freehand and they came up way off. So I went out and bought a drill press and it came out perfect. A little sanding and final touches and I'll be floating it tomorrow. I also got my BlueFish LED Controller all set up and my lights are ready for the canopy now. All in all it came out great and I'm psyched to see how it looks tomorrow over my 450. I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of my 4 month tunnel and start enjoying this build. All plumbed into the basement and a couple cleanup crew members added to sift sand.

I'm mounting 1 1/2" PVC pipe in the holes to slide the dowels into for added support and adjustments.

Here's the tank with lights before canopy and all plumbing in order. If all goes well I'll post the canopy floating above tomorrow.

 

[Kryssie]

I’ve finally started putting my Reefer350 together.

 

[Kryssie]

I’ve finally started putting my Reefer350 together.

 

[incloud design]

I’ve finally started putting my Reefer350 together.

Looks great, best of luck to you!

 

[Kryssie]

Looks great, best of luck to you!

Thank you!

 

[incloud design]

There are a bunch of options for "floating" the canopy but most of them are fairly labor intensive.

First if the canopy is sturdy enough you MAY be able to simply screw it into the wall and your good - no hanging kit. MDF is fairly heavy and susceptible to humidity so it may not be optimal. I think the idea of using PVC is much better as it weighs much less and is impervious to moisture. One thing to consider is that if your canopy is too heavy it will sag under a load if mounted to a stud covered in sheetrock. Sheetrock will compress under a load. Maybe not on day one but in due time. Perhaps removing the sheet rock, mounting the canopy to the studs and then repairing the sheetrock would be inline with your goals.

Another option would be using a bracket that had a low profile gusset such as this.

These are how I achieved this... no apparent wires or brackets.

There are a few other options but really this is the sturdiest for the amount of work invested.

If this appeals to you let me know. My company sells thousands of them a year and I have dozens of them in bronze (powder coat) in various sizes that were never shipped due to the folks that ordered them going out of business. It will take two and you can have them for free but it will take some work mounting them.

There are several other options that will work as well such as threaded steel dowel rods and "blind" holes drilled into the canopy to slide them into and perhaps some of the new "floating shelves" that HomeDepot sells.

Let me know if you are interested.

Centerline I got the canopy completed and it's floating strong and level as can be. Came out great and wanted to Thank you for your help and suggestions along the way. Here it is...

 

[Lbrod126]

Centerline I got the canopy completed and it's floating strong and level as can be. Came out great and wanted to Thank you for your help and suggestions along the way. Here it is...

Canopy came out awesome!! Looks great dude, did you use wooden dowls going through to your connection block?

 

[incloud design]

Canopy came out awesome!! Looks great dude, did you use wooden dowls going through to your connection block?

Thanks, yeah I used 1 1/4" wood dowels off the support and they slide into 1 1/2" PVC. Very sturdy and simple to take down.

 

[Lbrod126]

Thanks, yeah I used 1 1/4" wood dowels off the support and they slide into 1 1/2" PVC. Very sturdy and simple to take down.

Awesome looks great!

 

[Crabby48]

Hey Lbrod126, I got a start today and so far the canopy and my plans are going well. I took your basic layout and added a bit more support due to the PVC being so thin. It is going to be extremely lightweight and I can't foresee any issues floating the canopy. My intentions are to lag bolt a white painted 6" board to my wall and use a 4x4 also painted white with threaded rods coming out of it. Then drill holes in the canopy and use hollow rods or conduit for the rods to slide into. If it works the way I presume it should be plenty strong enough and easily taken down for any reason (maintenance) that comes along. Just wanted to post progress and say I'm psyched and Thanks for the help!

What did you use to join the pvc together?I really like this idea well done

 

[incloud design]

What did you use to join the pvc together?I really like this idea well done

I used two 1/2" x 12" x 8' PVC boards. One length of 3/4" x 2 1/2" x 8' PVC. Clear PVC Cleaner (Oateys) and Clear PVC Cement (Oateys). Some 2 1/2" PVC screws and one 5' length of 1 1/2” PVC. 2 1 1/4” O.D. Wood Dowels. It was enough to build braces, spacers, frames for PVC pipe and that's about it. The PVC Cement bonds wicked strong but I added additional strength with PVC screws sunk. About a $100 for materials. Cheap for the quality you get and priceless seeing it's your own craftsmanship and one of a kind. I enjoyed building it. The real cost came in buying a miter saw, drill press, clamps, table saw, bits, stud finder, and so on. My shed got broken into a couple years ago so I had to replace my tools. But that's the best part, lol. If you have any questions or need any suggestions feel free to ask. More than happy to give back to the community. Thanks for the Kudos!

 

[TheHarold]

Stock reefer 350, without any fancy plumbing in the stand or fancy equipment on display

 

[Crabby48]

Stock reefer 350, without any fancy plumbing in the stand or fancy equipment on display

All display no sump lol.
It looks amazing. Great job