The Addiction

[spscrackhead]

I wanted to start a build thread for a few reasons. To me and I believe many others, planning, building, and creating the tank is something that we enjoy immensely in this hobby. I am also an equipment junkie and looking under the stand is sometimes just as enjoyable (maybe impressive is the word) as the corals themselves.

Lets kick this off with a little back story as that seems to be the popular thing to do and I just like talking about myself. :lolspin:
I have been in the hobby since I was about 16. My first job was at a LFS, so I have been around for a while. I have had mostly smaller tanks as honestly, the huge tanks just aren't super appealing to me.
Fast forward to three years ago.
I had joined the Air Force as a Loadmaster on the C-17 and had to break down and sell my setups. It was an absolute dream come true! I truly enjoyed my time in this position. The only downside was I was gone far too much to have a tank, one at the level I really wanted. So my wife fed out betta while I was away.:p

Well, now the Air Force has too many Loadmasters! Lets reclassify you!
So one cross country move later here I am, Luke AFB just outside Phoenix AZ.

LETS GET A TANK!!!:bounce3:

Searching Craigslist I came across a Redsea Max S650 that was just the tank. This tank is larger than I was looking to go, but the price.... I drove out and purchased the tank before we even had a house! From time to time the wife makes sure to bring this up :fun2: I introduced myself to the neighbors by asking for help moving the tank inside the house, before we moved in, before the cable was turned on, before the water was turned on! Are you starting to see my fiendish ways? :lolspin:

We moved in and had the water turned on along with other things, but they aren't important to this story! So lets leak test it.....

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Whew it all stayed in that box!

Started to acquire some equipment.
Vertex Alpha 170

48x24x8 frang tank

Emerald 39 in the background

 

[spscrackhead]

I was checking out build threads here one day and stumbled across an amazing build where the guy built his stand from barn wood. WOW

This stuff was killer!
It turns out he was local and builds stands on the side for fun.

These are a few renderings he had done up before he got to work. The stand is on the tall side (I am kind of a tall dude, not freakishly tall, but I do help out a lot at the grocery store on that top shelf).

 

[spscrackhead]

This hobby takes you places you would never expect and you get to see some really cool things!
I took a trip out to a local lumber yard that specializes in re purposed wood. I will keep the verbiage short and let the photos do the talking.

 

[exigency]

That's a great start! I really like the rendering of the stand, very contemporary.

 

[spscrackhead]

That's a great start! I really like the rendering of the stand, very contemporary.

Thank you. Stay tuned, MUCH more to come! Just sorting through all the photos now.

 

[mmw64]

Thank you. Stay tuned, MUCH more to come! Just sorting through all the photos now.

Following! Love the stand idea.

 

[spscrackhead]

The stand I finished myself, I like the antique somewhat vintage style so I played to that. Chalk paint, followed by some distressing and then finally a dark brown wax finish. More on that later. The doors are done with this awesome wood called mushroom wood. It was used to make boxes that mushrooms were then stored in. Enzymes from the mushrooms eat away at the wood giving it this really neat finish.

Lets get to progress photos of the stand.

That's one HUGE pile of sawdust!

 

[spscrackhead]

Following! Love the stand idea.

Thank you!

 

[jsker]

Busting out the planer :) nice job on the stand

 

[spscrackhead]

Busting out the planer :) nice job on the stand

Thanks, I was just the idea man:) A local reefer built it for me. Wish I could take the credit for that one.

 

[jsker]

The is no I in team work:) and with good ideas, good people, things come together.

 

[revhtree]

Very cool so far!

 

[mmw64]

More, more, more!

 

[JP79]

Beautiful. Can't wait to see it all up. Smart about tank first, cable second. Tank, power then water. That's my order.

 

[kschweer]

Great build so far!! Love the old barn wood.

 

[spscrackhead]

Beautiful. Can't wait to see it all up. Smart about tank first, cable second. Tank, power then water. That's my order.

Actually I think the precise order was something like; tank, water, power. :D

Great build so far!! Love the old barn wood.

Thank you. It is definately one of my favorite parts of the build so far.

 

[spscrackhead]

I decided to try out pukani rock. The stuff is supposed to be super porous! A big downside is that it can come with a ton of organic material on it which can easily be taken care of.
When I placed my order I asked for larger pieces with interesting shapes and specifically NO boulders....

I wasen't exactly happy with my order.
Now, rockwork to me is super important. I really enjoy aquascaping and get pretty into it. And I like to think the scapes I end up creating look pretty good. I took this rock as a challenge.

I proceeded to acid bath and bleach clean the rock to give me a good start, remove all those organics.

I then got to work chiseling and sawing and basically working this rock to give it shape. I used hydraulic cement to affix pieces to give me the shapes I wanted.

This photo shows all of the rubble I created doing this work. The beer is only there for size reference.....

And these are the three pieces that will make up the aquascape of the tank.

 

[spscrackhead]

Final result

 

[mmw64]

Love it!

 

[urbaneks]

Nick - Great job on the build thus far! Glad to see the cabinet working out for you. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics after you've painted and waxed the cabinet.