~TJ'S 125g ~ Building of the Reef~

[TJ's Reef]

Joe, once upon a time..... back in the early 80's I did just that with a friend and started a business making aquarium furniture. Mostly in the Northwest market but did cover most of the Western US before we went our separate ways.....oh well. Still see an occasional piece that we made from a pic posted up on the Ol' Interweb or CL adds and my QT tank still sets on one from 1985. I've made a handful over the years for different people but most are unwilling to pay for the quality and effort put forth.

Cheers, Todd

 

[TJ's Reef]

Small update on canopy build as have been busy with remodeling again. I spent a few hours yesterday setting up my lil Router Table to run miter-lock joints in canopy sides. Takes a lot adjustments to get 'just right....' and unnerving having your fingers so close to this router bit, necessary though for this hobby sized table to get good clean accurate cuts. Now I need to cleanup and clear some space for assembly to get this back on track. I'll do a bit of sanding before gluing it up though to remove any machining marks. Mitered corners/joints have such difficulty keeping together in humid environments such as around aquariums and this technique works very well.

This be the 'Scary' bit, removes a lot of material in a single pass


detail of miter-lock profile and application in some scrap material


Profiled all the sides and mitered the structural ribs


Dry fit to check for accuracy, inside and outside view



To be continued...

Cheers, Todd

 

[NC2WA]

Todd,

nice to finally see the canopy come together.

 

[joekool]

That is an interesting bit Todd. How will you secure it now. Are you going to glue and clamp and or add fasteners or backing blocks. I'm sure you heard of them but I get a lot of bits from Rockwell. I buy style and rail bits from them for cabinet doors.

Anyhow I'm sure after the close call with the fingers some beer is somewhere in the background not in the picture. I don't drink until after the dangerous saws or routers are done being used. Alcohol and power tools don't mix. Well either does lighting too!

Looks like it is coming along well can't wait to see final look!

 

[TJ's Reef]

Joe, yes to gluing and clamping with some some corner blocks between the two structural ribs and above top one also. I plan to also spline the miters on the ribs and top crown piece to get as much rigidity as possible. My plan is to be able to slide this canopy off aquarium for maintenance and not to have it come apart at the seems.....literally. If it is not secure enough by my standards will attach a spanning brace across top back to keep shape. May end up postponing this for a couple days now to repair/update my LED fixture, knocked a wire loose and shorted out another emitter yesterday interrupting #6 circuit.

Cheers, Todd

 

[427HISS]

Great detail buddy.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Not much progress today, but did spend a couple hours in the shop to get some beading detail done on bottom edge and routed dado's for splines into ribs for better glued joint strength.

Double bead detail in bottom edge


Dado's routed, will custom make splines like this to strengthen joint


Next or another project now in the works, my new ATO reservoir, Eheim pump and JBJ ATO set. Will need to build a matching enclosure to hide and replace the temporary ghetto one behind it that's been in use for over a year. Lit up with my new Reef Radiance DM-155e Frag Tank light that I have some special plans for............


Cheers, Todd

 

[TJ's Reef]

So I guess I'll do this one small update at a time..... Yesterday removed my LED array to update and replace a handful of emitters that were either clouded over (old acrylic lens versions) or ones my Blochii Tang shorted out from spitting water at :frusty:
Took these pics below with my phone

Looks kind of naked without it


Into shop for damaged LED removal and a good cleaning before gluing on new ones.


Least favorite part of DIY LED's, tinning new stars


Glued back on and soldered back up plus added one more to circuit..... hope it all works


Pat self on back.....fully lit left end once again



And FTS for the heck of it


Now back to shop to work on the canopy

Cheers, Todd

 

[mfinn]

Looks pretty darn nice Todd.

Thanks for showing the detail on your finish wood work.




























Note to self, never show Todd your wood work.

 

[joekool]

Nice job Todd!

Looks fantastic. And some people don't like LEDs. Proof is in the results.

 

[trido]

Looks real good Todd. I missed the last updates.

 

[benny z]

Nice!

 

[skinz78]

Looking great Todd!

 

[TJ's Reef]

While on a long phone call today was multi-tasking by also cleaning/organizing my picture files and came across this pic below. Thought I'd post it along with what he/she looks like today. This was taken back in September of 2011 just after I got back from my Collection trip to Oahu, HI. The Naso is only about 2" or so, the PVC 'T' fitting I believe is an 1-1/2". This was in my 50g QT and had around 15 newly collected fish in it including my Blochii Tang, 4 Bicolor Anthias, Halfspotted Goby and Fisheri Angel. Others that did not make it through the subsequent Ich outbreak were 4 Butterfly's (Raccoon, Longnose, Kleini and Auriga)




And back on 1/12/14 at around 5+" or so

With some friends


Cheers, Todd

 

[skinz78]

Looking good Todd, did you go over and meet up with Les and do some collecting?

 

[joekool]

I wanna see if you get something at the frag swap

 

[TJ's Reef]

UPDATE TIME. So weather has not permitted any finish work lately and have been pretty busy and or sick with a Flu Bug to feel like working in a cold shop. Long winded way of saying no new progress on canopy build.... lol

Joe, not much of anything from the 'Frag Swap' I showed great restraint as I'm sure there were some incredible Corals to be had. Did do some catch-up tank maintenance though and found some time to make it down to one of my favorite LFS's to do a little trading with my excessive amount of frags littered about. Following pics taken with my Driod Razor only.

FTS 3-6-14


First thing that caught my eye was a trio of Solar wrasse females that looked really healthy and could not resist picking out one to try


Then after picking out a dozen frozen food packs and still having some credit left found this nice sized Favites colony about 3"x4"


Then yesterday traded some more coral frags for a beautiful lil male Solar Wrasse, Yellow Coris Wrasse which I had placed on hold earlier and a 40+- polyp colony of Red People Eaters as a replacement to colony my rented Filefish consumed a couple years back.

The female checking out her new mate Ooh La La, love at first site.


Then, once acquainted nearly inseparable and occasionally allowed to hang with Bicolor Anthias now.


And the male on his own for a moment.


The Yellow Coris buried itself almost immediately as expected and may not see it for a day or two. I did get a good pic of my little Hawaiian Tide Pool caught Halfspotted Goby though forgot to crop before uploading to PB



​Cheers until next update, Todd

 

[Mike&Terry]

Your tank is lookin good, Todd! Congrats on the new acquisitions... :bigsmile:

 

[TJ's Reef]

Thanks Mike or Terry ???

I'm still working on my DSLR camera skills and one day hope to at least be able to compete with yours...lol Tried a few shots today but could get nothing even half way decent so resorted to phones camera.

Cheers, Todd

 

[trido]

Looks great Todd. I sure am jealous about that amazing wrasse you have.