Begining construction on stand..(Pics)

[jgoldsney]

Ok here are the first pictures from the construction of the stand for my new 230 gal aquarium...to save the effort of hauling the stand upstairs I caried up all the pre-cut wood and constructed it on a tarp. It is going to be a 2x4 frame with a 5/8" plywood sheeting. All joints are screwed and glued....there is no way that this baby is coming appart.


Front of stand
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/507/249Stand3.jpg?4758


Extra support for front opening...I wanted at least a 36" opening so that I could esay access my sump, just to be sure I beefed up the 2x4 top beam

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/507/249Stand2.jpg?4758
This is an angle shot of the end of the stand.
you can see the 2 GFI circuts on the wall that I ran in for the tank when I was building. I also have a floor drain and a water line ready to go.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/507/249Stand1.jpg?4758

THe stand will have a 36" x 77" cabinet beside it to hold my fuge and a prop tank and all other goodies.

The floor of the cabinet and the stand will be connected to the drain so that if there is a leak it goes down the drain not on to the floor.

Well that's it for now....I will update as things progress

Joel

[jgoldsney]

Oh yeah there will be another brace in the bottom LOL forgot about that till I looked at the pictures

[MitchM]

...all I see is a reef central banner.... :question:

Mitch

[jgoldsney]

Doh..I was trying to link from RC....

I will fire the pics to my galery here and re-link

Joel

[jgoldsney]

THere we go...:) that's what happens when you get lazy lol

[MitchM]

How are you going to attach the plywood? (in order to prevent racking)

Mitch

[MitchM]

I hope you don't mind a critique or two..... :wink: ...
All the weight from your tank is going to bear down on the 4 corners. The 2 x 4 on flat "foundation" that the middle posts are sitting on is going to flex under any weight, unless you've already compensated for that under the floor joists, and the shear strength from the screws on the middle braces isn't a lot. Properly supported posts under those braces would help.

Mitch

[kuatto]

Mitch,what is "racking"??

[MitchM]

Like a house of cards...no lateral support, so at the slightest horizontal force, a structure without adequate lateral bracing can fall over.

If, say, the plywood was going to be attached with small finishing nails, the stand could theoretically fall over because the finishing nails are not strong enough to hold it. Screws and glue would be good here, too.

FYI, on a typical house, there is a strength axis to plywood for just that purpose and the drywall on your walls also helps to stiffen up the house.

Mitch

[whaase]

Once the 5/8" plywood is on that thing will be solid. Almost overkill :biggrin: But I like overkill when I build stands.

Walter

[Manny]

i think it looks great. i agree with Walter, once plywood goes on, it will be very stable. i would use screws though not finnishing nails.

:biggrin: manny

[whaase]

When I did my 90g stand I used oak plywood for the finish. I put screws in from the inside. Make sure you measure the length twice!! 1 1/2" + 5/8" is 2 1/8" so I'd use 2" screws, and don't countersink them :biggrin: I glued and screwed them.

Walter

[jgoldsney]

THe plywood is going to be screwed and glued... :)

[jgoldsney]

Mitch....

The floor underneath the tank is reenforced I had the framer double up the TGI joists and the joists are supported by a wall that is right under the front of the tank.

I have also added 2x2's that are cut to fit inside the verticle posts so that when I get the bottom plywood installed it should hold water.

this should stiffen things up quite a bit

Joel

[MitchM]

Mitch....

The floor underneath the tank is reenforced I had the framer double up the TGI joists and the joists are supported by a wall that is right under the front of the tank.

I have also added 2x2's that are cut to fit inside the verticle posts so that when I get the bottom plywood installed it should hold water.

this should stiffen things up quite a bit

Joel

... :cool: ...

Thinking ahead.....

Mitch

[jgoldsney]

LOL yeah I had a few leaks on my other tank....It was in the basment and not to hard to clean up.....if this one leaks my wife will have my hide.

Everything should be water tight and connected to the drain. so worst case I would just be dumping a bunch of water down the drain

Joel

[MitchM]

I've seen a 180g tank on a metal frame before - with a bad bow in the front beam of the stand which was probably at least a 1/4 inch gap. It wasn't leaking, but you can bet that the silicone holding the bottom glass to the sides was holding some stress that it wasn't intended to.... :eek:
That kind of stress can obviously hold for a while, but it'll sure shorten the lifespan of the tank!
(It was here in Calgary at Riverfront....I wonder if it's still there...)
Same problem as with a twisted aquarium stand frame.

Mitch

[jgoldsney]

Well hopefully with all ofthe plywood my stand wont have any flex...I will be adding a peice of styrifoam though so that if there are any minor deviations it will still put even force on the tank.....

Joel

[muck]

Joel,

Any progress on the tank setup?? :mrgreen:

[jgoldsney]

Yep it is coming allong slowly.....

The tank is in place and I have it 3/4 filled (man is RO slow)

I will try and grab some pictures this afternoon....


Joel

[jgoldsney]

Ok here are some pics as promised.....

Here the tank is sitting in my front entrance (aint it purdy)
BTW anyone moving a tank I would definetly reccomend getting a U-Haul fridge dolly they are awesome.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/249Tank_Inside.jpg

Now the Fun Part
Up the stairs we go....I had my brother and 2 brother inlaws helping....I dont know if they will ever agree to help me again.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/249Tank_Up_Stairs2.jpg



Now around the corner...

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/249Tank_Up_Stairs1.jpg

And finaly in place and almost full....(Please excuse the mess)
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/249Tank_In_Place1.jpg

Now I have to get the plumbing finished so that I can get this thing circulating....I just painted the floor at lunch.

[muck]

Its looking good so far...
I bet the wife will be very happy to get her hallway back though. :mrgreen:

[jgoldsney]

Actually it is in the Bonus room of our house so she isn't too fussy...still it sucks when we have people over and I have to scurry around and try and clean up :lol:

[muck]

Actually it is in the Bonus room of our house so she isn't too fussy...still it sucks when we have people over and I have to scurry around and try and clean up :lol:
If its in the bonus room does that mean you are running all your equipment in the garage below??

[jgoldsney]

Nope that would be too much of a pain....The garage is not heated.

Everything will be contained in the stand.

here is one of my initial flow diagrams....

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/249Tank_Flow-med.jpg

[kris_willard]

How do you plan on getting it from the sump to the fuge? Another pump?

[jgoldsney]

Either that or a T off of my return..If I ran another pump I would probubly just drop a PH in to the return that was closest to the fuge

[kris_willard]

WOW! This sucker is going to cost you well over $500 for plumbing alone! Good luck. What do you plan on doing for the prop tank/fuge stand in the way of a door/cover?

[jgoldsney]

Well I was going to cover the stand with Oak......untill I started adding up the cost of oak trim Yikes!!!!....

After looking at the stands at aquariumstands.net I think I may go with MDF and seal the livin daylights out of it. the MDF will be providing no structural support so even if it does get wet and swell it is only looks that suffer not the integraty of the stand.

I have a buddy who is a finish carpenter who owes me some work so It will look nice in the end.

[kris_willard]

If i may make a suggestion? I think it would look absolutly awesome if you made the door on the fuge/prop part of the stand with windows on it because it think it will be beautiful once it matures. If you dont want to take away from the tank it self you can use tinted glass like the have on A/V stands that hold all of your components. You can still see through but it doesnt take away from anything around it. This is assuming that you will have a door on it for access. It will also save you some money if you still want to go oak! Wadda you think?

[Delphinus]

Did you do anything to shore up the support under the floor for that? 230g has got to be around 2200lbs. (Assuming 1l = 1kg, 1g = 4.4l and 1kg = 2.2lbs) :eek:

[muck]

... The floor underneath the tank is reenforced I had the framer double up the TGI joists and the joists are supported by a wall that is right under the front of the tank.
From the first page... :biggrin:

[jgoldsney]

Hmmmm I don't think it is a bad Idea but I don't think it would fly with my wife....To her a fuge would just be a messy bunch of macroalgea and a prop tank is not super pretty to a non reef person

[Delphinus]

From the first page... :biggrin:

Whoops a doodle. :redface: thanks

[Dazz]

May I suggest you use birtch plywood It looks really nice stained and is better than MDF imo. I am doing my stand in it and I have it stained mahogony. I'll post pics later on. I just finished putting the second coat of poly on it.

[jgoldsney]

It isn't the plywood that costs the $$ it is the mouldings.....I was going to sheet it with 1/8" or 1/4" plywood which was about $20.00/sheet but then started to add moudings and this is where my costs skyrocket....If you start adding any fancy mouldings YIKES the cost is huge

[muck]

May I suggest you use birtch plywood It looks really nice stained and is better than MDF imo. I am doing my stand in it and I have it stained mahogony. I'll post pics later on. I just finished putting the second coat of poly on it.
I would also love to see pics as im in the middle of building a stand as well.
Is the birch plywood cheaper than the oak plywood??
If so by how much roughly??

[Dazz]

Well I believe 1/2" oak ply is $80 where as the 1/2" Birtch ply is $59. This is per 4'x8' sheet.

Here is a pic of the canopy in progress showing the birtch grain.

http://www.nothingsoft.net/Dazz/Pics/birtchgrain.JPG

And here is the rest of the stand with mahogony stain and 2 coats of poly on it.

http://www.nothingsoft.net/Dazz/Pics/standpoly.JPG

[Dez]

Here in Edmonton you can get a 3/4 inch 4 x 8 sheet of oak for 49.99. I built 3 stands for Bev. The mouldings are expensive but you can get solid oak 1 x 2's or 3/4 x 3/4 and it isn't that bad, and then router it to shape. Maybe Bev will post some pics of her stands

Des

[jgoldsney]

My problem is that with the mouldings that I like they are not always that easy to make...(eg crown, fluted casing etc.....)

How well did the birch accept stain? I had heard that it was difficult to get it to accept stain evenly.


Joel

[StirCrazy]

I love birch but I like it in a natural look now a color stain. both Oak and birch are the same price here :rolleyes:

Steve

[Dazz]

I used a water based stain and did 2 coats. I didnt prep the surface like I should have, but the stain looks even to me. I used a staining sponge to apply it, not a brush.

[jgoldsney]

Well got all the water in and started the pump at lunch Yaaay!!!
I watched it for about 20 minutes and no leaks everything was great....still I am sitting here at work worrying about it lol

I will update things with pictures as soon as I get the chance

Joel

[Majestic_Aquariums]

A quick suggestion if I may-Home Depot carries a 3/4 maple plywood here at $56.00/sheet. It is what they call paint grade, and yet it looks quite nice stained as well. As far as stain, I would recommend an oil based transparent, or preferably even an alchol base-tends to absorb to maple or birch quite well.
As far as mouldings-your'e right. They got you by the ..... there. It adds up quick. Maybe primed pine? Would have to paint to contrast the woodgrain finish, but it is a more affordable alt. if you don't want MDF
Robert.

[jgoldsney]

Thanks for the reply Robert. It is nice to have a comment from a stand Guru. I think that I will be going with MDF but I will seal the heck out of it first.

My buddy has soome router bits for making raised panel cabinet doors so he can make the doors excatly the size that I want. and I don't realy care for contrasting woodgrain with solid.

What I was thinking of doing is getting him to cut all of the peices first, then paint them with a couple of coats and then get him to assemble them and touch up the nail holes.

Joel

[Majestic_Aquariums]

Yeah, you definately want it sealed quite well. If you guys have difficulty in making the raised panel doors, let me know-I will let you know of some shortcuts. Just P.M. me-might be easier that way. Best of luck.

Robert.

[muck]

Any updates Goldie? :mrgreen:

[jgoldsney]

LOL funny you should ask...Last night I was thinking that I really should get some more pictures up.....

Not much has changed....I have been busy on getting my DIY skimmer running....that and the fact that my wife just had a baby has kind of been drawing my attention away :D


JG

[muck]

Well... Congratulations on the new addition. :biggrin:
Hope all is well.

[muck]

LOL funny you should ask...Last night I was thinking that I really should get some more pictures up.....

Not much has changed....I have been busy on getting my DIY skimmer running....that and the fact that my wife just had a baby has kind of been drawing my attention away :D


JG
Still waiting on those pictures..?? :mrgreen:

[jgoldsney]

LOL I know I know.....well not much has changed .....I have had no time to work on it .

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get the chance to clean out all the junk that is piled up on the shelves and then I will take some pics :)

joel

[jgoldsney]

well here she is so-far......

Once it is all plumbed in it will be time to call in the finish carpenter to make it look purdy.....untill then it is a bit of an ugly duckling

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/249DSCF0237.jpg

[tinpusher]

Do you have an updated picture? What type screws did you use that could handle the salty environment?

[jgoldsney]

Well no updated pics because not too much has changed except for the addition of some really nice long green hair algae :rolleyes:

Everything is screwed and glued so I wasn't too concerned with the screws rusting. I just counter sank them and painted over them.

Hopefully I will be putting in a new/larger sump soon as I don't currently have the time or energy to mess around with plumbing in my frag tank and fuge.

Needless to say my wife is a little less than impressed with the state of the tank as it sits right now...the fact that I had a medium sized flood yesterday didn't help. I accidentaly pulled the RO waste line out of the drain and dispite my best attempts at making the base of the stand a water tight basin some seepage occured and now my wife is convinced that our house is going to smell like salt water fantasies :mrgreen: (those who have been there will understand)

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get all the leaks sealed up to prevent this type of disaster again.....

Well end of that long winded rant.....

back to work