bitts Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 dont be to hard on yourself. do you rember that overflow I was trying to do with the closed loop. i like seriously put like three or four years into the 29 & still have found things to improve. stoubren is good. take your time & do it right. Link to comment
shiver905 Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Hurry up. .... We are waiting.. Took u like 17 years for a stand. Looks good but 17 years....... . keep us posted. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 4, 2010 Author Share Posted September 4, 2010 Hurry up..... We are waiting.. Took u like 17 years for a stand. Looks good but 17 years....... . keep us posted. Ouch! I think I just got told.... Haha... Probably for good reason though Actually I have made some progress in building the sump. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246189 Tomorrow the wifey is going out for a massage (her b-day on Tues.) so I should have a few hours of quality time just my stand and I... Heh... I promise I'll have some pics tomorrow! Link to comment
B.C. Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Ok so it domani already,wheres the pixs??? I got very little done today on my stand,invited to a last minute BBQ. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 UPdates! Okay so I've been working mostly on the sump for the past week. I had some things go wrong and I was using glass re-used from a broken tank. So scraping off all the silicone took a loooooong time and I've got the finger blisters to prove it from holding the razor blades... If you want to see the sump, go here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3004945 Now I did get a little bit done on the stand. Right now it's upside down and I was able to start skinning it: Skinning it will be a slow process because I'm taking my time to make sure that everything is aligned perfectly. I want this to show as if it were 1 solid piece of wood. I'm considering staining the corners a darker color as well... but that would cost more and take more time so probably not. On a side note I did cut up my slate tonight. I'm still investigating the best way to attach the slate to the wood stand though. I bought some "acrylpro" mastic that you buy in a little bucket at home depot, but I'm not sure if it's the right stuff and how long it'll last. I'm considering swapping that out for some specially formulated mortar for granite and natural stone... The only thing is that you have to buy it in 50lb bags so that sucks because I only need a little bit. Another option I'm researching is using silicone. Either the stuff I have left over from the tank build, or maybe some of that roofing silicone you can get which I believe is designed to adhere to wood better. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 MORE UPDATES! Okay so last week I spent most of my time finishing up the sump. This weekend though I was able to convince my wife to mostly stay home thus I got a decent amount of work accomplished. Most if it you can't see though because it involved cutting all the trim to size. All I need to do now is attach it (would have attached it tonight but the air compressor is too loud). Anyways, less talk, more pics... Here is what the stand looks like now, with tanks! Here's the stand, with paint depictions of what will go where: Here's the middle sump area with the sump tank sitting there: As you can see the skimmer (~20" tall) has plenty of space. It's a breeze to get in and out. Overall I'm glad I did some pretty thorough test fitting in the planning stages. Remember that there will be an insulated divider hanging above the tank to reduce noise and separate the equipment areas from the display area (see sump thread) Finally, this isn't glued or finished yet, but here's sort of what the slate/wood combo will look like. I spent a long time at various hardware stores looking through their slate piles to find the specific tiles that went together for this stand. Just an FYI when I finish this I'll be publishing a step-by-step set of instructions on how to build this stand. There's also a link in the first post to the sump thread detailing the planning/build phases. If anyone has suggestions please let me know. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 Oh, and I forgot to mention that during my test fit I measured any stand deflection (before adding the final layer of plywood so I could level it) and the maximum deflection anywhere on the stand is 3/32"... Not bad If I do say so myself! Still, it's a bow on the middle shelf, probably just caused by warpage in the 2x4's. I'll use some extra tile adhesive or grout to make it so that the final piece of plywood is 100% level. How does that plan sound? I think that either the tile adhesive or the grout should be able to take the weight pretty easily. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Tonight I got home from work late so I couldn't run any power tools (noise). But I did do some testing with the Acrylpro tile adhesive I got at HD for $6... I decided to use it to level out any dips or uneven surfaces in my stand since it seems to dry pretty rock hard. So I spread out about 1/4 tub onto the shelf, concentrating it where the dips were and then feathering it out. Finally I ran over it with the notched trowel to allow proper air gaps. Then I put down my 1/4" finish plywood piece (used a little wood glue where the adhesive wasn't used) and set a thick piece of glass I had down and put 5gallon buckets of water on top with some clamps around the edges. The result is a VERY flat surface to stick my tank on. In-fact, I might just do this one completely rimless because it's so flat there's only 1 spot where I can just barely fit the thin side of a razor blade under the glass. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Show off. That's what she said! Anyways, I think this method works fairly well. I'll give it ample time to dry though. I have run into 1 problem and that's with the tile. I tested it on some tile and it seems to stick pretty good. The trouble I'm having though is that when I pull up on the tile for a stress test, the tile actually breaks apart before the adhesive does. It's the same thing with silicone. The bottom layer of tile will shear off leaving the majority in my hand and the very bottom layer of the slate stuck to the wood... I'm hoping once I really plaster the stuff on and press the tiles down into it that the adhesive will work into all the cracks and provide a better bond. Still, I won't be lifting this stand by the tiles. Link to comment
bitts Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 That's what she said! way to much fish Link to comment
seabass Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 I feel so far behind everyone else.I think that you're still ahead of me. I like what you've done so far. Link to comment
schgr.cube Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 Looking forward to this, it is going to be great! Link to comment
bitts Posted September 23, 2010 Share Posted September 23, 2010 aj one thing that was an unintended result of my setup is the huge amount of evap from the display fuge. hopeful using the pipe instead of the super long weir will prevent it. I'm pushing a gallon a day on my set up. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 23, 2010 Author Share Posted September 23, 2010 Thanks for the encouragement! Things are moving along slowly, but surely. Last night I mounted the top piece of finish plywood using the tile adhesive to fill in any dips so I'm waiting for that to finish curing. In the meantime I cut some more trim boards. Bitts, the evap. is going to suck, that's for sure. Right now I'm spoiled because I use a 3/4 glass top. I think it keeps evap. to a minimum. The good thing is that I have wood floors, so it will help keep some humidity in the house during winter! I'm planning on creating a custom acrylic reservoir in the bottom portion of the stand. Probably around 10 gallons or so (12x18x12). Or if I can find a good sized Rubbermaid or something I'll save myself some $$ and use that along with a DIY ATO following the design of Neanderthalman's DIY ATO. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t&p=2726655 Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 1, 2010 Author Share Posted October 1, 2010 Updates... Stand is coming along fine, but I did finish working on the sump! Here's some pictures (same as in the sump thread). Link to comment
B.C. Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Looks good AJ,but the water level in your sump makes me nervous lol. Im sure you have it worked out though. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thanks BC... The water level is pretty high!! The tank itself is like 12.5" tall not including the bottom glass and the water level will be at 10.5... I don't know if you've seen my sump thread yet, but there I talked about using anti-siphon towers so that if power goes out the siphon on the return will be broken almost immediately and all that will back-flow into the sump will be the ~1/4" of water that's above the overflow, the water that's in the pipes, and the water that falls out of the skimmer body... so maybe a few gallons total, maybe 1" or so in the sump. On a side note I don't have pics yet but yesterday I was able to pretty much finish skinning my stand with the 1/4" oak plywood. Now all I really have to do is attach the slate and sand, sand, sand, sand, asnd... Oh and I still need to build the doors too... but that can be done later when the tanks are running. Link to comment
bitts Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 AJ its a 3 day weekend so what do ya have to show for it, mmm... by now, you better have some fish in there at least. Link to comment
Acropora12 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Loving the build, keep it up! Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 13, 2010 Author Share Posted October 13, 2010 Ha! no 3-day weekend for me Plus this weekend I'm in a buddy's wedding that's going to last like ALL weekend... Oh well at least I'm going to the lumber store now to buy some wood and hinges for stand doors. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 Haha... sanding my a$$ off... I'm also trying to decide what color I want to stain the stand, or if I just want to poly it.... Pics tomorrow. Link to comment
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