sfg Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 So i'm back in the hobby.. Started off recently with a biocube that gave me the bug and within weeks picked up a Cadlights 45G Artisan II Shallow Reef w/sump. This will be my biggest tank yet along with my first sumped setup. I'm taking things slow with the build and still have yet to decide what I want to put in this tank. For the time being I'm thinking SPS with a few select fish.. going for a minimalist build out.. The tank came with a Cadlights stand which from what I've read and what I came to find was your typical MDF type setup. I was "ok" with this but was wanting something of better quality and a tad bit taller. When I went to pick my tank up from a member here he actually had a steel frame he built with plans to skin it in the future. It was also about 12" taller than the Cadlights stand. Instead of using the Cadlights stand I decided to work on the frame and not have to move things around later down the line. The person I bought the tank from had a different idea on how he wanted to skin the stand than I did, so I had to make some slight accommodations to get the look I wanted. Anyway, here is the stand build out part that me and my pops did. I'll let the pictures do the talking. We used 3/4" Birch plywood for the skin... heavy stuff.. A quick test fit of the tank.. I decided I wanted to add some character to the front of the tank and had a left over piece of bamboo flooring from my house. PITA getting this thing planed down. But it kind of gives the stand a custom feel since the wood matches the house... Anyway,.... Just about done.. Added some desk gromets for the MP10's. Didn't want the wires running all over the tank. I will have to open up the controller and see how to remove the wire to run through the holes. Figured polished nickel would be a nice touch. Because of not wanting to show the wood grain on the edges my pops recommended beveling them at a 45 degree angle.. this way the sides are all clean. This prevented me from using the entire front as the door. So we had to cut the door out. I picked up some european inset hinges and they buckled from the weight of the 3/4' Birch plywood. I will have to revisit the hinges.. for the time being I purchased some nice hefty magnets and chiseled out some spots for them and flush mounted them to the door. They hold on to the steel frame without issue. Hinges will be needed in the near future as the wear and tear of opening the door the way I have to now will get old... but for now, it will do. That's where I am today. Took me a few weeks to get to this point.. a little bit of work here and there. Next I will be working on the light housing which will be suspended from the wall with galvanized pipes.. kind of add an industrial look to it. Wires will be run through the wall and through the pipes themselves. Goal is to have no wires showing... Link to comment
kimberbee Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Looks awesome so far! Link to comment
sfg Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 *Fast forward a few weeks: Long day.. finally decided to get off my butt and hang the light.. my back is killing me.. I started off by making the light housing: Link to comment
specore Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Stand came out great. Link to comment
sfg Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Decided I wanted to add a bit of a custom touch to match the stand: Now for some paint: Now the fun part.. measuring, mounting, running wires in walls, having to bust some sheetrock out to get past 2X4s.. (back issues): Damn 2X4: And we have power... Removed the baffle to give myself a bigger area for my fuge.. the Cadlights sump had 4 chambers.. two really small ones so I made it a 3 chamber: As some of you may know, the Cadlights comes with an imported plumbing size. I cannot find PVC in this size locally. So I had to get creative in order to add a union for my filter sock.. Leak test! Finally done for the night.. More work to be done here this weekend. Plan on building out my scape here Saturday. UPS delivered a bucket of Reef Crystals and 60lbs of Pink Fiji today. I also setup the RODI unit this afternoon and made about 50 gallons of salt water.. long long day.. a lot accomplished... Hoping to get myself a Hydra 52 upgrade to my vega with 120 optics.. I think this should be enough for lighting. The Vega alone doesn't give me enough coverage. stay tuned or FTS now that its up and running. Link to comment
nismo_sky32 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 This build is sexy! Your diy looks great. Following along Link to comment
sfg Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Thanks for the comments!! Link to comment
Spiderguardnano Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 insane diy how much did it cost to build your light hanger Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Wow... looks great! I just set up the same tank. I'll definitely be interested to see how you scape and stock it! Link to comment
seanoli Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 The stand really looks great. I dig the bamboo detail on the front. Link to comment
sfg Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Spiderguardnano: I think it may have been about $50? Just picked up some galvanized pipes from HD in the plumbing section already threaded as well as the couplings. I used one piece of wood for the housing itself also from HD. cnseekatz: I will post pictures here in the next few days.. need to break out the DSLR and some photoshop to get the blue out of the pictures that my iPhone captures! Love the tank!! seanoli: Thanks!! fishstiks: Thanks!! Thanks for the comments! Link to comment
Smithjm5 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Beautiful tank and stand, can't wait to see more! Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I will post pictures here in the next few days.. need to break out the DSLR and some photoshop to get the blue out of the pictures that my iPhone captures! Seriously... it's tough to capture color under those LEDs. Good luck. I'll be following along! Link to comment
GHill762 Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 what a sexy build.. that stand is awesome! very well thought out, love the computer wire gromet things, great idea! what were you doing with the wood pegs? not really sure I follow.. Link to comment
sfg Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 what a sexy build.. that stand is awesome! very well thought out, love the computer wire gromet things, great idea! what were you doing with the wood pegs? not really sure I follow.. The wooden pegs were used to fill in the recessed screw holes on the outside of the stand. I could have used spackle or wood filler but the plugs give it an overall cleaner finish. The grommet idea came to me while at work one day ... I actually took the ones out of my work desk and brought them home to see how it would look. Lol. I searched online and found the brushed nickle parts for $8 shipped. Not a bad touch and cheap. With the next update of pictures I'll take some side shots of the MP10 so you can see how it looks. I thought I was going to have to splice the wires for the MP10 but when I opened the controller I found it was just a molex plug. Unplugged it and ran it through. Easy enough. Link to comment
Rehype Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 This build is sick....amazing job so far can't wait to see what you do next. Link to comment
Fnard Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Nice build. Looks super slick. Just ordered the same tank, hope to have it within a week. Good luck with it, will be following along. Link to comment
Arce Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Awesome build, loving the stand and light wall mount. Link to comment
Paaatz Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Wow ! Really nice build, keep it going ! Link to comment
jabeuy Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Stand and light looking sweet! Link to comment
fishguywc Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Very nice stand! I like how you made the "top" slightly smaller then the tank dimensions, makes it look like its floating and will eliminate salt/water sitting on the stand and under the tank. I'm gonna use that on my next stand! Link to comment
mflander Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 What an amazing build so far. Really like your light hanging solution. I may have to borrow from it Link to comment
Kylebeano Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 dam man, build my next tank please. your setup is so clean and fitting, congrats! Link to comment
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