Byrdman's 40 Breeder

[Byrdman]

Stand is finished welding. Just got done actually The octopus skimmer arrived today as well. Will try to get some pictures up this weekend of the stand before i skin it.

[Byrdman]

Ok finally here are some pics of the stand. This morning I got all my wood panels cut for the stand. I am using contact cement to put the three sides and bottom on the stand. The forth side will be removable with velcro for access to the sump if needed. The wood I am using is just a 4x8 sheet of hardwood nothing fancy at all. Hopefully it turns out when its all said and done. I will post pics of the stand again once i get it skinned. Without further adeau

Here is a pic of the nuts I welded on in case I need levelers. The stand come out pretty darn square so lets just hope my floor is too. The inside braces you see on the bottom is where my 20l sump will sit. I will have to also add cross braces for the sump to sit on but I forgot to add those.

[Byrdman]

Got all sides cut earlier and tried to get one side fastened down. I got some contact cement from work but i think the can is bad cause it didnt hold. Going to the hardware store tomorrow and getting a new can or buying liquid nails.

[Bluesop7]

Geez, that looks nice. I wish I knew how to weld.

[miniwhinny]

Oh that's going to look NICE !!!!

[phi delt reefer]

get some strong magnets and counter sink them into the wood instead so you access to all three sides. you can take advantage of the metal frame that way. you should be able to get some pretty cheap online or on eBay.

 

sweet stand by the way - good luck with the build

 

vince

[Byrdman]

I had thought about doing magnes in three sides but in the end I figured as long as the side was removable I would be ok to get the sump out. I have the front,back,and bottom pieces in place now. Waiting on a router from a friend to clean the edges before I place the sides.

[Byrdman]

I am continuing to work on the stand. Got another side liquid nailed on. This just leaves me the removable side to go. I routed all the edges even with the metal frame. Turned out pretty good. I messed up in a few spots but nothing that wont be hidden with the trim work thank goodness. I'll post some pics when i get it skinned before doors and trim. Waiting on mp40 and eheim return pump to come in. I may go buy the tank this weekend not for sure yet. I may wait until i get stand done either way I'll have the tank in the next couple weeks. Still going back and forth on lighting. Found a couple used t-5 fixtures i enquired about. Nova extreme 6 bulb and a 2x150 sunpod 36 in so we shall see what responses I get.

[Byrdman]

I hope to have the stand fully skinned by tues at the latest. Mp40 came yesterday. Still waiting on eheim pump to come in. I am also going to buy a one yr old six bulb nova pro light. This is good because it enables me to buy the good bulbs for it. Versus the ones it comes with. Pics to follow after skinning and before trim.

[Twinn]

Keep taking pic's tank stand looks good so far.

[Byrdman]

Got all four sides on and routed. Had to go back and liquid nails a couple spots where the contact cement I used that wasnt any good didnt stick. Tomorrow morning I am going to paint the inside white with Killz primer and the following day or tomorrow evening I will route the door openings to make them clean and place the top board on. If you look at the left hand side of my stand doors facing out, that is my removable side. I used velcro strips along the top and bottom to secure it in place. I am going to have to add a piece of wood strip in the middle on each side because when I planned the stand I moved the upright legs inside about 4 inches off the ends. This caused me to not have anywhere to place velcro to keep the wood from bowing out like it is in the pics. Its an easy fix just sucks I didnt plan it out well enough. Woodworking is fun but by no means am I any good at it. Hopefully once its trimmed everything will turn out ok.

Rear shot

Front shot

Top down shot showing distance between board and upright.

[Byrdman]

Ok well the stand is all skinned minus the doors and I just came in from finishing up the second coat of stain. The only thing I have left to do is trim out the doors and stain them and then place them on the stand. Overall I am fairly satisfied with the stand. If I had it to do over again I would have stained the entire stand before adding the trim and stained the trim also before putting it on the stand. This would have made it alot easier as a whole to stain and would have looked cleaner in the long run. While staining I also realized that on one of my side pieces I ran the grain up and down instead of left to right like the other 3 sides. Its not a super big deal but it still irritates me now that I see it.

My light fixture is here and I will probably buy the tank this weekend and drill it hopefully sometime next week. I am going to be drilling it for a corner overflow so need to figure out exactly how far out off the corner I need to drill for my two bulkheads. Here are are couple crappy pics on my Iphone of the stand when it was skinned before staining.

[Arkayology]

Nice stand. Did you decide on lighting yet?

[Byrdman]

Thanks. Yea I ended up going with a six bulb nova pro. Got a good deal on it and I can get the colors I want going t5

[Byrdman]

Here is a couple pics of the stand finished staining. I put my first coat on the doors. Hope to have second coat on doors tomorrow and the trim attatched to them this weekend. Then comes the drilling of the tank...

[phi delt reefer]

Did you use any wood filler anywhere? How did the stain look in those areas if you did?

 

I am looking to stain my really black but i have a some screw holes that will need to be covered that i am researching on how to best cover

[Byrdman]

No wood filler. Everything was liquid nailed together. As far ad wood goes. The stand was welded together obviously.

[Byrdman]

Wood filler will take stain differently than wood no matter what you do. If I were staining and had screw holes I would drill holes to a dowel size and plug them with a dowell an then sand it down evenly with the rest if the wood. That would look the best IMO.

[Byrdman]

Lifes been real busy so the tank has kind of been creeping along. I need one piece of trim to finsish my other door then all thats left for stand is to mount the doors to it. I picked up my tank yesterday and just got finished drilling the hole for the drain. I made the durso last night at work outta 1.5 pvc. Right now there is a 7/64 hole in the top and as I fill it with water and get the return pump going I'll drill more holes to allow for correct flow and hopefully very minimal noise. I am waiting on my return bulkhead fitting to arrive from BRS but I believe it will go somewhere around where the hole saw is located so I can keep the overflow box to a minimal. Hopefully I can have the tank and stand inside by the end of next week if I get the bank painted and the other hole drilled.

Theres the top down shot of the setup.

Angled shot of tank on stand.

[Byrdman]

Well the return line is drilled and I have the overflow box I made siliconed in place. Only thing I need it to buy a couple fitting from Lowes and some flex tubing and I'll have this baby inside here soon. Here are a couple pics of my overflow box I made.

[d9hp]

Nice work!

[Byrdman]

Thanks

[Byrdman]

I ordered my glass for my sump and I'm going to pick that up this afternoon. I decided to use a29 gallon for the sump since it's just sitting around and fits under the stand. I also ordered 50lbs of Fiji rock from brs that will be here today too. I will be putting it together with acrylic rods to keep it secure. Will post pics as the stuff gets completed.

[Arkayology]

Looks awesome!

 

I am wondering why you went with the mp40 over two mp10s? Just wanted the one pump with more power? I am considering buying a second mp10 when I upgrade. That way, when I further upgrade to my 75(final goal...years away) I will still be in good shape with two mp10s. Just wondering

[Byrdman]

Just wanted to get away with one pump really. At the time I thought it would be cheaper to buy one mp40 than two 10s. The guy I bought it from had it on his 30 long and he said his corals loved it. I I feel it's too much May go with two tens.