Hello everyone! 
I wasn't going to do this, initially, but felt that it's my civic duty to show you all the struggles that I'm about to endure as I build-up my first reef aquarium. Being a total newbie to the hobby, but not to expensive hobbies in general, I am trying my hardest to do this right the first time. (I used-to build/offroad Jeeps and Early Broncos and I wasted a LOT of money doing that, but I digress...) Of course, Murphy's Law is on the mind as I struggle through my first attempts at this.
It all started with some Green Spotted Puffers I purchased at a new Walmart, in The Woodlands. My daughter thought they were cute, and I figured I had enough FW experience to keep them buoyant for a long while. Well, as studies showed, these are a brackish fish, and they are known to thrive in SW. As further studies insisted, they need larger amounts of space (about 30g per fish). I had three... I'm down to two (may Booger R.I.P.). So, a fire was lit and I've yet to extinguish it.
So, first things first... I got a very nice Oceanic 92g corner from our very own Scott. He gave me a great deal and offered a ton of great advice. When I first walked into his house, I thought I might need (at least) some snorkeling gear! He and his family were very hospitable and it was an absolute pleasure meeting all of them. My kids still want to go back! LOL!
I'm going to try and add pics of what I've done so far... it's been very slow, but I'm in no hurry as my little puffers are doing fine in a little nano I set for them (temporarily).
Here's some pics of the day I brought all the stuff home from Scott's:
Here's a little problem I knew I'd have to take care of:
Yep! That's a pic of the inside of the stock stand. Yikes!
Here's the tank on it's stand... I think it's pretty sweet and has a great footprint for what I'm looking to do:
Looks great as is! But, there's still that question going on in the back of mind... "Will that last?" Hmmmm....
So, I broke out the trusty level and started taking measurements of the things that I know are level, to compare to the tank on it's stock stand:
Here's the level I used. I checked the garage floor first, and compared it to the 75g stand I have it on in this picture. The measurements of the floor and the stand were nearly identical.
First bubble.
Second bubble.
Third bubble... Again... these bubbles were nearly identical to the garage floor itself.
Next, was measuring the new tank on it's stock stand:
From back to front...
Right away I knew there was something "fishy" going on here... (horrible pun intended).
Ruh-roh, raggy!
Based on those measurements, I had a gentle slope in the tank. It's obvious by looking at the water damage that there's problems; but, it's always nice to have certified tools tell you officially.
All things considered, I didn't really care about this and I'm still ho-humming about it. I knew going into this tank that I'd have some work to do if I want to start a new hobby. (Also, Scott's deal was too good to pass up!)
So now the fun begins! I get to play with the old wood tools that I bought a few years ago! You see, I built a deck on my old house in Ohio, then put the tools away "forever!" Now, I get to Tim-the-Toolman-It, and go to town!
Right now, I've only built a partial frame for it... Here's the pics:
The staging area needs cleaned up a bit. That 75g stand became my workbench. 8)
Da' wood. (no minivan cracks)
The template.
::grunting::
::applause::
Another angle. I can't remember what the thickness of the ply is, but it's almost an inch thick.
Mocking up.
Booyah! It's 34" high. I actually planned it this tall. That's like 4-5" taller than it's previous, pressure-treated brother.
I put the canopy on it just to get a gander.
So, what do you think so far? Do you think I should frame the ply, or will it be strong enough as is? I stood on top of this thing, and it didn't budge. Keep in mind that I plan on putting plywood on the back and sides, so that should add to the structural integrity... Thoughts so far?
I wasn't going to do this, initially, but felt that it's my civic duty to show you all the struggles that I'm about to endure as I build-up my first reef aquarium. Being a total newbie to the hobby, but not to expensive hobbies in general, I am trying my hardest to do this right the first time. (I used-to build/offroad Jeeps and Early Broncos and I wasted a LOT of money doing that, but I digress...) Of course, Murphy's Law is on the mind as I struggle through my first attempts at this.
It all started with some Green Spotted Puffers I purchased at a new Walmart, in The Woodlands. My daughter thought they were cute, and I figured I had enough FW experience to keep them buoyant for a long while. Well, as studies showed, these are a brackish fish, and they are known to thrive in SW. As further studies insisted, they need larger amounts of space (about 30g per fish). I had three... I'm down to two (may Booger R.I.P.). So, a fire was lit and I've yet to extinguish it.
So, first things first... I got a very nice Oceanic 92g corner from our very own Scott. He gave me a great deal and offered a ton of great advice. When I first walked into his house, I thought I might need (at least) some snorkeling gear! He and his family were very hospitable and it was an absolute pleasure meeting all of them. My kids still want to go back! LOL!
I'm going to try and add pics of what I've done so far... it's been very slow, but I'm in no hurry as my little puffers are doing fine in a little nano I set for them (temporarily).
Here's some pics of the day I brought all the stuff home from Scott's:
Here's a little problem I knew I'd have to take care of:
Yep! That's a pic of the inside of the stock stand. Yikes!
Here's the tank on it's stand... I think it's pretty sweet and has a great footprint for what I'm looking to do:
Looks great as is! But, there's still that question going on in the back of mind... "Will that last?" Hmmmm....
So, I broke out the trusty level and started taking measurements of the things that I know are level, to compare to the tank on it's stock stand:
Here's the level I used. I checked the garage floor first, and compared it to the 75g stand I have it on in this picture. The measurements of the floor and the stand were nearly identical.
First bubble.
Second bubble.
Third bubble... Again... these bubbles were nearly identical to the garage floor itself.
Next, was measuring the new tank on it's stock stand:
From back to front...
Right away I knew there was something "fishy" going on here... (horrible pun intended).
Ruh-roh, raggy!
Based on those measurements, I had a gentle slope in the tank. It's obvious by looking at the water damage that there's problems; but, it's always nice to have certified tools tell you officially.
All things considered, I didn't really care about this and I'm still ho-humming about it. I knew going into this tank that I'd have some work to do if I want to start a new hobby. (Also, Scott's deal was too good to pass up!)
So now the fun begins! I get to play with the old wood tools that I bought a few years ago! You see, I built a deck on my old house in Ohio, then put the tools away "forever!" Now, I get to Tim-the-Toolman-It, and go to town!
Right now, I've only built a partial frame for it... Here's the pics:
The staging area needs cleaned up a bit.
That 75g stand became my workbench. 8)
Da' wood. (no minivan cracks)
The template.
::grunting::
::applause::
Another angle. I can't remember what the thickness of the ply is, but it's almost an inch thick.
Mocking up.
Booyah! It's 34" high. I actually planned it this tall. That's like 4-5" taller than it's previous, pressure-treated brother.
I put the canopy on it just to get a gander.
So, what do you think so far? Do you think I should frame the ply, or will it be strong enough as is? I stood on top of this thing, and it didn't budge. Keep in mind that I plan on putting plywood on the back and sides, so that should add to the structural integrity... Thoughts so far?
