After months of planning and waiting and spending lots of money, I figured it's time to start a build thread. 8)
I am running out of space in my 46g bowfront so I decided I needed to upgrade to a larger tank. After tossing around a few ideas I decided to do a full walk-around cube. The spot i found in my house will let you see the tank from the living room, dining, and kitchen.
Here's my original design for the tank and stand.
I designed the stand to match our kitchen cabinets/backsplash.
The backsplash is back-painted glass.
So I had an inset section built around the top of the stand that will allow me to apply some acrylic treated in the same fashion to give me a similar look.
It'll just add a little touch of extra sumfin-sumfin to the stand.
And here is where the stand is going... right where my wife had some useless chairs/tables/area rug. :angel4:
So I had the stand built by our own Will (aka Kwdelre). He did a fantastic job. Most of you have seen these pics already.
It was his idea to do single large panel doors with no hardware instead of the split doors on my design.
We did doors on 3 sides and I left one side solid because I knew I'd want one wall to hang stuff on the inside. The acrylic strips will be one of the last things i do.
The tea bottle is for scale.
I decided to go with one of the new i-Tech skimmers from the owner of FISH and other ICHTHY stuff in Florida. Check out their forums for more info.
i-Tech Forums - Powered by vBulletin
I went with the i-Tech 200 after speaking with the owner.
Other equipment has been trickeling in. One thing I'm excited about is the two Vortech MP40w powerheads and backup battery.
For this build I decided to buy these two American DJ power centers.
They are really inexpensive and will allow me to easily turn on or off any piece of equipment with the flick of a switch instead of searching for a plug and physically unplugging it.
Here's the power centers installed in the stand. I also layed down some cork on the floor and installed a fluorescent grow light on the ceiling.
At first I was just looking for a light that would let me see inside the stand, but then I found this one and I'm wondering if the light will be enough to grow some macro algae in the fuge.
The square on the cork in the back corner is room lighting coming into the stand from the hole that is cut in the top to allow for my plumbing.
You can see how I mounted the power centers.
And I ran a power line from the nearest wall outlet that I tapped into and ran it into the base of the stand and then up the wall and (seen in the previous pic) over to this GFCI outlet.
So this outlet is where all my power comes from and it supplies the two power centers.
Eventually I need to get an electrician in there to run a dedicated circuit,
but it's a biatch to do anything in my house because of the lack of attic space.
AND FINALLY... the piece of the puzzle I've been waiting for... the tank! This is a progress pic i took at Kyle's. Looking great so far and the custom overflow should be pretty cool. It will house the plumbing of course, and the two vortechs. Also has a dry pipe for wiring.
I'll have more pics this week of the custom overflow and of the tank in my house and on the stand.
The second pic shows one bottom corner. It's a 3/4" base! And 1/2" sides. Starphire glass on all 4 sides, regular glass on the bottom.
So that's it for right now. More to come soon! :blob7:
I am running out of space in my 46g bowfront so I decided I needed to upgrade to a larger tank. After tossing around a few ideas I decided to do a full walk-around cube. The spot i found in my house will let you see the tank from the living room, dining, and kitchen.
Here's my original design for the tank and stand.
I designed the stand to match our kitchen cabinets/backsplash.
The backsplash is back-painted glass.
So I had an inset section built around the top of the stand that will allow me to apply some acrylic treated in the same fashion to give me a similar look.
It'll just add a little touch of extra sumfin-sumfin to the stand.
And here is where the stand is going... right where my wife had some useless chairs/tables/area rug. :angel4:
So I had the stand built by our own Will (aka Kwdelre). He did a fantastic job. Most of you have seen these pics already.
It was his idea to do single large panel doors with no hardware instead of the split doors on my design.
We did doors on 3 sides and I left one side solid because I knew I'd want one wall to hang stuff on the inside. The acrylic strips will be one of the last things i do.
The tea bottle is for scale.
I decided to go with one of the new i-Tech skimmers from the owner of FISH and other ICHTHY stuff in Florida. Check out their forums for more info.
i-Tech Forums - Powered by vBulletin
I went with the i-Tech 200 after speaking with the owner.
Other equipment has been trickeling in. One thing I'm excited about is the two Vortech MP40w powerheads and backup battery.
For this build I decided to buy these two American DJ power centers.
They are really inexpensive and will allow me to easily turn on or off any piece of equipment with the flick of a switch instead of searching for a plug and physically unplugging it.
Here's the power centers installed in the stand. I also layed down some cork on the floor and installed a fluorescent grow light on the ceiling.
At first I was just looking for a light that would let me see inside the stand, but then I found this one and I'm wondering if the light will be enough to grow some macro algae in the fuge.
The square on the cork in the back corner is room lighting coming into the stand from the hole that is cut in the top to allow for my plumbing.
You can see how I mounted the power centers.
And I ran a power line from the nearest wall outlet that I tapped into and ran it into the base of the stand and then up the wall and (seen in the previous pic) over to this GFCI outlet.
So this outlet is where all my power comes from and it supplies the two power centers.
Eventually I need to get an electrician in there to run a dedicated circuit,
but it's a biatch to do anything in my house because of the lack of attic space.
AND FINALLY... the piece of the puzzle I've been waiting for... the tank! This is a progress pic i took at Kyle's. Looking great so far and the custom overflow should be pretty cool. It will house the plumbing of course, and the two vortechs. Also has a dry pipe for wiring.
I'll have more pics this week of the custom overflow and of the tank in my house and on the stand.
The second pic shows one bottom corner. It's a 3/4" base! And 1/2" sides. Starphire glass on all 4 sides, regular glass on the bottom.
So that's it for right now. More to come soon! :blob7:
