First off, just want to say that I'm new to this hobby and this is my first attempt EVER at woodworking of any kind and I must say I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of this project. It's taken me over a year to build this freakin thing. Why? Because in any given month I have 1 maybe even 2 weekends free to work on it, and then it's only a few hours at a time. Enough talk though, onto the tank!
Bought a 120g dual corner-flo perfecto tank from Big Al's down in S. Florida. This was a nonstandard size because I have an alcove in my house that is only 20 inches deep, so this tank is 60wide x 18deep x 26high. I read up on a whole bunch of DIY's on this site and this is my result
I used pressure treated 4x4 as the legposts. Since I like the tank to sit a little higher, I cut them at about 36" high.
I used standard 2x4 for the frame spans and notched them into the posts. Let me just say, it is a pain in the a** to do a proper notch with a table saw!! Do yourself a favor and get a jigsaw or bandsaw!
Initial frame complete
Followed by supports
At this point I felt pretty good about the vertical loading, but there was still some flex from side to side so I decided to add corner bracing to cut down on frame movement. I opted for corner bracing instead of cross bracing to cut down on weight.
As you can see I went a little nuts on the corner braces. 64 total. You can also see that I had to put shims on the top of the stand. This is because I'm super smart and left the lumber lying on a concrete floor in my 95 degree (plus humidity) florida garage for over a year. Needles to say there was a bit of bowing to the wood. Hence the reason for the shims.
After the frame was complete I skinned it on the sides and front with 3/4 inch phillipine mahogany which is really just another form of plywood. But nice enough for me, not to mention it's much easier on the pocketbook than a sheet of honduran mahogany.
You'll have to fill in the gaps as I forgot to take a bunch of pictures during the process. I think I may have deleted some of the pics 'cause I swear I had more pics but oh well. I also bought a router and did some fluting to add some decorative elements. Also added some crown molding and then used a trim piece to give it some depth on top of the molding.
At this point my design was pretty much done. Ran 2 coats of dark red mahogany stain on it and then sealed with fast drying spray on polyurethane.
As you can see from the closeup below, some of the routing lines are crooked. It's not easy holding a router turning at 7500 rpm steady. My wife says it's imperfect. I say it adds to the character of the piece
. Also at that point, hell if I'm going back and redoing it!
I already stuck it in the alcove at this point so the pic aint so good, but i bought some cheap decorative vent covers at Lowes and put them on the sides for hot air venting.
Now I just have to figure out how in hell to connect the piping for the sump. Totally clueless on this one!!
Since I had already gone this far I went ahead and made the canopy cover as well. It sits on top of the tank with the cover about 12 inches off the water (in case I ever decide to go MH lighting, though for right now I'm sticking to a 60" dual/dual power compact).
Final pics. If you look closely you can see my bro-in law playing Assassin's Creed in the reflection.
All in all I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Lot's of hiccups along the way and DEFINITELY a learning experience. I think in total this damn thing took about 60-70 hours of work with probably another 60 hours of research, going through other plans, etc. etc. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me.
I'll try to update when I get it filled. I'll start off with Fish only until I get the hang of it and eventually go to full reef.
Thanks for looking!!!
Bought a 120g dual corner-flo perfecto tank from Big Al's down in S. Florida. This was a nonstandard size because I have an alcove in my house that is only 20 inches deep, so this tank is 60wide x 18deep x 26high. I read up on a whole bunch of DIY's on this site and this is my result
I used pressure treated 4x4 as the legposts. Since I like the tank to sit a little higher, I cut them at about 36" high.
I used standard 2x4 for the frame spans and notched them into the posts. Let me just say, it is a pain in the a** to do a proper notch with a table saw!! Do yourself a favor and get a jigsaw or bandsaw!
Initial frame complete
Followed by supports
At this point I felt pretty good about the vertical loading, but there was still some flex from side to side so I decided to add corner bracing to cut down on frame movement. I opted for corner bracing instead of cross bracing to cut down on weight.
As you can see I went a little nuts on the corner braces. 64 total. You can also see that I had to put shims on the top of the stand. This is because I'm super smart and left the lumber lying on a concrete floor in my 95 degree (plus humidity) florida garage for over a year. Needles to say there was a bit of bowing to the wood. Hence the reason for the shims.
After the frame was complete I skinned it on the sides and front with 3/4 inch phillipine mahogany which is really just another form of plywood. But nice enough for me, not to mention it's much easier on the pocketbook than a sheet of honduran mahogany.
You'll have to fill in the gaps as I forgot to take a bunch of pictures during the process. I think I may have deleted some of the pics 'cause I swear I had more pics but oh well. I also bought a router and did some fluting to add some decorative elements. Also added some crown molding and then used a trim piece to give it some depth on top of the molding.
At this point my design was pretty much done. Ran 2 coats of dark red mahogany stain on it and then sealed with fast drying spray on polyurethane.
As you can see from the closeup below, some of the routing lines are crooked. It's not easy holding a router turning at 7500 rpm steady. My wife says it's imperfect. I say it adds to the character of the piece
. Also at that point, hell if I'm going back and redoing it!I already stuck it in the alcove at this point so the pic aint so good, but i bought some cheap decorative vent covers at Lowes and put them on the sides for hot air venting.
Now I just have to figure out how in hell to connect the piping for the sump. Totally clueless on this one!!
Since I had already gone this far I went ahead and made the canopy cover as well. It sits on top of the tank with the cover about 12 inches off the water (in case I ever decide to go MH lighting, though for right now I'm sticking to a 60" dual/dual power compact).
Final pics. If you look closely you can see my bro-in law playing Assassin's Creed in the reflection.
All in all I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Lot's of hiccups along the way and DEFINITELY a learning experience. I think in total this damn thing took about 60-70 hours of work with probably another 60 hours of research, going through other plans, etc. etc. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me.
I'll try to update when I get it filled. I'll start off with Fish only until I get the hang of it and eventually go to full reef.
Thanks for looking!!!
