6 Custom Oak Stand and Canopy Salvaged Flooring
- Thread starter edtriou
- Start date
Thanks for the kind words.
As for an update; fishless cycle is now complete, plants are starting to take root, and I finally found some time during vacation to make a trip to the local rockery to pick over some rocks. Due to the plants, I decided against the stackable type rocks and went with a river rock look, at least for now.
Hopefully when the plants catch up it will look less bare and a little more natural, although it could be my lack of artistic skills as well.
Ed
As for an update; fishless cycle is now complete, plants are starting to take root, and I finally found some time during vacation to make a trip to the local rockery to pick over some rocks. Due to the plants, I decided against the stackable type rocks and went with a river rock look, at least for now.
Hopefully when the plants catch up it will look less bare and a little more natural, although it could be my lack of artistic skills as well.
Ed
skerzfan;1374266; said:
Very good question, absolutely.
In fact every project I do I learn in the process of what I should've built, grin.
However I must be honest, this isn't the first time building something like this, or even the first time doing it with used flooring. So I've already had at least one chance to incorporated all those better ideas into this one.
Here's a couple of pics from a 4' version I made a year ago for a 75 gal. Very similar, mostly usability things that I learned from using it for a year now. I bet you can spot the differences...
Some of the shortcomings of the 4' version:
1. Brace in the middle of the doors, needed for support, pain to work under the tank.
2. Clamshell hood looked nice, pain to feed, wc, or change lights.
3. Completely finished back and hood, nice touch, but pain for wires/pipes
4. Eheims were great, but ended up with 3 to handle fully stocked
5. Lighting was entire length, all or nothing, not 1/2 or partial
6. Lighting wasn't prewired for extra bulbs, adding more was reworking
7. Hood wasn't high enough, didn't look gody, but hard to work under
8. Made it 18" wide, fit the tank, but should have done 24" for room/upgrade
I fixed all those in the 6' version.
Having used it for the past month or so, I'm loving all the improvements.
However if I must find something, there is one slight usability thing I've noticed ...
I can't reach the bottom of the tank!
With a tank this tall (30"), it's hard to reach the bottom solely from the front doors and especially not possible from the top lids. I wouldn't change the tank, or settle for a 180, huge difference in viewing. However if I would have known, I would have made the canopy door height tall enough to fit my head in. I know I have a big head and all, but by sticking my head in the doors, I could easily get the leverage to reach the bottom. All well, next time... For now I have tongs for planting, long scrapper, and a python for cleaning.
Ed
