Quote:
Originally Posted by subman
how about some details on the cabinets? are they permanent or stuck on with Velcro/magnets. what wood did you use ect.
Also +1 on picking the right skimmer there is no better
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Thanks! The skimmer is still my favorite piece of equipment on this tank, although the radion is a close second.
As for the cabinetry:
It's one single piece of MDF. Took some moulding and glued it on to make the appearance of doors, drilled half way through on the back side and put 4 of these magnets in:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Pcs-N42-1...ht_2104wt_1141
We used carpenter glue to make the magnets stay where they were supposed to and placed them strategically to all 4 sides of the metal stand for maximum safety:
These magnets are a bit overkill but I will rarely need to go under the main display because my sump is in the basement. I also have a little one who gets involved with everything so I wanted something strong enough to keep him out until he's old enough to understand not to hang off of the handles and risk having the whole piece come crashing down on his head. Safety first!
Anyway if anyone was interested in some of the magnets I have 5 left over. Hubby broke one testing the strength of them, it smashed into another magnet with such a force that is shattered. Watch your fingers when working with these!
After the magnets were in and the glue dry I painted the cabinetry. I wanted a cream color to go with our kitchen cabinets which are directly across from the tank. It didn't turn out a very nice color so I redid it by mixing a slightly different color out of the original cream paint by adding some leftover paint from the main walls in the house and brushed it on sparingly. I then mixed another darker color and cut it with water to make it spread not as thickly. Brushed that color on too, and you can see the final result turned out kind of rustic looking. I like it, I'm happy.
Total project cost for the cabinet piece was $65 not including the magnets or tools to cut it. The company that built our cabinets quoted us $700.00.
Here's how the tank looks in the room:
Now we just need to finish the fireplace and the rest of the neverending home projects
