Yeah, LEDs are a consideration too. I'm still not sold on LEDs, although I would like to try them out myself and come to my own conclusions. I really wanted to put an AI Sol on my 20-gallon Atasuki tank, it would have fit the tank really well. I'm sure I would need two AI Sols on the 50-gallon though, and all of a sudden a $400 experiment is almost a grand. Kinda stiff for an experiment I think! If I could get a good deal on a used pair I might still consider it because then if I don't like them I could sell them onto someone else without a big loss. I would like to buy a fixture rather than DIY simply because forming an opinion on a DIY version would possibly be unfair for the LEDs. I like the PAR38 bulbs on nano tanks, but they have such a bad spotlight effect that I would not consider them for the 50-gallon tank.
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Painting is done on the exterior of the stand. I'm a bit disappointed in the quality of the finish since I had to brush it instead of spraying it. I'm going to have to buy a new sprayer to paint my other stand (that's a different thread to come hehe). It has also been really difficult to get rid of the wood grain on the plywood. I ended up having to float a coat of filler over the entire thing to get the grain out.
Maybe MDF would have been a better option. Hard to say...MDF is gross, but the finish would have been smoother. Well sealed, MDF
could be a good option. I still have to paint the bottom of the stand to seal out any moisture in case of a wet carpet accident (ugh). The inside of the stand still needs one more coat too. I should have saltwater and rock in it by Sunday afternoon. Yippee! I've been working on the stand for 5 weeks already simply because our garage doesn't have heat so I'm limited to weekend days with nice weather. I did the painting in my kitchen though...
