The why, oh why, 38 stair, 290 gal build revised

[reefwithareefer]

It has taken some time and thinking of how to build the canopy. I did not want them on hinges as that would impede what little room I had to access the tank. Drawer sliders were too complicated to design and install, etc etc
I chose to use a friction fit design. I had cupboard doors from the salvage, that were the same wood and stain, so that decision was easy...

Cut to size.



Now to design the friction fit...I always found a trip to Home Depot will help with figuring out the design of stuff.See what there is and if I can incorporate it into the build...

I picked up some felt pads, a few black, rectangular, aluminum hand rail pickets, cabinet door magnets, screws and the design was done in my head and the result was...

This




The pieces were cut to size, then I pre-drilled some holes in the picket and screwed it to the wood. Added the felt pads to the underside of the picket, so the aluminum does not touch the glass. I also added some to the face for safety sakes. Last thing was to install the door magnets. These would hold it from tipping outwards and the felt pads helped keep the friction fit , nice and tight.

With the 2 pieces up



One off



Both off



Other side



Still need to finish this up





I will hinge the end piece so that it can be swung down easily to feed the fish etc...




Misc pics of the canopy and lights








Cabinet magnets




Inside the canopy

[reefwithareefer]

Last of the updating for a bit or until I get a better camera than my Iphone..
I had asked what I should do to my lighting etc so that my corals would "pop" like Slyguys and most said it is most likely a water issue and change the T5s to ATI blues. So I hooked up the diatom filter and installed some ATI actinics that i had not used yet..Pretty blue for me, but an improvement. Still nothin like Slyguys...

Quality of pics suck....

Left side of tank. The cultured stone wall is starting to blend in. Only have a few encrusting corals on it for now.




Center




Left side






End of tank

[soaptray]

My OCD is driving me nuts looking at your sump room wiring hahah.

Nice big setup - DT is in a cool location.

[reefwithareefer]

Originally Posted by soaptray

My OCD is driving me nuts looking at your sump room wiring hahah.

Nice big setup - DT is in a cool location.

Haha. believe me when I say that I sympathize with your OCD. I keep adding and changing things, so the wiring has become low on the priority list. I think when I get everything to where I am happy, I will make it look all pretty..


Thanks. I think the location worked out well.