280g Inwall

[Delphinus]

I'll start with the floor. I opted to paint the concrete because I thought that would be easier and quicker than lino. I was probably wrong.

It turns out you need to "etch" concrete, preferably with muriatic acid, before you can paint it. Home Depot would not sell me muriatic acid .. "Are you nuts? That stuff is far too dangerous." Uhhh thanks guys, but the paint YOU sold me said I have to in the instructions? I finally found a guy working there who knew of an alternative though, so off I went.

But first, the floor drain. I had a floor drain installed by the housebuilders. But I never thought to look at it. I finally popped the cover off and found .. it was not a floor drain but just a pipe encased in concrete.

I didn't think to take a picture of it initially. After about 6 hours of bashing the concrete with a sledgehammer and chisel, and a hearty dose of swearing, I got it to this point..


Hard to tell in the photo but the pipe isn't even centred in the hole. Technically, I should have just jackhammered the concrete, installed a proper drain and repour concrete, but that was just not on the table. I just worked the concrete until it's a basic funnel shape and left it at that for now.

Here's Tasha inspecting the drain hookup from the laundry sink. You can tell she's thinking "WTF?"


Plumbing installed (hot and cold lines, I used 3/4" pipe) and drain installed:


I opted for 3/4" line because I thought it might be better for the RO/DI feedline, the more pressure for RO, the better.

I also subverted the household pressure regulator so I get about 96psi at the tap and a reasonable output from the RO/DI.

I don't have a picture handy but one thing I did that was a sort of "oops" was install the regulator back on the household supply backwards. OOOPS. It makes a rather interesting sound as it slams shut at the speed of sound and you wonder why there's no water coming out of any taps in your house ....

[Delphinus]

Here's the first pass of the aluminium light frame.

It's had to be modified because it doesn't fit over the tank thanks to those %$#%$!#!! furnace/HRV vents overlapping the tank. There's been a few choice swear words uttered over this particular predicament. We'll see how it turns out..



With the Lumenarc mini's ..

[Delphinus]

Here's the inside of the canopy. I chose plywood instead of drywall for this side because I think it will hold up to moisture and humidity better.


I'm using quarter round on the inside corners just to help keep humidity out of the ceiling. Here's my triple-mitre job, I'm pleased how that turned out.


Finished painting..


And just how it looks from the outside..


Starting to look like a tank!! Yay.

There's still so much ground to cover that I get queasy thinking about it. My goals for the next two weeks are:

- Install the HRV vent covers

- Install the barndoor hangers for the light frame, and hang the light frame in place

- Get the electrical done

- Get the tank plumbing done.

That might be enough for me to get water and rock into the tank and start cycling, while I finish off the rest of the room (ie., drywall the walls inside the tank room and on the tank display side, get the decorative moulding in place on the front side and so on).

[fooser]

You are making me want to get 3 lumenarcs too now Tony.

[rattler]

Congrats Tony!!

It's good to see this starting to come together

Cheers!

Rattler

[Lance]

Nice job on the carpentry. Going to look sweet when it's done.

[Skimmerking]

WO that is looking great Tony.
Start date 1-08-08
life date
11-29-10

man time flies when your building addy boy buddy

[fishytime]

Hey! good to see the pics man.....and lookin saw weet ....
ps......I didnt take a dolli home

[MitchM]

I think it looks great Tony. Love the shelf!
I have really noticed that some fish definitely prefer hanging out under outcroppings, wherever they can find them.
I think it's a behaviour one would want to try to accommodate.

Mitch

[fishoholic]

So happy to see rock in it, you're on the home strech now