180g peninsula tank build - First ever aquarium

[Milad]

here is the thread for the automatic water change design if you guys want to give me some feedback on it.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...303#post514303

[Milad]

So today my buddy and I finished the top of the stand
Here are some pics
I used 4 small sheets of laminate on the top since its not going to show much




And the .5in styro



TANK IS UP!!!


Decided to also test out the lights




Im leaving the panels off until I get all the plumbing done
so what have I learned?
No way in hell would I ever make a stand again. That was the most labour ive done in years. My hands are a mess and im tired as hell. Next time im going to ikea, finding some panels, then having someone build a rod iron stand to match the panel sizes. I wouldnt recommend anyone making their stand. To much time/money.

[Milad]

O and here are the goldfish that started this build

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Milad

O and here are the goldfish that started this build

That's quite the jump, most people at least buy a biocube in between . Tank is looking great, cant wait to see it up and running.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Milad

No way in hell would I ever make a stand again. That was the most labour ive done in years.

That's funny. I thought that the stand was the easiest part of my build! 4 Legs, some deck screws, glue, paint, run to Ikea for some panels, done!

[naesco]

Nice tank. I see tangs in the future!
I agree with the earlier comment. Find a larger home for the goldfish or take them back to the LFS.

[Milad]

So while waiting for some hardware to get to my place I ended up painting the back of the stand where all the piping was.

I used some flat black latex paint to do the back. I took out the old bulkheads and decided to put some new ones in while I was painting. did about 5 coats and then sanded it down with a sanding "pad" that is used for drywall. The sanding pad actually worked really well.






So everything looks great... all is well.. paint is dry. I go to remove the tape and the bulk heads and the paint starts coming off with them!!! it was like it was taped on paint! LOL. So I had to use a blade to seperate the paint and the tape I used.



Now that I got the old bulkheads out, paint done, time to put in the new bulk heads. As you can tell from the previous picture I left some room to make sure the bulkheads touch all glass. The holes drilled in the tank arent the greatest so I decided to fill the gaps with silcone. I taped up the bulkhead threads as close as I could get to the glass so I didnt get silcone in them. I also taped the bulkheads to the glass on the inside of the aquarium to keep them in place.




The trick I found to making the silcone look good is to use a plastic spooon to clean up the excess silcone. worked flawlessly! Combined with the tape I added in the previous step they seam looked very nice. I also taped up the wrench that I tightned the bulkheads with so it wouldnt scartch them up.





Stay tuned, this build is starting to catch some speed. Most of the hardware should be in next week and I thought of some great ways to "recycle" a few things that I have at work..... Ill be posting some pics of the "recycling" tomorrow...

[groan]

OK, it's been 3 days...What happened to the recycling?

[Milad]

recycling is done
overflows made
overflows are in
reinforcement of glass is done
drains are done
return is done
electrical is done (I like what i did here btw, i think its slick)
leak tested last night

but i guess you guys want an update with pictures? Well i went and get a new camera too so the pictures are even slicker now. ill be posting them tomorrow night probably.