No Going Back Now.

Hi all

Well here goes, i ordered my tank last week, a clearseal 72" x 18" x 18" which should be arriving before the end of the month so is was time to make a start on the building the stand.

I am lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who has some mighty fine chippy skills and is kind enough to volunteer to build it for me (Cheers Jay ) We brought all the wood on sunday, birch ply and 2" x 2" for the frame, it cost about £130 but the stand will be bigger than the tank and measure over 7ft long and the wood is quality so i think it will be well worth it.

First the frame was put together, which did not take to long



Then after a short break to watch the F1 and sink a couple of beers Jay set about making the inner compartments, the base and the top, some of the cuts proved to be time comsuming and we finally ran out of time with the stand at this stage.



Going to have to wait until next weekend when my bro can come round and finish it, hes got to fit the doors and shevles and things before i can stain it. Should be no problem getting it finished before the tank arrives.

my advice would be stain it now! i know that sounds daft posibly but onces its all togeather its hard to get it all stained right =[
hell if i make a stand again i think im gonna stain the wood before i even put it togeather! haha

I have thought about staining it during the week but there are lots of screws to fill over and sand down first so i think i will do it all at the end, i know its proberly not ideal but the stand is not all that heavy and can still be taken out to the garden to save abit of mess, i always spill something when i paint or stain

Regards

VictorMeldrew

Lookin good Andy. Will the stand be that short to the ground?

Hi Ski

Yes it is abit lower than most other stands but i have the TV above it and was concerned with heat and condensation, also when i watch the tele i did not want to be distracted by the tank all the time, allthough this will proberly happen anyway The height of the stand is one reason that i will choose to not have a sump with this set-up.

Had a Fluval 405 delivered today, i brought it off a another member on here (Thanks Adam ) for about £60 including the post which has saved me some money. The only thing is i think i have made abit of a mistake when planning this because the fluval was going to go on the other side of the wall in a cupboard, i have a big hole drilled allready for cables but....the actual cannister is higher than the hole in the wall so the inlet and outlet tubes would have to come out of the top of the cannister and go in a downwards direction for about a 2ft or so, though the hole and back up the back of the tank, the total length of the tubes would be around 6ft ish so now i have my doubts if it would work, i would also have to lenghen the tubes although i do not think that would be to much of a problem. If i can not put the filter where i planned i will have to site it next to the tank which will fit easy but its not really what i wanted.

I am planning on using the fluval along with about 40 kilo's of live rock and a skimmer, hoping this will be good enough.

Regards

VictorMeldrew

looks really modern and cool!
any ideas on fish yet?

Hello Ben, thanks i am well happy with the stand so far, should look really nice when its done. To be honest this is my first attempt at saltwater and just finding out about what kit i need and the way i am going to run this thing is proving to be a great challenge, as far as fish are concerned i have not really thought much about it, sounds strange i know but i have only got as far as the clean up crew and a few clown fish, after that i am abit lost

im on my first marine tank too. Much more exiting things you can have compared to FW.
Wish i had a tank that big!

That, my friend, is a beautiful stand! Your brother-in-law certainly does a good job. I'm stoked about seeing more pics, I always get excited when people start journals for new big tanks. Lets just pray that your tv is secured to the wall very well. As soon as I saw that tv above the tank all I could imagine was my luck and how I would come into the room one morning to find it underwater Anyways, best of luck man, keep us posted!

i love that stand, looks really modern and cool!

i'll be watching this journal with interest

Hi all

Just to let you know that the work on the stand will continue tomorrow and i will update with more pics over the weekend

Regards

VictorMeldrew

cool, I'm excited for you. I'll be lurking too

Hello all

I have not posted here for a couple of weeks, so here is the progress so far. The stand is almost finished now, it now has the doors fitted and has been stained with a rosewood finish, my bro Jay who is not only pretty handy with saws and things, actually works in a glass factory he cut a lovely piece of 10mm glass and had it toughened and polished to make a shelve to go in the middle, i am really happy with the way it looks now, its a job well done

I still need to put one more coat of stain on it and maybe a clear varnish and its finished. Here it is:



Next thing for me to do is get the electric supply sorted, i am going to fit two double plug sockets underneath the stand and then from them i intend to have to have two 10 plug, individually switched extension leads, 20 plugs in total, it sounds like a bit of an overkill but its surprising how many i am going to need when i take into account the tv and ps3 and things. Once i have run the cables for the plugs i am going to get a sparkey to connect them to the main fuse box and i will also get him to sort out some sort of circuit breaker.

I have ordered two new Koralia 1 powerheads off an ebay company and they should be arriving in the next few days, I am hoping two will do the job along with the flow from the filter outlet, if not i can always order another. The tank should be getting here very soon, so now i am on the hunt for a good skimmer which can hang on the back of the tank, any ideas?

Thanks

VictorMeldrew

That stand is gorgeous. Can't wait to see the tank on it!!