55G On A Custom Stand

[Ch4rlie]

Excellent progress!
 
It's gonna be so good! 

 

[Ninjouzata]

It looks wonderful! I love the color

 

[sawickib]

Amazing! I made one for my 55 gallon as well, yours just is way better, I did I think like 1-2 layers of stain and then I'm like dadddddd this is hard I just wanna set it up haha

 

[lizfish]

 That's really cool! My dad made me a stand for my 55, but he didn't put much effort into it lol! He didn't want me to get the tank in the first place! 

  It looks great though! 

 

[Rexenator]

The stand is stained and sealed.  I've put it in its new home, and will be putting the tank on it later today.  
 

 
Also, I made my own spray bar using a DIY on this forum.  My canister filter, heater and a few other things will be here tomorrow, so I'll post more pics of the setup then.  I decided that I wanted more filtration, so I went with the Fluval 406 instead of the 306.  I will be fishless cycling, and supplementing with some of the filter media from my other tanks, so it shouldn't be too long until I am ready for fish!

 

[Ch4rlie]

All sounds good and planning is pretty sound as well.
 
Cant wait to see next update! 

 

[Rexenator]

I finally got the tank setup and filled with water and a few decorations.  
 

 
This is eventually going to be a planted tank, but I haven't decided on what light I want.  I'm using a 30" light that I wasn't using for the time being.  I'm debating between Finnex and Buildmyled, does anyone have experience with either of these?

 

[Freedom]

I have enjoyed this thread, seeing the stand progress and improve.  And the stain is a really nice color!  What do you use when you say you 'sealed' it? 
 
Great job!  I would be SO impatient to get to my fish ha haaa.  Keep the photos coming, want to see the doors and drawers!

 

[Rexenator]

I have enjoyed this thread, seeing the stand progress and improve.  And the stain is a really nice color!  What do you use when you say you 'sealed' it? 
 
Great job!  I would be SO impatient to get to my fish ha haaa.  Keep the photos coming, want to see the doors and drawers!

I used a pre-sealer before staining, which was just a 50/50 blend of dewaxed shellac and denatured alcohol. For the top coat, I put on 6 coats of a wipe on polyurethane. I wanted this thing to be really water resistant, and it looks like the poly has done the trick. I'm working on the doors and drawers in the garage right now. It's just above freezing here, so my wood glue is drying very slowly. I'm hoping I can get them assembled today, and stained up on Monday.

 

[Freedom]

OK thanks.  I thought the poly was in there somewhere.  The dewaxed shellac and denatured alcohol is a new one to me. 

 

[Rexenator]

Well I finally got around to finishing up the stand.  The tank cycled up in about two weeks (I used a lot of filter media from my other tanks).  I just added 6 yoyo loaches, and they seem to be doing pretty well.  Once my new light gets here, I will be adding a variety of real plants, and then a school of cardinal tetra.  More updates soon.
 

 

 

[brittgs]

The stand is fabulous.  Looking forward to seeing what you do with the plants.

 

[Ch4rlie]

You did a nice neat and tidy job of that stand, looks great.
 
Excellent, well done indeed 

 
Now, just need a fully set up tank with plants and fish 

 

[Xzavier247]

Looks great!
Which prefilter is that?

 

[Ninjouzata]

That looks absolutely lovely! Looking forward to seeing what plants you choose.