DarkSoul
Fish Fanatic
Upon looking at my stand, I feel as if i was ripped off with what I got, based on what I paid.
Not much room, No shelves inside, and its made of particle board
although it does seem to hold the weight well, a good bump from the side could send it crashing down.
This is the side that will hold the filter/heater.
This side will require further modification to mount the RO filter/UV sterilizer(for the RO filter)/Booster Pump.
I wanted to solidify the stand a bit, and perhaps add some shelving for organinzation as well, And being that I am some kind of mad scientist, I figured I could solve a few problems at once. (But being that I'm a complete n00b as far as fishkeeping goes, I could also be creating other problems for myself down the road.... heh)
I had some scrap pine boards laying around from a previous shelf I built to hold my immense CD collection (The one you see sitting unfinished beside the aquarium lol), And decided that these boards, would make excellent shelving.
My first problem is that there isn't really enough room in my stand to hold my brand new $85 CAD Hydor 201 200W heater, while still having enough room for the hoses to bend properly.
My soloution to this was to connect the Hydor to the incoming line of my filter instead... But again, with the quick disconnects, there wasn't enough room.
My soloution to that, was to use some rigid 5/8" and 1/2" tubing (Which I have yet to purchase
) and plumb it all into the stand.
So I measured up the boards, Which I will be able to cut tomorrow at work, being that I have no form of electric/accurate saw at home, nor do I have anywhere at home to cut them.
This particular piece will go in between the cupboards and mount a power bar.
Carefully I traced around the outside of my filter (after measuring where I needed it to be), allowing a little bit of space, My filter will drop right into this hole, And once I purchase the tubing, I will be able to drill another hole for the tubing to come through, and connect to my Hydor.
Using the best tool I have ever purchased, The Mastercraft SpinSaw Maximum, I will cut the odd shaped hole for the filter to fit into. Rotary saws are the best tools ever for cutting out large and odd shaped holes.
Now I need to find a good way to mount my Hydor, since simply hanging it is ugly as #### IMHO.
I had some spare clips lying around from my RO filter, and they just so happened to fit around this Hydor perfectly, Only problem was, they are meant to connect to another tube.
no problem, With the 2, 1/4" holes on each clip, I can put some rods through there, and connect that to my stand and use it to secure it.
So once again, I did some measuring, and found a good location to put the clips through the stand. Its kind of hard to explain how this will work, but when it's finished, it will seem so simple. I marked my holes, and began cutting with my dremel.
I used a rotary saw type bit to do the cutting, as opposed to a cutting wheel, I feel it's a little more accurate and kicks back less.
The holes look like utter crap, So they will need to be cleaned up.
Using a paint stick, and some sand paper, I made a sanding block that fit easily in the holes.
The holes look a little bit better now, But when I drain my tank next, I will move it off, slide that board out, and make those holes perfectly square.
And now I have a place to slide the clips through, on the back of the stand, I will slide a couple of 1/4" rods through the holes on the clips, and secure them with 1/4" tubing clips, to the stand. This will hold my heater nice and secure.
Now you may think it will look extremely weird to have those pine boards, looking all DIY in my nice black stand.
This is where my stain comes in.
I went to home depot and purchased some Minwax water based stain (Clear Tint Base) and hand it tinted "Onyx" for my CD shelf. This is a very nice stain, and as you can see it will match my stand perfectly, GRAIN AND ALL.
Something regular paints will NOT do.
Soft woods, such as pine MUST BE PRETREATED with this stuff, Otherwise the stain will look like #### when it dries, because it will soak in more in some places, and less in others.
If you want a smooth finish you will need to sand it a bit, and add a couple more coats of stain, because the conditioner opens the pores up, and makes the wood feel a bit rough. However, adding more coats means the grain will show through less.
I will add more tomorrow after I make the cuts in the boards.
Not much room, No shelves inside, and its made of particle board
although it does seem to hold the weight well, a good bump from the side could send it crashing down.
This is the side that will hold the filter/heater.
This side will require further modification to mount the RO filter/UV sterilizer(for the RO filter)/Booster Pump.
I wanted to solidify the stand a bit, and perhaps add some shelving for organinzation as well, And being that I am some kind of mad scientist, I figured I could solve a few problems at once. (But being that I'm a complete n00b as far as fishkeeping goes, I could also be creating other problems for myself down the road.... heh)
I had some scrap pine boards laying around from a previous shelf I built to hold my immense CD collection (The one you see sitting unfinished beside the aquarium lol), And decided that these boards, would make excellent shelving.
My first problem is that there isn't really enough room in my stand to hold my brand new $85 CAD Hydor 201 200W heater, while still having enough room for the hoses to bend properly.
My soloution to this was to connect the Hydor to the incoming line of my filter instead... But again, with the quick disconnects, there wasn't enough room.
My soloution to that, was to use some rigid 5/8" and 1/2" tubing (Which I have yet to purchase
) and plumb it all into the stand.So I measured up the boards, Which I will be able to cut tomorrow at work, being that I have no form of electric/accurate saw at home, nor do I have anywhere at home to cut them.
This particular piece will go in between the cupboards and mount a power bar.
Carefully I traced around the outside of my filter (after measuring where I needed it to be), allowing a little bit of space, My filter will drop right into this hole, And once I purchase the tubing, I will be able to drill another hole for the tubing to come through, and connect to my Hydor.
Using the best tool I have ever purchased, The Mastercraft SpinSaw Maximum, I will cut the odd shaped hole for the filter to fit into. Rotary saws are the best tools ever for cutting out large and odd shaped holes.
Now I need to find a good way to mount my Hydor, since simply hanging it is ugly as #### IMHO.
I had some spare clips lying around from my RO filter, and they just so happened to fit around this Hydor perfectly, Only problem was, they are meant to connect to another tube.
no problem, With the 2, 1/4" holes on each clip, I can put some rods through there, and connect that to my stand and use it to secure it.
So once again, I did some measuring, and found a good location to put the clips through the stand. Its kind of hard to explain how this will work, but when it's finished, it will seem so simple. I marked my holes, and began cutting with my dremel.
I used a rotary saw type bit to do the cutting, as opposed to a cutting wheel, I feel it's a little more accurate and kicks back less.
The holes look like utter crap, So they will need to be cleaned up.
Using a paint stick, and some sand paper, I made a sanding block that fit easily in the holes.
The holes look a little bit better now, But when I drain my tank next, I will move it off, slide that board out, and make those holes perfectly square.
And now I have a place to slide the clips through, on the back of the stand, I will slide a couple of 1/4" rods through the holes on the clips, and secure them with 1/4" tubing clips, to the stand. This will hold my heater nice and secure.
Now you may think it will look extremely weird to have those pine boards, looking all DIY in my nice black stand.
This is where my stain comes in.
I went to home depot and purchased some Minwax water based stain (Clear Tint Base) and hand it tinted "Onyx" for my CD shelf. This is a very nice stain, and as you can see it will match my stand perfectly, GRAIN AND ALL.
Something regular paints will NOT do.
Soft woods, such as pine MUST BE PRETREATED with this stuff, Otherwise the stain will look like #### when it dries, because it will soak in more in some places, and less in others.
If you want a smooth finish you will need to sand it a bit, and add a couple more coats of stain, because the conditioner opens the pores up, and makes the wood feel a bit rough. However, adding more coats means the grain will show through less.
I will add more tomorrow after I make the cuts in the boards.
