210g Bedroom Reef

S

Sherita

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Well, it's time for the bigger tank (yes, another one). This is a 210g Oceanic, drilled, with two internal overflows, twin drain, twin return. 6'x2' footprint. The tank will be located in my bedroom (yep, the worlds coolest nightlight!). Because I have an affinity for real wood, with lots of grain and character (and color!), the stand and canopy for this tank will be a little different than your usual tank stand. The stand is built with dimensional lumber-2x4's and 2x6's. Strong enough to park a truck on, or a ton of tank and water.
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The skin for the stand is aromatic red cedar. I'm hand picking each 1x4 board, then milling them for tongue and groove using my 6' router table. Here's the start of one end. Tell me that grain and color are not just spectacular!
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Here's the same end with all of the skin on, but un-sanded.
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And after sanding, but still unfinished.
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The wood will not be stained, only sanded smooth and coated with satin polyurethane. I won't be puttying the joints, since I want the rustic look. The stand will have trim top and bottom (which I will make), and the canopy and top tank trim will be made from the same wood. The doors will be magnetic, and also made from the same wood. I'm repurposing an old 75g acrylic tank I have as a sump for this tank.

That's it for now. I'll do more on the woodwork tomorrow, and post pictures as things happen
 
That will be an awesome stand but I could not have it since im allergic to cedar wood. What type of tank is it going to be?
 
Got a little more done today. The skin is on the front of the stand now. Not sanded yet, but looking mighty nice :)

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There won't be any more progress till the middle of next week (boo). I'm waiting on the next shipment of red cedar to come in at the lumber yard, so I can pick through it for the prettiest pieces. They were nice enough to let me know that the truck will be there Tuesday at 9am, guess where I will be at 10am? Yep, stalking the delivery truck at McCoys, LOL.
I'm not soundproofing. I've had a reef in my bedroom for several years, for me it's just white noise. I cannot wait to lay in bed and look at the lovely tank under the moonlights......right at the foot of my bed!

Btw, this stand is 40" tall, so I'll have lots of room in there to work in the sump or on the electronics. The inside of the stand will be painted with two coats of original Kilz, to help protect it from water damage.

I will probably have an update next Thursday or Friday. Maybe I will stop sneezing by then (fine cedar dust up my nose, and everywhere else).
 
Got more done :) Finished up the sanding and the trim on the stand. I can't build the doors until my lumber comes in, which it did not do this week. Booo!

Here's the stand with the trim installed. The top trim is just sitting on the stand for now. It will get installed after a tribe of my friends heaves the 475 pound tank up onto the stand.

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And.........I got the first coat of poly on the stand. I simply cannot express how happy I am with the way this has turned out. It's exactly as I had pictured in my mind, only much more beautiful than I could have hoped!

Here's an end panel, so you can see the fantastic color and character. Ignore the splotchy look, the finish isn't dry all the way.

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And a shot of the front of the stand (sorta). I couldn't move it because the finish was wet, so please ignore the weird angle.

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I'll update again once we have it in the house and the aforementioned tribe does the heaving. I still have to build the trim for the top of the tank, and the canopy, as well as the doors. But, I need lumber for that, which will hopefully arrive next week.
 
Finally got the tank on the stand today.

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It took six people.............err, 5 fairly large guys, and one old fat chick (that would be me). Now I can start installing bulkheads, working on the plumbing, and building the doors. I had to get the stand out of my shop so that I had enough room to build the doors, the sump, the canopy.........and whatever else I need to build for the beast. The next update will be a while. I've got to gather materials.
 
That's it.... That's all I can take. I'm voting to take away sheritas right to post photos. If you keep doing this I'm going to dump bleach in my tank, cry, laugh and rub lipstick around my face all at the same time. Okay maybe not all that but REALLY!!!


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Aaannnnnnd, it's wet! I threw the switch yesterday. I've still got cabinetry to finish, and a ton of other stuff to get done. But the dead shrimp is in the tank, as is the seed rock, and it's ON. I don't have all my lights and light channels on yet, hence the wonky lighting. Please to ignore.

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The underside (bit of a rats nest right now, no cable management going on here, LOL)
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Fuge
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Skimmer/return. I've got to raise the skimmer a bit, and the ATO mess is temporary, until I build my ato container.
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These are the lights I am using. I'll be ordering another pair just like these. 165w full spectrum. I love them! Cat butt has nothing to do with the tank :)
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