Swannyson7's 180g mixed reef

[swannyson7]

Due to the lack of adequate sandbed real estate and disliking the aquascape of my 125, I was able to convice my wife to let me upgrade tanks. I bought a used 180 a few months back, but due to my hectic schedule the project was put on hold. Over the past couple weeks I've made quite a bit of progress on building the stand and have some new lighting with more coming. On my 125 gallon setup I have 250 watt 14k Phoenix DEs and 48" T5s. On the 180 I'll be upgrading to twelve 36" T5s and I'm planning to upgrade to LED with 3 of the fixtures that Luke33 is selling. Here's a few pics of the tank stand thus far:
The frame made from 2x4 and 2x6 from the plans on reefcentral:

I added some drawers on ball bearing slides so I have a place to put things down while i'm working (and a beer and my elbows once it's up and running):

Here's the skin being tacked on the front:

And then I did quite a bit of work without taking any pics so there's a big jump...

On the other end of the stand, there's a door to slide the sump in and out, and a flush mount for my RKL. For a skimmer I'm running an Octopus Extreme 250, but I just upgraded the pump from a Sicce to the bubble blaster 3000 which supposedly pulls about 50-60 SCFM. The canopy is framed out, but that's about it at this point. The full design is still up in the air depending on what I end up doing for lighting. I plan on using 1/8" braided cable with a pulley system and a ratcheting winch so that I can raise and lower the fixtures for maintenance/light acclimation.
Any comments/concerns thus far would be greatly appreciated. Now it's just a matter of finishing up the setup and moving the contents of the 125 over. I can't wait!! :dance:

 

[TANKSALOT]

I really like the flat draw idea...... hope you don't mind if I steal it :wink:

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[swannyson7]

By all means... my wife wouldn't let me cut a hole in the wall of the living room and convert one of the spare bedrooms into a fish room, so a built in bar was out of the question. I was sitting at a computer desk with the hideaway keyboard and then I found a solution. :wink:

 

[TANKSALOT]

Sweet !!!!

I understand the room conversion :wink:

I did talk her into letting me put a 33 long frag tank in the bedroom and plumb the ATO through the wall to the garage area.

Next house WILL have a fish room.

 

[swannyson7]

Next house WILL have a fish room.

But will it have a wife to go with it???

 

[TANKSALOT]

But will it have a wife to go with it???

Will celebrate 33 years next month, so odds are yes it will :xd:

 

[mojo]

nice work !
Mojo~

 

[swannyson7]

Will celebrate 33 years next month, so odds are yes it will :xd:

I'm coming up on the first year, so I'm in no place to make any demands. I'm still shocked she gave the green light on a bigger tank :crossedlips:

nice work !
Mojo~

Thanks! First time I've really put the effort in to make a decent looking piece of furniture. All I've ever built was functional stuff like tool benches, but they were far from pretty. I was originally going to stain the stand, but the paint helped hide the imperfections and matched the room better, so it worked out for the best.

 

[gar732]

Dude, I'm ready for beer, I mean to help swap that thing over. Looks great and leds too, Nice!

 

[swannyson7]

Yeah, just don't tell Rachel about the LEDs. She keeps seeing all these new toys popping up and I keep telling her that I either had it on one of the other tanks or I got it used for next to nothing. Muahahhaha :xd:

 

[gar732]

What are you talking about, those are the lights you had on your tank right?

 

[litenyaup]

very cool idea...i like it so far!!!

 

[swannyson7]

What are you talking about, those are the lights you had on your tank right?

I think they were what I used on the old frag tank...

very cool idea...i like it so far!!!

Thanks! I'm happy with it thus far. Hopefully I can make it through the entire build without any major screwups.

 

[swannyson7]

Bump!

 

[newguy]

great looking tank stand build.

 

[GPhiAce]

Looking great.

 

[swannyson7]

great looking tank stand build.

Looking great.

Thanks!!

I finished installing the facing on the left slide out drawer and mounted the sump door on the end, along with some handles in brushed nickle. I have a coat of primer drying on the new door and then I can paint it. At this point, all that's left is another coat of paint and putting the floor of the stand in (already cut, just needs to be put in and screwed down. I'm contemplating adding a strip of 1X3 along the edge of the stand floor with some silicone caulk in case of any spills, but I don't know if I want to give up the space underneath to put the 1x3 in there. I guess time will tell...

 

[swannyson7]

Does anyone know of a good place to get a small, low RPM, reversible motor that I could use to spool the 1/8" cable I'm planning on using to suspend the fixtures? Or even a small scale ratcheting winch? The only one I can find are huge like you would use to pull a boat onto a boat trailer. The last thing I want is a monstrocity like that attached to my canopy after all this work.

 

[TANKSALOT]

Maybe a hobby shop.
Something that might get used for a scale drawbridge.

 

[swannyson7]

Got a bit more work done today. Finished the facing on the left drawer pull out, mounted the door for the sump, and added hardware.

Here's the frame for the canopy... the next project to undertake.

The whole top will be hinged, with false doors on the front the match the stand and it will use the same column design to match. I may use heating register vents in white for ventilation of the canopy, but I'm undecided. Also, I'm still trying to track down a small ratcheting winch or high torque, low RPM DC motor to spool the 1/8" steel cable I'm using to suspend the lighting fixtures. That way I can suspend the LEDs only a few inches above the water, but can raise them up for tank maintenance using a pulley system. Anyone have any ideas for where to find something like this, or done something similar? I checked at the local hobby shop, and they didn't have anything I could use. They had small motors, but nothing with anough power to lift the fixtures unless I used about 6 of them. To be honest, I think a motor is going to be too pricey to be feasible, so if anyone knows where to find a small ratcheting winch, I'd appreciate it.