Ethan.L Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Hi all, thought I would share with you all my new build. I'm still at university so this is a relatively budget build. I purchased the tank, (thanks Rabid) last Sunday. It's a 122cm*30.9cm*39.5cm, 140L, so is pretty long and narrow, but it should do nicely. Also picked up a Jebo 819 canister filter and 300W heater, (thanks cichlid keeper) Wanted to build a stand for the tank, so started out by purchasing all the wood. 4 rails of 75mm x 50mm. I got Mitre Ten to cut the wood for me, which they did for free. Here is a picture of the mock up frames with the uprights. Please excuse the mess. Top frame built. Base and uprights going in. Person in picture is my good mate who is helping me out, especially since this morning I tore a muscle in my shoulder, rendering my arm close to useless. Stand and tank. My friend in picture is a roofer, who managed to source me a bunch of blue colour steel roofing sheets (corrugated sheets). Will be cladding the outside with that, along with making some doors and a edging the goes along the top and slightly up the base to cover the mdf, poly and not so nice silicone job on the tank. Will post more on when I get the rest of the stand built. I will also be looking at building a set of LED strip lighting for the tank in the future, so if you are interested in that I can post some info on there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Looks interesting, what's the overall plan for this tank? Planted? Cichlids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan.L Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Not 100% sure at this stage, but am looking at Brichardis at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 It looks good however, in the absence of any real knowledge about the strength of stands, seeing as you are in ChCh I am wondering if there should be a little more bracing to stop any side to side sway ie angled bracing on the longer sides. Yes, I would be interested in how you do your lighting :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Do I spy a beer bong and cricket gear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Do I spy a beer bong and cricket gear? do you mean funnel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 It looks good however, in the absence of any real knowledge about the strength of stands, seeing as you are in ChCh I am wondering if there should be a little more bracing to stop any side to side sway ie angled bracing on the longer sides. Yes, I would be interested in how you do your lighting :thup: +1, looks tough, but a diagonal brace even just on the back would make it heaps stronger in the event of side to side movement. Also as the stand is larger than the tank, allow the tank to slide a little before hitting any edging will save you a lot of grief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 do you mean funnel? Yip, a beer funnel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 I like how you've future-proofed the stand to hold something bigger... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan.L Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 The stand should be strengthened up significantly once we fix the colour steel to it, that stuff is pretty strong and will be in solid horizontal sheets. Beer bong, funnel; tomato, tomäto. Cricket gear is flat mates, bikes which you may be able to just glimpse are mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan.L Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Tank in its current state. Flashings showed up this morning. Will hopefully be able to install them along with the corrugated steel that I have in my garage next week some time. The doors will also be made out of the same materials. And one of my cat, felix, on this already hot morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomGilberg Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Do I spy a beer bong and cricket gear? you've got a keen eye cam know your way around a beer bong aye? looking forward to see this progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan.L Posted March 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Wholey thread revival Batman! So my project got derailed massively and the tank ended up sitting in my flat doing absolutely nothing. I have now since moved flat and decided on actually getting this thing up and running. So here are the updates on where I last left off. Sorry for not documenting the whole process with pictures (I get annoyed myself with that), but hopefully these will suffice. The tank isn't the prettiest, quite a few scratches in it (which hopefully wont turn out too bad when it is filled) but I couldn't stand the ugly half black silicone job on the inside. I decided to cut out the inside silicone. I initially started out with a razor blade, but found that a butter knife actually worked just as well, and removed the chances of slicing through the silicone I didn't want to remove that holds it together. I forgot to grab a photo after this process, but I think you can imagine what it looks like without silicone. I cleaned it all up with a dry towel and some turps. So that needs to be left to cure for 7 days. Then I will fill it up and give it a leak test. (God I hope it holds) Next up is the stand. Previously it was just a wooden frame. I mentioned above that my mate is a roofer and managed to get hold of some coloursteel for me. Here is what he managed to knock up over a few session. Still some minor things we need to finish off. At the moment it only has some small magnets holding the doors closed, so I might invest in some beefier magnets. May get some door handles for it, and we need to drill it for plumbing and power. Took a trip to Queenstown earlier in the year and picked up some rocks. Also still on the list is lighting. Not sure what to do here, I am a student so the budget is pretty low (i.e. sadly most likely LEDs) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 A nice looking stand but how thick is the wood used? Your tanks going to weigh 160kg+ by the time its full and I don't see any diagonal bracing to stop it swaying to the left and right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan.L Posted March 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 2x4's if I recall. The steel cladding supports it and adds a fair amount of bracing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 the timber is plenty for vertical but i'd be putting a diagonal brace from bottom left to top right of the "back wall" uprights and diagonally on each end from front to back. Just screw them in, once they are cut t length it will only take a few minutes to fit them. Better to be safe then sorry. this is a pic of my tank stand, see the diagonal braces? they made a huge difference to the rigidity and stability of the stand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan.L Posted March 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Cheers will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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