Thanks for following. I grew up outside of Moline. In Denver these days. How's the reefing community there?
A Golden Reef Tank
- Thread starter halmus
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CONSPICILLUM
Member
I'm just returning to the hobsession after 15 years' hiatus, so I'm trying to get connected. There are individuals, but there doesn't seem to be much of an organized group. One small gathering has evidently been trying to meet monthly and get some frag swaps going, but it's been slow through the winter.
NanaReefer
Well-known member
We need updates! 
I sanded and painted the self leveling concrete. I used a garage/shop grade epoxy to seal up the concrete after it cured for a few weeks. Then, I installed this floor covering. It's called G-Floor. It's designed for use in automotive shops, so they advertise. It's pretty thick and was extremely heavy in a 9' x 60' roll. I taped the seams together and then taped them down to the floor after these pictures were taken and the flooring had time to relax.
I am custom fabricating formica tops for all the counter top and shelf surfaces in the room. The material is cheep, it's just labor intensive. I went ahead and made the window sills out of the same material. I was informed by my wife that I would be building her a workbench in the corner for plants, plant starters, and growing out some plants. So, we're going to turn one of these window boxes into a mini green-house during the summer. I want all horizontal surfaces to stand up to abuse from water, salt water, dirt, and whatever else we throw at it.
I built this small cabinet section to add some counter top work space in the room next to the sink. I will make the formica top once all of the other insanity is done in the basement. My wife is using this sink as a utility sink to wash paint brushes, so I don't want to put too much work into the area before she's done making a mess. Instead of a typical toe-kick to the cabinet I built a short platform so that moisture can't get trapped under the cabinet long term.
The drawers are in place but I still need to fabricate the doors and drawer faces. The center pull-out is where I will be storing my coral frag saw. I didn't do anything fancy with the drawers. I am picking up a dovetail kit for drawers I'm working on upstairs, but didn't have the time or interest to invest in these. They're completely utilitarian. (Don't judge me Dave!)
The drawers are in place but I still need to fabricate the doors and drawer faces. The center pull-out is where I will be storing my coral frag saw. I didn't do anything fancy with the drawers. I am picking up a dovetail kit for drawers I'm working on upstairs, but didn't have the time or interest to invest in these. They're completely utilitarian. (Don't judge me Dave!)
Last update for now, I finally finished the new laundry room downstairs enough to hook up my wife's new washer and dryer. We moved down the old dryer which will likely just be donated somewhere. The washing machine is moved in and hooked up to the right of the utility sink in the filtration room.
I picked up and assembled 3 shelving systems from Grainger. They're industrial shelving and should hold the weight of anything I'll be doing. Two are 5' wide, 2' front to back, and 8' tall. One is just a 4' wide version. I don't have the shelf heights set exactly. I'll make adjustments to location and height once I build the shelves and put the tanks in place for reference. That will be a long time in the future. We're working 90% of the time on the rest of the house for now.
This is the future water mixing station. 2 x 165gal tanks. They have a large access opening at the top. That was one of my requirements and the reason I had to settle on a tank +30" in dia. The had narrower tanks, but that means a small access opening. I have plenty of room to work with, so I can afford to give up space for convenience. That also means the opening will be closer to the ground for adding/mixing salt. I will still need to build some sort of platform, but I won't be banging my head on the ceiling.
I picked up and assembled 3 shelving systems from Grainger. They're industrial shelving and should hold the weight of anything I'll be doing. Two are 5' wide, 2' front to back, and 8' tall. One is just a 4' wide version. I don't have the shelf heights set exactly. I'll make adjustments to location and height once I build the shelves and put the tanks in place for reference. That will be a long time in the future. We're working 90% of the time on the rest of the house for now.
This is the future water mixing station. 2 x 165gal tanks. They have a large access opening at the top. That was one of my requirements and the reason I had to settle on a tank +30" in dia. The had narrower tanks, but that means a small access opening. I have plenty of room to work with, so I can afford to give up space for convenience. That also means the opening will be closer to the ground for adding/mixing salt. I will still need to build some sort of platform, but I won't be banging my head on the ceiling.
NanaReefer
Well-known member
WOW! I'd say you've been a bit busy-lol. That flooring turned out great. I'm going to enjoy watching this all come together. Thank you for sharing.
CONSPICILLUM
Member
This. Is. Ridiculous.
Perfect. Love it.
Perfect. Love it.
WOW! I'd say you've been a bit busy-lol. That flooring turned out great. I'm going to enjoy watching this all come together. Thank you for sharing.
I'm happy with the floor. Thanks for saying it looks like I've accomplished something. I have tunnel vision and can only see all of the work I have left. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of woodworking to do in the rest of the basement.
This. Is. Ridiculous.
Perfect. Love it.
Thanks. That's exactly how I describe it, ridiculous. I'm not being sarcastic either, that exact phrase has come out of my mouth describing what I have planned. You couldn't give me a better compliment.
On a separate note, I have a bunch of MRC equipment on the way. Orca Pro II skimmer, calcium reactor, kalk reactor, media reactors....
Once I have those and have a break from the rest of the basement, I can plan out and build the area where all of those will sit. Then, I can finish the wrap-around counter top I have in mind.
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N1Husker
RF Staff
Wow, your moving right along. It is looking great. Miss seeing you up here in the great northwest.
Thanks Husker. I miss everyone out there. People are really great here in Denver, except for all of those people moving here from other states. Wait, that's me?!
My wife and I really miss the Puget Sound. We are getting a lot of good training in running up and down mountains at altitude, but our hearts are still set on the San Juan Islands.
The filtration room is slowly progressing. I'm finding myself taking a few hours out of each week to at least make a little progress. That keeps me motivated while I work on the rest of the house.
I skinned the aquarium stand with plywood this weekend. Inside and out. I'm going to make some huge heavy duty roll out trays that will be accessible from the filter room side to hold buckets of salt and other dry goods. Pictures to come.
The plywood on the display side will be covered with some sort of cabinetry. The plywood just gives a good surface to mount to.
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My wife and I really miss the Puget Sound. We are getting a lot of good training in running up and down mountains at altitude, but our hearts are still set on the San Juan Islands.
The filtration room is slowly progressing. I'm finding myself taking a few hours out of each week to at least make a little progress. That keeps me motivated while I work on the rest of the house.
I skinned the aquarium stand with plywood this weekend. Inside and out. I'm going to make some huge heavy duty roll out trays that will be accessible from the filter room side to hold buckets of salt and other dry goods. Pictures to come.
The plywood on the display side will be covered with some sort of cabinetry. The plywood just gives a good surface to mount to.
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1guydude
Well-known member
Looks good mr.!
Glad ur keeping busy out there in the midwest.
I wanna go dirtbike ridinh in mohave utah fwiw...sure its.pretty out there....dang out-a-townerz
D
Glad ur keeping busy out there in the midwest.
I wanna go dirtbike ridinh in mohave utah fwiw...sure its.pretty out there....dang out-a-townerz
D
Thanks D. We're going to the Grand Canyon soon. I don't think there will be dirt bikes there. I hear they have donkey rides. Is that the same thrill?
We're planning on hiking/running to the bottom and back up. 19 mile trip 5k feet down. We've got some crazy friends here that talk is into stupid things. It will be beautiful but painful.
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We're planning on hiking/running to the bottom and back up. 19 mile trip 5k feet down. We've got some crazy friends here that talk is into stupid things. It will be beautiful but painful.
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A little teaser...my local contact said that MRC got in touch with him. There's a pallet on the way with my name on it.
Sound like a drug deal?
I should have the goods by the end of the week.
I still can't do anything with the gear, but I'll have everything on hand when it comes time.
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Sound like a drug deal?
I should have the goods by the end of the week.
I still can't do anything with the gear, but I'll have everything on hand when it comes time.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
SantaMonica
Well-known member
I have a similar but slightly heavier gauge shelf system that that... is great for lining up test tanks. The specs say that each shelf can hold up two cars.
I'm satisfied with the shelving. It will need a lot of work to level everything.
The weight rating of shelves can be a little misleading. They can support a huge amount of weight but that rating doesn't take into account the deflection (sag) in the shelf. I don't want any deflection of the shelves. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on the tank joints. So, the shelves are deliberately overrated for the weight they can support and I'll be taking some extra steps to make sure nothing sags over time.
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The weight rating of shelves can be a little misleading. They can support a huge amount of weight but that rating doesn't take into account the deflection (sag) in the shelf. I don't want any deflection of the shelves. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on the tank joints. So, the shelves are deliberately overrated for the weight they can support and I'll be taking some extra steps to make sure nothing sags over time.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The MRC equipment arrived in good shape. The highlight is the Orca Pro II skimmer. That thing is a beast to look at. Its about 3' tall. The other equipment includes a couple media reactors, a Kalk reactor, and a calcium reactor.
I built 6' long by about 20" wide heavy duty roll out trays to fit under the tank stand accessible from the filtration room side. There are huge rollers spaced every foot under the trays. My plans long term are to store dry goods like salt and other bulky items under there. For now, the equipment is being stored there while I build out the room.
I built 6' long by about 20" wide heavy duty roll out trays to fit under the tank stand accessible from the filtration room side. There are huge rollers spaced every foot under the trays. My plans long term are to store dry goods like salt and other bulky items under there. For now, the equipment is being stored there while I build out the room.
I made some progress on cabinets upstairs. These are pull out trays (dovetail joints) for shoe storage in the mud room. This is the part of the big remodel where I make my wife happy so she'll let me keep the tank. Eventually, these cabinets will all have doors. I'm just waiting until I finish all of the cabinets in the house so I can build all of the doors at once.
I also fit in a few hours to finish skinning the aquarium stand on the outside. This is just a plywood layer that makes a uniform surface for the finished cabinetry to attach to. The stand was slightly off in terms of dimensions and even though they did a good job on everything else, the plywood decking the aquarium is sitting on was done in a funny way. Now everything has uniform dimensions. Within the next few months, I'll finish the base cabinets for the dry bar near the aquarium and I can bring in some people to measure up for some sort of counter top material to be installed on the aquarium and dry bar.
I also fit in a few hours to finish skinning the aquarium stand on the outside. This is just a plywood layer that makes a uniform surface for the finished cabinetry to attach to. The stand was slightly off in terms of dimensions and even though they did a good job on everything else, the plywood decking the aquarium is sitting on was done in a funny way. Now everything has uniform dimensions. Within the next few months, I'll finish the base cabinets for the dry bar near the aquarium and I can bring in some people to measure up for some sort of counter top material to be installed on the aquarium and dry bar.
SantaMonica
Well-known member
The roll-outs are a great idea; first time I'm seen that.
