mcoomer's 180G Starphire build

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WooHooo!
Looking good and getting close to splash testing!
Yeah, it's hard to make the wood longer after the cut.
You can use my method: measure, cut shorter than the measurement, check=too long, cut a fuzz, check=too long, repeat until frustrated, cut a fat fuzz, check=too short. Toss the piece and start over...
 
The stand is finished. I put the base molding on it tonight and did a rough sanding of 100 grit to smooth the roughest edges. I'm going to try to finish the canopy tomorrow and once that's done I can finish sand in preparation for stain. I also put in an order to BRS for the valves, bulkheads and some of the other plumbing fittings. Finally, I've got a line on a Reeflo Barracuda. All in all it was a good day.

I was going to use Minwax cherry stain but a neighbor of mine who does a lot of woodworking turned me on to a product by a company called Country Colors. They make a water based stain that I think looks much better than the Minwax looked on a few samples that I made. The Minwax held to the grain a lot but it took several coats to really darken the wood the way I wanted it to. The Country Colors sample that I made with a can my neighbor had offered excellent coverage with one coat.

On to the show...btw, the stand is wet because I sprayed it to raise the grain prior to sanding. In the first pic you can see how it will fit against the metal stand.

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I'm not done but it's turning out better than I thought it would. Even the wife gave me a little credit the other night when I showed her my progress. I may make it through this whole process without having to spend one night on the couch. Woot! I feel so good I think I'll go grab a beer.

Good night,
Mike
 
Progress has been extremely slow thanks to the stuff my wife keeps coming up for me to do but the stand and canopy are finally built.

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I'm ready to begin staining this project but I'm back to the drawing board selecting a stain color. My wife took one look at the 20 or so wood blocks that I'd stained and doesn't really like the color. I'm going to swing by Lowe's again tonight and pick up another can of something darker and try to impress her. Happy wife = happy tank.

Mike
 
Even Monday is alright when you get home and find that UPS has dropped of some BRS goodness for you. Union ball valves and bulkheads are in. Now I just need to pick up the PVC, elbows, 45's, and caps that I need to do the plumbing and the drain pipes. I also picked up a Reeflo Barracuda from a local reefer. It's starting to come together.


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I also stopped off and picked up a couple of different stain colors to try out on the wife. Take a look at the pics below. The one I was going to use has a satin gloss poly on it so it has a sheen the other two samples don't have but I think you'll see the difference in colors. The center piece is cherry ( 2 coats, 10 minutes each coat ) which the wife has rejected. The large piece is mahogany gel stain and the smaller piece is English Chestnut. Those are similar in color, both having a nice brown color but the gel stain seems to cover better and leave more color.

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Tell me what you think of the colors. Personally, I like the mahogany a lot. Once this first coat is dry I'm going to do half the sample in a second coat and once that's dry I'll put two coats of poly on and see what it looks like. Hopefully this will be the last stain I have to buy.

Mike
 
I feel for you on the stain thing. It took me weeks to get our stand to the color we wanted but that was mainly because we wanted it so so dark. I ended up using aniline die on the wood in black before going over it with triple black oil stain and then three coats of oil poly. Keep at it. Your work looks amazing and nothing will set it off better than a great finish. I can't wait to see the mechanics start coming together. Great job!!!

Eric
 
You know, asking for a favorite stain color as like them about their favorite brand of salt.
:)
I think they both look good, but I sure would rather use the gel for application!
The stand looks fantastic, and not the fantastic that adds to your post count, but the kind of fantastic that includes admiration. Very nice work.
The ledge around the base of the tank adds a nice dimension, but at my house would become a shelf. I will have to add it to my new build for sure. Perhaps I can slope it so anything set atop would fall to the floor...
Are you doing anything fancy to lift the canopy for maint?
 
First coat of stain is on the stand and I learned a few lessons about applying and wiping it off. First, I'm using a gel stain so applying it was pretty straightforward. It brushes on and settles nicely on the wood and the first lesson is to not try to spread it perfectly smooth and thin. If you brush on a little excess it covers very nicely. About 5 minutes later it's time to wipe it off. Second lesson, wipe gently and rub gently. At first I was rubbing too hard and taking off too much of the stain. Wipe gently and then rub the excess away. After finishing I was really worried because the color was uneven. After about an hour the color began to set in and I began to feel better. I've still got some work to do but I'm pretty happy with my first effort. No pics yet because it's late but they'll be up when I'm done. BTW...the color is Mahogany and it's going to be beautiful.

Mike
 
Thanks to a case of strep throat that cost me my voice and a few days of work I'm just now beginning to work on the tank again. I ticked my wife off when I finished the stain and polyurethane on the canopy and stand while I was sick but at least I got something done. I will get some pics of the finished cabinet and stand into the thread once I get the tank in the house and everything in place. If I may say so though, I think they turned out very nice. I also figured out what I'm going to do for the doors. I'm going to build a frame with mitered oak hardwood boards, use a router to cut a rabbit on the inside edge and then place an oak panel in the center. I'll stain it mahogany and then I'll mask off about an inch wide stripe all they way around the door with a very thin pinstripe inside that. I'll stain the stripes with ebony stain and then put a poly over the whole thing. Click on the video tab at the Minwax site and you'll see what I have in mind.

Yesterday and today I did the plumbing. I installed a Bean Animal overflow with three standpipes leading to 1.5" PVC down to the sump. I'm got true union ball valves on each leg to adjust the siphon and allow me to break down a leg if there's a problem. I also built an overflow box that will run coast to coast along the top of the tank. I have to let the RTV setup on the overflow box tonight and I'll finish the rest of that install tomorrow. Friday night I'll drain the 125 and move the critters into their temporary home.

Pics of the overflow box being built. I did it in the kitchen on a glass tabletop because it was the most level place I could think off. Notice the red tomato? I use the pin method to apply the solvent. I braced the pieces with tape, insert pins into the seams, applied solvent and slid the pins out. Spacing the seams apart with pins allows the solvent to cover the entire surface and begin to soften the acrylic. When the pins are removed the joint comes together and the bonding begins. First time working with acrylic and it came out great. Most of the spots that you see at the seams is from the flash catching the edge of the seam. The edges look much cleaner in person.

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Here are some pics of the overflow box install. I used RTV 108 along the edges, pressed the box in place, and smoothed the edges. I finished by wiping the glass down with acetone to remove residue. In the last few shots you can see the the cutout for the part of the overflow that will run along the back of the tank.

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Finally, shots of the back of the tank showing the plumbing. Because the previous owner had the holes drilled vertically I had to run the PVC at a 45 but I checked with the guy who came up with this standpipe setup and he says that it will work fine. If he's wrong I guess I'll find out just how long it take a Barracuda to empty a sump all over the floor.

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Tomorrow I'll finish up the overflow and then I'm done until I get the 125 drained. Once that's done I'll put the sump under the new tank and finish the plumbing. After that I'll hang the plywood that I'm going to use to mount my Reef Keeper Elite. Once I'm satisfied with that I'll break the plumbing down at the valves, move the tank into the house, and reassemble the plumbing. Finally, I can see the finish line.

Mike
 
Coast to coast overflow is in. It's black on black so it doesn't show up very well in the pics. Another thing that doesn't show in the pics is the 6mm hex wrench that I had to use to level it side to side. I'll let it set and tomorrow night I start draining the 125.

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I don't really. The pic at the bottom of my first post is a not very good pic of the tank. Back when I bought it I didn't have a digital camera and I never really bothered with pics once it was setup. I keep meaning to build a box so that I can take some underwater pics of my corals but haven't done it yet. Now that I've built an overflow I guess I can tackle that box.

BTW...I had to rip that overflow out and redo it. For some reason that RTV wasn't curing properly. After 48 hours there were still places that would stick to your finger when you touched it. I picked up another tube of RTV 103 and put the overflow back in and already the RTV is looking better than the first time I put it in. Still, it's another setback in getting this tank in the house.

Mike
 
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Was there an expiration date on the RTV? It seems kind of goofy that it would set up but not cure. We have not been having any really extreme cold or humidity. I am not sure what else might effect it.
 
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