PEPPIE'S 4th BUILD

[Chichas01]

stellar work!!

 

[user 2204]

Nice work and cannot wait to see how it all comes together.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Peppie]

A few more pic of the last min details before the tank gets wet.
I coated the platforms

Glued the brackets to the tank. Cross your fingers!!!lol

I needed a couple of powerhead holding brackets. Magnets are rated for 1/2'' or less. My thickness of the sides is 3/4''

Needed a dark canister for the ATO float switches. I will add the top once the switches are in place. I made it adjustable.

A couple of pics of the powerhead bracket at work

I found a thermal blanket in a first aid emergency kit. It will make a great reflector. I glued it to the under side of the light system.

 

[TJL]

Hmmm... thats a very clever idea with using the mylar reflector... Looks awsome Dave and always so ingenious on your brackets and accessories. They saying is "Its all in the details" should be your motto my friend.
Eric came up and helped me install the Master Bedroom window on Monday so one step closer to being back in the race!


Cheers, Todd

 

[Peppie]

Thanks Todd, I cant take the credit for the mylar, Your hood got me thinking of a better way of reflecting the limited light I have.I'll send out a royalty check soon.lol

I couldnt agree more about the details making a huge difference on a project.

Thanks for the pat on the back.

Glad to hear your window job is winding down. I'm sure it will be a huge re-leaf when you are done.

Thanks, Chickhas01 And spellbnd2

 

[mojoreef]

So this next part of the build scares me a little. I have gone two ways on this, over and over. Do it Or dont do it. It gives me a headache. lol
I want to hang some rocks off two sides of the tank.

Why not just glue the rocks to the backs and sides?? I have got this all over my tank, both on the bottom with 2 foot tall spirals and on the sides with both rock and corals themselves?? I have also done both with water in and with water out. I did the dab of crasy glue on the wall and then on the rock and then held it in place with clear acrylic rods until cured. I took the rock and kind of held them loose in the tank to see how I wanted them to stick out and then simply went to the chop saw and cut the angle off the base of the rock I wanted to hang. From their you got a nice flat surface to glue to??

Mojo

 

[Peppie]

Mike, I had thoght about doing it that way. But then you are really committed!!! This way I can pull the platform off and add or change the rock work that sits on it. I can also mix and match the size, depth,and width of the rock on the platform to fit into the other rock work in the tank. At some time in the future I will want to redo the entire rock work in the tank, A fresh look once in a while makes it look like I have a whole new tank. lol
Thanks for the input.

Peppie

 

[mojoreef]

Well not to committed, a decent hard nudge and it comes off pretty easy. But it would be alot easies to move things around doing it the way you are designing for sure. When we did a few public aquariums way back when we used to epoxy a bunch of acrylic rods all over the back walls, then we drilled the holes in all the rocks to accomadate the rods, from their the biys would be always moving rocks from one place to another.

looks cool

Mike

 

[eww]

Very very nice Dave and it looks even better in person. Great job and we can't wait to see it sitting in it's new (and might I say final) home. As always don;t hesitate to call if you need a hand with that mess in the house.

And BTW we have a brand new sheet of Mylar we bought a long time ago and never used so if you need any more just let us know. It's all still wrapped up in it's tube.

 

[Peppie]

Ive been very very busy this last week. Havent had much time to post.
First off GOOD NEWS. I have been called back to work!!!!!!!!! Dont know how long it will last, but at least I am still on their call list. I start Mon.

My wife has been back east for the past week. That is a perfect time to switch out the tanks. I have had a mess going on for more than 4 days.
As most of you know, it is quite a chore to switch out a tank. More so if you have to do it with the new tank going right where the existing tank is sitting. (Twice the work)
Here is my baby sitting in place

I added a fan that will run with the light cycle of the fuge ( 18hrs on 6 off ). Float switch in place. One main switch, the other is back up.

Skimmer coast to coast (semi) The HOB skimmer intake will sit to the far left

Some of the next pics are not as I would like them to appear. My picture taking skills suck at in tank shots. You will get the idea of what I want to do

This is a test, It is only a test, The finale placement will vary due to base, and live rock on hand.

 

[eww]

Dave, this is a cool idea and we saw it in person and how practical. Looks really good and once the Coraline takes hold you wont even see the holders. Oh by the way if you need some tank shots we can help with that...

 

[Peppie]

Eric, I would love some help with the Full Tank Shots. I cant take a good tank shot to save my life.
Thanks

 

[Peppie]

Well I was able to get back in the shop this weekend and get some work done on the semi finished hood and a start on the face lift for the stand.

But first, after I seen Alex's work bench and how nice and shiny it was I knew it was time to clean up the surface on my bench. It has been about 6 mo since it was rejuvenated . Thanks Alex !!!

I started with the card scraper to get the thick stuff off. Then I went to the 6'' random orbital sander with 60 grit and worked my way up to 150grit. Then it was back to the card scraper. 5 hours later I was ready for my first coat of poly. Let it dry over nite then smoothed it out with 220 grit. This is right after the second coat of poly. I will give it one more coat at the end of the day Sunday.

The top is 1 1/2'' Birdseye Maple and the edge banding is some type of figured African hardwood, The vise is ebony and curly maple

 

[Peppie]

OOOpppps the vise also has a large chunk of Koa. Not ebony, ( that was on another vice )

 

[Peppie]

On with the build. If you remember I was using Quilted Maple for the fake panels. A little color contrast. Well that has been changed. My wife wasnt to keen on the light dark contrast. I some figured Saple veneer in my stash that was a better color choice for the wife.
This is the last one that needed to be instaled.

All glued up and ready for the card scraper and some trim.

I like to cut small trim with a hand saw and a jig.

 

[Peppie]

I hit the wrong button. I wast done yet.

Tools of choice.
All trimed out and oiled

OK, now I done. I'll post some shots of the stands door panels a little later

 

[eww]

Nice as always Dave. Love the panels and trim work. And that work bench... holy crap Batman... are you even going to want to do any work on it any more???

 

[Peppie]

Thanks Eric,
Oh yea, A new looking top wont keep me from abusing it. In about 6 mo it will look like crap. Then I can take a day and make it look almost new again.

Hope you had a nice "working" Vacation. The weather was in your favor.

Looking forward to seeing your plumbing pics soon.

 

[Peppie]

I did some back tracking today also. I had already glued up the stand door panels a few weeks ago, they matched the wood I used for the tank face frame fake panels. Since these fake panels didnt pass the bosses approval I had to redo the door panels. So a little more digging in the veneer stash produced so Nara veneer. The figure will match the Face frame figure. With a little reddish-brown stain it will be a perfect match.
To get a nice tight joint I placed the 2 pieces of veneer between 2 pieces of plywood (with a straight edge) and let the veneer hang out about 1/32'' And clamp them all nice and tight.

Then I use a sanding block to sand up to the ply wood.

After all 3 sets are edged I tape them together on the back side

Then flip them over a put veneer tape on the face side. I will pull the back blue tape off just before I glue the veneer to the plywood panel

The glue press is ready to go. No time to waist in this glue up. The veneer will start to wave at me as soon as I put the glue on the back side.

I will let each panel sit in the press over nite

We will see how it comes out in the morning

 

[Krish]

Great work Peppie!!!!