Sushi's Nano Bow Build [13.3G]

[Sushi Reef]

I have 3 different types of wood I'm using.

1. the dense counter the is just below the tank.
2. the thin paneling that is used for the drawers and the bottom
3. the oak which is used for the front of the drawers and supports.

I have two ways I want to do this.

Black cherry stain
or
Teak oil

Below are the 3 types of wood with each stain on them.

the triangle piece is #1
the large panel is #2
The small block is the oak #3

Let me know what combo you like best.

Thanks.

PICS

The end gran will be shown most on this piece

 

[snoozer]

It looks great. I'm jealous of your woodworking skills.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Great construction progress blog, really fun to follow.

 

[Sushi Reef]

It looks great. I'm jealous of your woodworking skills.

Great construction progress blog, really fun to follow.

Thanks guys

Hope the end product turns out nice.

any thoughts on the stain colors?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Thanks guys

Hope the end product turns out nice.

any thoughts on the stain colors?

I prefer lighter colors, but we are talking about aesthetics. All a matter of personal tastes.

 

[snoozer]

I tend to lean towards dark stains, because it matches the rest of the wood in my house.

 

[Sushi Reef]

I prefer lighter colors, but we are talking about aesthetics. All a matter of personal tastes.

I tend to lean towards dark stains, because it matches the rest of the wood in my house.

Thank you.

 

[dawguy]

A lighter color for the draw fronts with a darker color for the top and bottom bordering it would be cool looking.

 

[Sushi Reef]

Got my order from BRS today which was salt, ro/di unit (4-stage plus), a heater, and a small pump.

I hooked up my ro/di only to find I was getting water pressure of 35psi it was a 4:1 ratio the wrong way out of the ro/di unit.

So i got on the phone and the city will be out here tonight to get it up to 55.80 which is the calculated pressure I should be getting per my friendly city worker on the phone.

he informed me that the water was gravity fed so he had to take the elevation of the water intake and my property then do the conversion to see the projected psi. pretty cool.

once that is corrected I'll be making some water, salt and fresh. can't wait.

The wood on the bow needs some more time to dry. I may actually need to bend it past the point it's at now to get the desired shape.
when I let it out of the clamp right now it just springs back close to the original.

 

[Sushi Reef]

Getting closer.....

I'm starting to feel a little bit rushed. I just got my sand today and really all I need to do is mix up some salt water and order the live rock. I'm sure I'm missing a ba-jillion things.

Soooo... i'm almost done with the drawers and the more complete it's getting the more I am not loving it.
I don't know... maybe when its up there It'll grow on me. The knobs are going to be switched out. I'm going to go with the original ones I purchased which were a brushed steel/aluminum.

I might also pick up a dark stain to hide the screw-ups that only I will notice.

I'll keep going and make the call once it's done. Won't be difficult to take a hammer to the drawers and leave the block.

Pics!

The shape came out pretty damn close.

The scary cut.

The drawers lined up and in

The supports I ended up using (So glad I did).

Hack job on the nailer

First face on!!!!

Toppy top view

Both in, cut and handles attached. lots of sanding to do. ugh

The drawer sticks out a bit from the block.... don't know if I care.

That's it so far guys.

Thanks for looking.
Oh I purchased a RKE. It's getting shipped tomorrow.

Can't wait to start on the box to hide all that stuff in.

Cheers.

 

[josh88]

Man that turned out really impressive. Your quite the hand guy. Buy the way i like the stain color choice.

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk

 

[Sushi Reef]

Man that turned out really impressive. Your quite the hand guy. Buy the way i like the stain color choice.

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk

Thank you!

 

[snoozer]

Turned out really good. Looking forward to seeing the tank on it.

I like how honest you are with you pictures showing the "hack job with the nailer". Too funny.

 

[Sushi Reef]

Turned out really good. Looking forward to seeing the tank on it.

I like how honest you are with you pictures showing the "hack job with the nailer". Too funny.

Thanks, I'm very critical of not only my work but how a finished product looks. In fact, I usually try to fix something too much and end up doing more harm then good (which kind of goes beyond just my woodworking).

I've ordered 15lbs of dry Pukani rock from BRS and 10lbs of uncured Manado rock from Premium Aquatics. The heat is on now. Gotta get this base done before the rock gets here.
I ended up getting a dark walnut oil + stain that I'm going to use I think, I've yet to check the color but I think I'll like it and it should hide the imperfections.
One more day of sanding. I plan to have this stained and finished by Saturday then get the tank filled with fresh water on the stand to test for weight and surface skimmer placement.

I also need to finish up the acrylic piece on top of the tank, cutting out the area for the AC70 and the Kessil, then putting the feet on it. Dry run and finalizing on Sunday.

When dry rock gets in I'll start scaping with that and seed finish off with the 10lbs I get from PA. The RKE should get here next week so I think I'll have everything I need to drop sand in by next weekend at the latest.

Excited!!! :boom:

 

[Sushi Reef]

My general thought for aquascaping is a little something like a wave gas chamber (or tunnel) then a tower off to the side.

 

[Sushi Reef]

Teaser shots.

Finishing the staining tonight.
I'm back in love with it after this stain went on. Faith restored.

 

[Matsu49]

Looks like you're off to a good start. Can't wait to see how the rest of your build goes.

 

[Sushi Reef]

Looks like you're off to a good start. Can't wait to see how the rest of your build goes.

Thanks Matsu

 

[Sushi Reef]

update and huge photo dump. ~50 images

Finished the staining.
Finished testing full tank weight on the drawer stand.
Finished with the drawer stand.
Finished corner surface skimmer.
Finished equipment cabinet from Ikea.
Finalized lighting idea

First batch of SW is looking good. Starting on second 5 gallon batch.
I will finalize lighting tomorrow and take a rest. This has consumed me for the past month.


Here is the album if you don't feel like scrolling through this post and my commentary.
http://imgur.com/a/UGQhV


Finished sanding.

The Stain + Oil I used

I love it

OMG!!!

Jackpot! Every type of wood turned out great under this stain IMO. Completely satisfied.

This is after wiping the stain. I gave it 45 min- 1 hour to site. the directions said 30 min.

Love the way the oak frame came out

Glamour shots ahead!!

On the mantle, under the tank.

Ikea run yielded great results.
Picked up the black lamp shade in the "as-is" section for a dollar.
Also got some rubber shelf liner to give a layer of protection from any water drippage.

My mind is working.

What to do, what to do.

Yep.... that'll look nice.

Looks like good clearance for the spectrum.

To the Bat Cave!

Like a glove!
Fits perfect. couldn't have planned it any better if I had made it from scratch.

Looks great.

Finishing up skimmer

Teeth ended up being not deep enough. But I tested it wet anyway.

here is the shelf liner i purchased from Ikea. I will use this for multiple applications.

 

[Sushi Reef]

Here is the liner I picked up and I'll end up using for a few things.

Biting my nails

Dat Seal!

Teeth not deep enough confirmed. busted out the dremel and almost doubled the depth.

AC70 doing its job well.

Here is the cabinet I got, 8" deep and two shelves, they happened to be glass. which is fine.
I was going to hang this on the left side of the mantle between the tv and the tank but it was an eye sore. So I went ahead and put it above the fireplace light switch. not only will this block some ambient daylight from the windows but I also have another outlet right below for me to use if needed.

Thanks for looking as always.

I'll update when the light is hung and lit.