Bottom's done up!

I got doors put on my stand yesterday. For the cost and simplicity of them, they work quite well. I bought an 8' shelf board from Home Depot prefinished black with wood grain that was 15 1/4" deep. I cut 2 30" lengths, painted the edges and hung with a pair of hinges on each.





With this step done, it was time for some fish. I did all my water tests and everything looks great.

So now off I go to get a couple of new friends.
This is the most adventurous they've been so far, half way across the tank. They spent the evening on the end they entered and even hid out above the powerhead on that side for the night.

Ever have crabs?

Here is my reef stuff now in its new home. I moved it here today to my 33g in anticipation of a shipment tonight. My first marine shipment of 12 blue leg hermits, 3 red scarlet hermits, 5 astrea snails, 5 cerith and 5 margarita. This is in addition to 4 blue leg hermits and 4 nassarius snails that I picked up at PetsUnlimited the other day. All snails and crabs seem to be happy.

What I need now is a couple fish and I'll be well on my way.

As for the stand, a couple doors are still in order and then something for a hood to accomodate the lighting properly.

A touch of black

I managed to get the stand painted today, atleast the outside of it. One coat on the plywood looks pretty good, two on the cap moulding.

While I was at it, I thought I would see if the paint I was using would stay on the glass. Well it does! It took three coats to get a complete coverage but still a lot cheaper than 3ft of that plastic roll stuff at the LFS. Now the back of my tank is blacked out.

Monday I'll start filling the tank and moving what I have from its temporary home in my 20g.

I'll have to hit the hardware store as well for material to make the doors. Maybe a good square of MDF, some hinges and a couple pulls.

I also have to see if I can find some pieces of glass to build my sump/fuge. I'll be putting my 20g, maybe 25g in the cabinet. I'll take a spin around to see if any of the local glass places have some scrap laying around or in their garbage. I don't need anything bigger than 12"x12" so even if I find some old windows being thrown out.

I think that the tank will be running for a bit without the sump but one has to have plans.

Ready for some paint!

Well I managed to get the base of my stand built (minus the doors). A bit of trim and sanded, it's ready for a coat of paint, I'm thinking a black semi-gloss.

The stand is 36"x18" which accomodates the 36"x12" tank with 6" behind for wires, hoses, filters, overflows, etc. I'm going to try and get acoat on in the morning before work.

Maybe I'll also be able to start putting some water and rock into the tank. It needs to be ready before my cleanup crew comes on Tuesday.

The beginings of a stand

I know that it doesn't look like much yet but it is a start. My tank fits on the front part perfectly and I've allowed 5.5" behind it. I'll wrap it with plywood having two large doors in the front.

Tomorrow I will pick up the plywood for the floor and surround, some trim, stain(maybe black paint?), hardware, and cork to take out the uneveness.

It's 36" wide by 18" deep and 34" tall. The inside should easily hold my 20g or 25g for use as a sump/fuge.

Hopefully by Thursday I can move the contents of the 20g to the 33g and have this running. Then I can work on the canopy.

Clean Tank

Just a short post. I put in an order for some custodians today. I have a week to get my 33g up and running before they get here.

Today (yesterday I guess since it's after 12) I got the tank cleaned. I scrubbed and got all the algae and deposits off of it. It's currently sitting outside full of water testing for leaks. I'd rather 33g of water on my deck than in my living room.

Tomorrow it's on with construction of a stand. I'll start with the basic table/shelf structure. I believe I have what I need for that much since the stores are closed tomorrow I think.

Captured by Salt

I've had a 15g tank since '87, it hasn't always been setup but when it has, it's been with fresh water (going now for 3yrs). Bigger tanks always catch my eye and I've planned on getting bigger tanks.

I have a used 40g breeder from a pet store that I've drilled for an overflow, a 20g that I got on sale, and have been waiting till I have space to set them up (some day I will finish the basement :) ). My thoughts have been to set up a cichlid tank and recently spotted some nice stock at reasonable prices so I thought why not. I didn't buy fish right away, I needed some more hardware first. A local university was selling some equipment and I stopped by. Instead of a couple pieces for a cichlid tank, I came home with an entire marine setup ( 33g tank, filter, powerhead, live crushed coral, live rock, corals, lights, overflows... ) . Nothing like jumping in!


So I stuck the live stuff in my 20g temporarily while I clean the 33g and build a stand for it. I planned to get started on the stand today, but spent the day cleaning my FW instead. More later...