Journal 75 Gallons of Bliss!

Well, hopefully it works out that way.. I am not convinced there wont be some “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” along the way. A common saying during WW2 in Europe was that the road home went through Berlin…


The stand is built and moved in to the bedroom. I have completed Spring cleaning the bedroom and rearranging furniture in the room.


I moved my 2 tier fish tank stand across the room. This frees up space by my recliner. Puts the CO2 tank between them so I dont need to route the hose in front of the door, and gives me much nicer access to my closet.
I like the extra room by the recliner. I feel much less cramped and it gives me better viewing of the 29 gallon across the room rather than next to me.

Thats my Grandfathers Grandfather clock. He built it in 1976. He passed 12 years ago at 96. I remember him building it. My parents gifted it to me as the chiming kept my mother awake. To me the chiming is soothing and drifts me off to sleep at night..



Power strips mounted on the cabinet side out of view. The strip closest to the front will power the Inkbird, canister filter and any other in tank electrical devices added. 1 switch to flip shuts off power to all in tank conductors before sticking my hands or tools in. And the lights will stay on…

All the wires will be coiled and have tie wraps to prevent wire spaghetti on the floor. And if I spill water on the floor I wont have to worry about it getting into the power strips..


I mounted a magnet strip on both doors. Now I just need to find the rest of my Aquascaping tools and maybe I can avoid misplacing them again…



Also nice storage for magnet scrapers too…


I bought some storage bins…

And filled them, organizing fish meds in one, equipment in another, testing supplies by themself, cleaning supplies in another. I just need to make some labels for the bins..

I have never been this organized in my life…

I am hoping Petco has a half off sale on tanks for March..

I plan to update this journal as I progress with the build…

 

[Pepere]

Sometimes if you get the right manager, they will give you the discounted price even if it’s not during the sale

It isnt my nature to ask for a sale that isnt current…. I am more inclined to wait. I suspect it will likely occur before Easter.

 

[Phish Tank]

Petco.com shows the 50% sale has started!

If you are setting up UGF for this tank, I hope you include some details on it. I think in another thread you mentioned using STS with UGF?

 

[Pepere]

If you are setting up UGF for this tank, I hope you include some details on it. I

The UGF plates are already here as well as mesh bags..

Ihave some extra aquasoil as well. I was thinking of putting some in with the Safe T Sorb as well.

 

[Pepere]

I folded the rear seats down in my 2019 Toyota Prius Prime and moved the passenger seat all the way forward and tilted the seat back as far forward as it could go last night.


The 75 gallon slipped in athwart ships as nicely as could be with a few inches of clearance on either end from the doors.

This morningI had someone help me get it into my bedroom.

Three coats of Rustoleum Black paint going on next and let it cure…

 

[Pepere]

Well, excitement over having a big new tank quickly gave way to noticing this.


It made my back ache.

Grabbed a bowl of Wheaties for lunch and phoned a friend..



Home again, home again, Jiggety Jig!

 

[Koan]

Three coats of Rustoleum Black paint going on next and let it cure…

I kind of dig the blue

 

[Pepere]

I kind of dig the blue

It coordinates well with the bedroom decor.
Blue recliner, blue Jacquard weave bedspread, blue green rag rug, blue curtains…

I am contemplating building a canopy for the tank using beadboard panels, complimenting the stand.

Perhaps moulding around the plastic frame at the base with the canopy covering the frame on top.and the Canopy would be stained the same of course…

 

[Koan]

 

[Pepere]

Horizontal reactor made this morning. $32.00 worth of parts….

Thank you @Yugang for developing this concept.

3/4 Pex adapters fit snugly into the Oase Biomaster 350 hoses and will be secured with stainless steel hose clamps.



I am using a pair of PVC j hooks to secure reactor to inside back wall of my cabinet.

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Horizontal reactor made this morning. $32.00 worth of parts….

Thank you @Yugang for developing this concept.

3/4 Pex adapters fit snugly into the Oase Biomaster 350 hoses and will be secured with stainless steel hose clamps.

View attachment 7358

I am using a pair of PVC j hooks to secure reactor to inside back wall of my cabinet.

Have you leaked tested it yet? When I built my own I had leaking issues but those were more complex then this one.

 

[Pepere]

Not yet. And I am going to be bold and brave and mount it in my cabinet and plumb it up to the spray bar and canister filter for the leak test.

I have done enough plumbing to be confident that t wont leak….

Of course I have also done enough plumbing to know better to write such things….

When I hook it up I will let you know if I had any leaks or not.

 

[Pepere]

Making a Canopy to go in top of the 75.

First step was a base plate to fit on the rim.



Yes, the back is facing me…. I will be making some cuts to that baseplate to allow a glass Lily pipe intake skimmer to pass underneath the top of the base on the left, and another on the right for the outflow valve that will attach to a spray bar.



I will be setting in a wooden cross brace glued in with epoxy.

Then metal reinforcing Tees will be placed, install a cleat on the top all around to attach sides to and make plumbing cutouts and then epoxy coat all of the inner parts of the baseplate that will not be visible from outside and exposed to all sorts of humidity.

This fits snugly so will provide double duty in case of plastic frame failure… Cause those plastic frames engender oh so much confidence!

Front and side panels will be 3/16 thick tongue and groove beadboard. Slightly different profile than beadboard on stand but oh so much lighter weight…. Front panel will have roof panel adhered to top and hange will be a few inches back from the front in the top panel. This way when front panel is opened, a portion of the top will be open as well in order to give me good access to the tank without having to remove the canopy.

I will be making lids to slow evaporation and keep heat in the tank from polycarbonate twin wall that will rest on the top wooden lip rather than the plastic frames.

 

[Pepere]

Canopy mostly built…



Tomorrow i will remove a bunch of screws essentially acting as clamps.



Install hinges for the front door.



Cut access ports for cannister filter inlet outlet hoses and wire holes for lights and heater, inkbird probe, ground probe, air lines to uplift tubes…



Then sand and fill screw holes, and sand some more.



Then stain and varnish exterior.



Then epoxy coat the entire interior.





These things always progress so much faster in my head….

 

[Pepere]

Hinges installed, screws removed screw holes filled in with putty.



It struck me as I was staining this that if I made it a little taller and longer, and put a solid floor on the bottom it would make a half decent rustic coffin….

 

[Burr740]

Im digging these stands, nice work

Out of curiosity whats the little piece on top for?

 

[Pepere]

Out of curiosity whats the little piece on top for?

To make people ask questions….


Actually it is a divider to separate the twinwall plastic lids I will be building. I have the same dimenion wood as a cleat along both sides and the back of the canopy. The side cleats will function to support my Chihiros lights.

The baseplate is elevated a few inches above the plastic frame, and the baseplate covers the plastic frame such that you can not use standard glass lids on the plastic frame..

On the plus side it will give more distance between water surface and lid so air driven ugf might not grow as much algae on lids. Time will tell….

I will add photos of the lids in place sometimes next week. Tomorrow I start applying the three coats of Polycrylic semi gloss over the stain, then flip it over and add 2-3 coats of epoxy on all bare wood on the interior and underside. Bring back memories of my wooden boat building days….

 

[Pepere]

4 coats of Polycrylic semi gloss yesterday.


First coat of clear epoxy applied this afternoon. Checking cure time and will recoat once cured. Epoxy has a green stage where it is dry to the touch but not fully cured. If you recoat before fully cured, you get a chemical bond at the molecular level without having to sand. If you get a full cured, you need to wet scotch brite the surface to clear off a possible ami e blush and then coarse sand to get tooth for a mechanical bond…



I see people painting the interior of their canopies with white paint.


As a boatbuilder I always urged my customers to choose clear epoxy. Clear coating the interior of the hull , lockers etc a better option. You can see if there is water breaching the outer coating and the interior wood is hurting...

 

[Pepere]

Just finished second coat of epoxy. Brushing epoxy on with a paint brush is every bit as miserable as I remember it being…

 

[Pepere]

Vent holes cut in on back and top and raw wood from cutting sealed with epoxy.




Stainless steel adjustable closers to go on top. Allow me to keep the heat of the lights in during the winter, and vent out isn the summer to keep tank cooler.

Will it be enough airflow? I have no idea. I didnt calculate it out. I will tell you more this summer..

So, let me give you some tips on working with epoxy. Do your best to keep it off your skin. The resin is not so bad, but the hardener is. And once mixed, any exposure exposes you to hardener. If left on your skin it is absorbed and causes a nasty contact dermatitis. Early in my boatbuilding career it soaked throgh my shirt sleeves on both sides near my elbow and i had a 2.5 inch diameter blister on both forearms that was about an inch proud of the skin and once they popped open, I had a deep festering wound for weeks before they healed.

After living through that you get clean up religion. After every epoxy session I would take off my shirt and wash thoroughly with paper towels soaked in cheap white vinegar. Yep, you smell like a salad. Acetone cleans epoxy too, but keep that off your skin. The solvent carries the hardener into your skin. Wash tender areas of your skin with acetone and you will taste acetone in your mouth shortly after…

Repeated exposure to epoxy can sensitize you to the point you cant even be in the same room it is being used in..


Cheap chip brushes were dunked and swirled in a container full of vinegar too. I used to get 5-6 uses from a chip brush before tossing them…

If you are doing any sort of coating with epoxy, do not try to do it with hardware store 5 minute epoxy. It is too thick and viscous and will cost a small fortune. I get my epoxy at Raka.com .two part 2 to 1 ratio by volume. Much easier to ratio correctly than West System epoxy which is 5 to 1. Much cheaper too.

All epoxy sellers get their resin and hardeners from the same places. The differences is in the proprietary promotoers and such. I have used System 3, West systems, Raka, B&B yacht works and a few others. They all worked fine. Raka and B&B was my favorites. I usually buy Raka and always have some on hand as it is so usefull. Two coats give a thick glossy coating that is exceedingly water resistant and water vapor resistant. If it is not going to be exposed to UV radiation regularly it needs nothing more…

Unlike polyester resin, bondo etc, mix ratios are critical. Has to be within 10% max. And mix exceedingly thoroughly. It has to be a nearly homogenous mixture or you will have spots that stay uncured…

Epoxy is 100% solids no solvent, unlike polyester resin. Meaning that every gallon gives you a gallon of coating. It doesnt off gas like polyester and vinylester. You wont get high on the fumes, of course you dont want to stick around after spreading it either as there are molecules in the air….

 

[Pepere]

Well… I should have made the stand shorter….



It was designed for an Aqueon 75 which is 21.25 inces tall, but Petco substituted an Imagitarium that is 23 inches tall…

Then I decided I wanted a canopy which adds another 2 inches of height and keeps me physically a little farther away from the tank…

And, one of my 1 x 12 pine boards used for a cabinet top cupped a wee bit. With the tank on the top, I could fit a few pieces of folded paper underneath the sides in a few spots. I opted to put a half inch closed cell foam fitness mat on the cabinet top, and on top of that I fitted a 3/4” 9 ply cabinet grade piece of void free plywood with perfect face veneers…it is cut to the exact footprint of the aquarium. The foam should take up irregularities and the ply should spread the weight over a larger surface…

The tank is leveling both planes side to side, and front and back with no diagonal twists…

But, the tank is about 5 inces ges higher than my design called for….

So now my mind is turning about some sort of 7 1/2 “ high step or platform to build, 4 feet long by 18 inches deep that can be slipped under the bed when not needed, or something….


Once tank is operating and I know how high the substrate is, how much the foam compresses I plan on framing around the bottom of the aquarium with some sort of molding and staining to match and adding polycrylic.



In any event, I like how the canopy looks…



And I have good access to the inside of the tank through the canopy…