Journal Trying to make a high-end aquascape from scratch

[Kwyet]

Hopefully it’ll go more smoothly from here on out!

 

[Pepere]

At the rate I'm"paying tuition" I'm gonna need to take out student loans pretty soon

Par for the course.

Another fun saying is “The difference between an experienced woodworker and a novice woodworker is that the experienced one knows how to cover his mistakes.”

It is true enough in part. I still make mistakes… though as time progresses you tend to make fewer due to tuition paid.

I remember a boat show I went to when I was building boats. The companionway ladder into the cabin was built of teak, a fairly pricey species of wood that is a rich dark brown and had dados in the rails for the stair treads to fit into. Under each stair tread was glued in a piece of holly, a bright white piece of wood the same thickness as stair tread..

A customer viewing this was explaining to his wife that this was something you only see on high end handcrafted boats and not on production boats.. hand craftsmanship…

I gave my friend on the boat who worked at the yard a knowing glance and said nothing till the customer left.

Once he left I said, “somebody cut the dados on the wrong side of the layout line didnt they”. He nodded and said, “But I like the other guys explanation better.”

In essence lines were carefully marked to layout the tops of the stairtreads to have each tread spaced correctly and the dados were cut. Upon assembling it was discovered the dados were 3/4 of an inch higher than they were supposed to be. Rather than throw the expensive teak in the scrap pile, new dados were cut expanding the treads to 1 1/2 and 3/4 inch holly spacers cut and glued in place to relocate the treads where they were supposed to be…. Teak and holly soles on the floor of boat are a classic look. This fix just extended the theme…. But nobody would have put in the work to do it otherwise….

 

[gjcarew]

We have an outer shell put together, and she's square. My wife tells me it looks professional, of course all I see are the little mistakes. But I guess that's the same thing that happens when I'm aquascaping too.

That other big-ass box? That's the tank. I'm leaving it in the shipping container to avoid any accidents until the stand is ready.

 

[Pepere]

course all I see are the little mistakes.

That will never change…. But as you get better, you learn to keep your mouth closed about those.


Are you gluing in wood pegs in the pocket holes?

 

[gjcarew]

That will never change…. But as you get better, you learn to keep your mouth closed about those.


Are you gluing in wood pegs in the pocket holes?

Planning on it, yeah

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Looking real good!

 

[gjcarew]

I just tested the floor this will be on and it isn't level, so I need to get some leveling feet. Anyone have suggestions on what to use?

 

[techman81]

I like these. You can drill a hole through the stand bottom aligned with each adjustment bolt and then adjust with an allen wrench from the inside.
Ikea Leveling Feet

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

My time has come! I came up with this design and thought I'd never get a chance to share it, because why would anyone care about stand feet??

The stand is ~120lbs. The glass tank is ~500lbs. The rocks were 500+ lbs, 200lbs of soil and then ~1,000lbs of water. Over 2,200lbs in a 150x60cm footprint.

The leveling feet NEED to be sturdy, and adjustable!

I went with these:


I installed them like this:



The long "stems" of the feet go through the bottom shelves, which I positioned at a height to not interfere with the feet.

There are 3 holes along each wall where the hex screw feet can be adjusted with an Allen key. You MUST adjust the tank before filling, you won't be able to adjust the feet when 2,000lbs is sitting on top of them.

They've worked great, but the holes in the cabinet shelves mean the cabinet isn't a "waterproof tub" like my experimental tank stand. I'm looking into making some removable silicone plugs to close the holes, or to glue a quarter/semi-circle "dam" part to keep leaking water inside the waterproof bottom.

If you're wondering what I did for adjustability on the experimental stand, I simply used heavy duty, thick felt furniture pads, and shim with wooden shims as necessary.

 

[gjcarew]

While those are definitely the most bomber solution, the vertical members don't go all the way to floor in this case so I don't think those would work.

I was thinking maybe something like this.

Not gonna lie, this whole thing has me a little stressed about the amount of weight this stand has to bear.

 

[Pepere]

Alternatives to relying on leveling feet can be shimming under the cabinet, or scribing the bottom of the cabinet

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Not gonna lie, this whole thing has me a little stressed about the amount of weight this stand has to bear.

Good! Way better to be stressed and over-build your stand than underbuild.

Plywood is incredibly strong. I can't express just how sturdy your stand will be. As long as it doesn't buckle or break laterally (this is where the upper, lower, and backside "bracing" comes into play) you could easily place a car on the top of one of these stands.

 

[Pepere]

Plywood is incredibly strong. I can't express just how sturdy your stand will be. As long as it doesn't buckle or break laterally (this is where the upper, lower, and backside "bracing" comes into play

Wood in general has good compressive strength. I recall reading where a chair could be held up with the legs being the diameter of pencils in regards to compressive strength. The remaining wokd in chair legs is to prevent the legs bending and buckling. Pencil width legs would not work well in that regard…

 

[gjcarew]

I've taken a couple weeks off due to vacation and the inevitable catching up with work AFTER vacation, but this is the latest problem. The box is ever so slightly out of square at the top. You can see how the overflow on the top sheet is a little bigger on the right side than the left.

The top sheet and the bottom of the box are both completely square, so somehow I must've introduced a slight twist between the bottom and top. Since it was already fully put together with glue and screws by the time I added the top sheet, it was waaay too stout to try to push it into position, so I think I'm gonna have to live with a little overlap. I can't flush trim it or I'll have a square tank on a (slightly) parallelogram stand, and I think it would look better overall to just leave a slight lip on the stand rather than have a corner of the tank hanging off.

I also found out that the tank is 602 mm wide, not 600, so it's probably good I have a bit of excess material. At least that's how I'm making myself feel better about the situation

Its really not that big a deal, it's just kinda frustrating because the finish and quality on everything else is looking fantastic. I'm just finishing up some sanding and plugging pocket holes. I'm leaving tomorrow for another couple weeks abroad When I get back, I have to cut some access holes, paint, install the hardware, and I should be largely done. Then it's on to putting the tank in place and installing equipment.

I'm going to be out of town for like 5 of the next 7 weeks so who knows if this makes it onto the priority list when I'm actually around. But my wife says she wants her basement back so I have some external motivation to get it done!

 

[Pepere]

The top sheet and the bottom of the box are both completely square, so somehow I must've introduced a slight twist between the bottom and top. Since it was already fully put together with glue and screws by the time I added the top sheet, it was waaay too stout to try to push it into position, so I think I'm gonna have to live with a little overlap.

More tuition paid….

Well if everything else is glued and screwed in place, your not going to nudge it…

I guess the only recourse is to start all over again….


Or you could do the boatbuilders extra customization handcrafted thingie….

I am pretty sure moulding was created to cover up mistakes…..

 

[gjcarew]

I guess the only recourse is to start all over again….

Don't even joke! At this point as long as it's not gonna collapse, there is zero chance I'm starting over

 

[Pepere]

Don't even joke! At this point as long as it's not gonna collapse, there is zero chance I'm starting over

How does it sit on the floor? Does it sit flat without rocking?

I am presuming the overhang is on the back. Are the front and sides flush with the cabinet?

Hard to make out a whole lot from the photo. I am presuming you have it upside down on the floor…

If so, being the back, it would be up against the wall… so not terribly visible…

 

[gjcarew]

I was gone for two weeks for Thanksgiving and was pretty sick last week, but I leave again for another three weeks on Friday... So basically I've been in a flat spin to get this to a point where I can get the tank on the stand and off of the gear room floor.

I got the feet installed, cut some holes in the back, and got the sealer and primer on. Doesn't look half bad once it's all painted, but let's just say there's a reason you're not getting close ups... I could have spent another few days sanding.

I had the brilliant idea to use topside paint for boats for this to try to get a super durable, smooth finish. Well I started applying the boat primer and it turns out that this stuff has 6x the VOC content of a high-VOC interior paint. Doing it next to an open window with a fan going barely helped. My wife was obviously not pleased that we had to open every window and door in the house in the middle of an atmospheric river event.

Anyways, probably not gonna use the boat topcoat for the sake of my marriage (not to mention my dwindling remaining brain cells) and just get some semi-gloss cabinet paint instead.

 

[Pepere]

Anyways, probably not gonna use the boat topcoat for the sake of my marriage (not to mention my dwindling remaining brain cells) and just get some semi-gloss cabinet paint instead.

I used to like using Systems 3 WR-LPU.

Water based Linear Polyurethane. You add a crosslinker and apply with a foam brush.. several thin coats. Then you can apply a high gloss clear coat thinning it a bit with a 50/50 mix of water and Isopropal alcohol.. initially the clearcoat has texture to it but within a week or tow, it shrinks down and is far less noticeable. Not exactly a car finish, but for something applied with a foam brush that is easily repairable, it is an excellent finish.. on a boat outside exposed to weather 10 years in my yard, no chalking, fading, crazing or any defect.

The stuff dries to touch within 10 minutes…. Very low odor.