chipmunkofdoom2's 29g EXTREME RENOVATION!

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Okay, so I got involved with school a while ago and neglected my tank, but now I'm ready to make it up to her.

My system started out as one of those kits that gave you everything... 29g glass tank, single bulb NO fixture, Whisper HOB filter, heater, all that. I'm slowly upgrading everything so I can get a true reef system going.

Planned upgrades:

1. Lighting - already done, but I'll talk about it anyway
2. Stand - allows me to upgrade to a sump and gives my tank something sturdy to sit on.
3. Filtration - the aforementioned sump


Those are the major categories, and each major upgrade I'm sure will have minor ones that go along with it. I'll post pics as I go along... feel free and welcome to comment!

*EDIT*
As far as before pics, most of the upgrades for the tank are revolving around the stand, like the sump and all that nonsense, so this is the best before pic I think I can give.

 

[Alexander]

how about some before renovation pics to go off of too?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Lighting:

Okay, so as stated, my tank came with a crappy single bulb NO fixture. I upgraded that single bulb that came with it to a 50/50, which gave off 6500K and 420 actinic. From there I wasted enough money to get a dual NO bulb fixture and put in the 50/50 bulb and 420.

They're great for a kindergarten tank, but I'm ready to move on up in the pecking order, haha.

This is the baby I'm rockin' now. It's a Current dual CF setup with two 65 watt bulbs. One is a dual daylight with 10,000K/6700K and the other is a dual actinic with 420 and 460.

This is a recent picture, with brand new bulbs :mrgreen:

That's pretty much it for lights right now.. I'm only looking to host mushrooms and other low light, easy corals at first. I may upgrade again after I get the hang of easy corals.

 

[d2mini]

Cool! You could probably double your live rock for better filtration, too.
With the sump you'll be able to get that stuff off the back of your tank and hidden down below. The rock looks like a monster on the right, haha. :)

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Haha, thanks for the comments. Yeah, it does look like a monster. It's my favorite piece of rock too, it's a unique shape and it's got a good bit of purple coralline on it. Plus, it's got some tiny clam and sponges growing underneath it.

 

[simpleman]

Looking good. Is that green bubble algae I see in the bottom right hand corner? You might want to pull those rocks out if it is. That stuff multiplies like crazy!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

It most certainly is sadly. I've had lots of problems with bubble algae unfortunately. I think it's mostly due to my crappy tap water that I still use. I'm addressing it with an RO system somewhere along the line with my upgrades here and hopefully that'll help. Our tap water is horrendous.

 

[Alexander]

In the mean time why the heck dont you get RO water from the fill your own water places at the store??????? and it will be really nice to get a new stand under there for sure

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I've been debating that for a while... I made bank at work last night though, so I was planning on ordering a unit today actually.

 

[daugherty]

this is the one that i just ordered

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120322560865&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=110301433838&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D42

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

That's funny, cuz a lot of members pointed me to their web store (at www.purewaterclub.com ) and I ordered one earlier and with the TDS meter it was just under $140 shipped. I've heard a lot of good stuff about them and their units are dirt cheap, so I'm excited.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Time to Build the Stand!

Okay, so I wanted to upgrade my filtration from my Whisper HOB to a sump, but first things first, I needed to upgrade my stand so I could fit the sump underneath my display.

As you can probably see, this is one of the most rickety, unstable and cheap (while being way too expensive at the same time!) stands ever made. By making my own, I can make room for a sump AND give myself some piece of mind with a stronger stand.

I'll do this in a couple different phases, mostly because I didn't make these plans myself, but I got them from another forum. I need to modify/tweak them to work for myself and it would be easier to conceptualize the process in phases.

 

[RyanG]

I really like the bar-style stands. Custom built for your tank but you make about a 4-6 inch border around the tank on both side and the front. They look awesome and give you extra room underneath.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Tank Building: Phase 1

Phase 1: The Frame

Alright, so, first things first, I have to make up a frame for this stand. The design may seem obscure at first, but it'll make more sense once I get the corner supports up.


The Materials:

Wooden Dowels: $1.99
3" Wood Screws: $4.49
Wood Glue: $2.72

8' long two by fours: $1.85 x 5 = $9.25


Total cost for frame: $18.45
Cheaper than a commercial stand already, haha.

I'm going to try not to go into too much details and just let the pictures speak for me. I took the dimensions and figured out how tall I wanted it to be.

Then I figured out how best to buy and cut the lumber.
I marked the boards and labeled them 1 through 5 as the corresponded to my drawing.



My makeshift cutting station since it rained today.

Note my father's circular saw, which I believe was made before I was born.

Now I’m going to be putting the bottom and top pieces of the frame together. It may not make the most sense, but tomorrow when I make up the vertical supports it should.

First I mark where I want to install the dowels.

Then I drill.

Then I put glue in the holes.

And hammered the dowels.

Then I drilled the middle support to accommodate the dowel.

Then I put glue in the middle support to help secure the dowels once I've screwed the pieces together.

Then I slather some glue on the side support that runs the length of the tank.

Then I screwed that S.O.B together (Jesus Christ those wood screws are a bitch to get in)

Then I rinsed/lathered/repeated for the side support

Then I end up with this.

Then I repeated with the other side and ended up with this. Next I pretty much do the same exact thing for the top. Tomorrow I'll do the corner supports and bang everything together so you can see the basic gist of it.

 

[yote]

You got yourself a fun project going on:D
hint:If you'll use an 1/8" drill bit to pre-drill for the screws,they'll go a lot easier.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Yeah, I know, I'm not much of a carpenter, but I'm enjoying it! I did predrill the holes but they still took a whole lot of oomph to get in. I don't think it helps that my dad's drill was made in the early 1600s. Haha.

 

[d2mini]

Or use a 1/4" drill bit or something larger than the head of your screw and drill down a 1/8" to 1/4" into the wood first. Or how ever far you need to, to make sure the screw has a good hold on both pieces of wood. This will make the screw go in easier AND it will end up countersunk which looks nicer. You can than use wood filler to fill in the holes or leave them as is. My build thread has some pics in the beginning that should show the countersunk screws. That was my first real attempt at building anything, too. It was a hoot. Have fun!
And good for you for planning all your cuts to conserve wood! I just went out in the garage and starting cutting. :D

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Haha, yeah, I probably will try to drill more for future pieces. The problem is the heads on these mothers are a lot bigger than the threads so I can't drill too huge of a hole.

Yeah, I tend to overthink thinks a LOT, so of course I had to diagram the 2x4s! Haha. Plus the goal of this project is to save some big cash so I'm trying to be as cost effective as possible.

 

[d2mini]

The problem is the heads on these mothers are a lot bigger than the threads so I can't drill too huge of a hole.

Look at the size of these holes in these 2x6's.
Huge. Bigger than they needed to be but it didn't matter because i was covering them in plywood. They are only about a 1/4" deep. If your screw is long enough, you only want to drill enough to countersink the head so you can cover it later. So you predrill the hole first, just like you are doing with a drill bit smaller than the screw. Then make your countersink hole with a drill bit larger than the head of your screw. Then your screw will go in nice and easy and be sunk below the surface of the wood.

There's also a couple visible ones in the side panels of my hood which are smaller but still much bigger than the head of the screws. These are only about 1/16th to 1/8th inch deep... just enough to sink the head. Those I just filled in with my own mix of sawdust and wood glue tonite. I just sanded them down and they look like color matched plugs that are completely flush to the wood. Almost invisible.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Ohh okay! Thanks for the pics man, that's a hot looking stand, haha. Wow... I say hot looking like I'm going to make a wall calendar of DIY stands that don't have any coverings on them in lieu of the classic bikini clad babe calendar. Haha.

But yeah, I'm not too concerned with how deep in the screws go because the outside will all be coated with plywood (hopefully something nice like birch) and then painted black. So as long as the heads aren't protruding, I could really care less.