90 Gallon Wave Front Build (A LOT OF PICTURES)

looks really good i just bought the same take but mine has a base and canopy im going to use my 55 gallon as my sump im enjoying seeing what you have dont look forward to more updates keep up the awesome work

 

Nice it is a good sized tank I am still working on mine I have been struggling with the final varnish process but I should get it going soon enough since this is the last week for finals at college I will be able to devote more time to this instead of studying.

 

Update

Well it has been a while since I have updated this thread so I thought I would catch get you up to speed... I am done with the stain and sealer and varnish of the stand which was a process for never having done it before talk about a learning curve but I think it turned out well... I am going to post pics later... Now all that I have to do is assemble the stand and glue a few pieces of PVC together (I left apart just in case anything changed) and I can start to fill with water hopefully this weekend.

 

Good news, congrats on completing the varnish

 

Lets just hope there are no more snag ups.

I am still going to have to assemble it then fill the mounting holes with filler and stain / varnish those small areas.

 

Picture Update

Okay now that I have all the pictures ready to go time for a real update get ready your eyes will be amazed! lol.


So I got the bottom board all glued on and filled with filler as I left if from the last post.





While that was drying I re did some paint on the main 2x4 uprights since I got them pretty dirty with my hands moving it around so many times. Here is a shot with a fresh coat of paint.





Next I painted the back of my doors white to match the inside of the stand.











Then I got to working the bottom wave the next day starting off with some wood conditioner.





Then a coat of stain.





You can see that the stain did the SAME THING AGAIN! What a disappointment.





So instead of ripping it off and trying again I worked with what I had. What I did was I took a towel of stain and added to the light areas in the wood and let it set up for about 5 min and wiped off excess... I did this about 4 times to get the stain to somewhat match the darker spots.








Still not quite as good as the top wave but it will do.





Here is a shot off all the boards waiting for sealer/varnish.





After some trips to Sherwin Williams I was finally able to get the right finish products I wanted for the aquarium I must have went back there 4 times to get the right stuff.


Well this last Saturday was the day (11-12-10) for sealer / varnish so I got to work I taped up most of the sides to make sure any excess drips would not go onto the white side of the boards.


This is a fresh coat of satin sealer.











Here is a shot of the top board after some drying time you can see it has the perfect sheen to it not to shinny and not to dull.





Now onto the varnish here it some pics of the fresh coat of varnish.











Here are the wave fronts after some drying time.





Oh and in case you didn't know like I didn't this stuff really attracts the insects so if you are going to do this outside use a bug zapper or something because this is what I came back to the next day after I let it dry. A moth decided to try a bath in the varnish and caked himself into the varnish so now I have a moth impression on the top board. But this will not be seen so I will just have to let it go even though my perfectionist side is telling me to redo it.





Okay now for some good shots all the work is finally done and I finally get to set up the stand for the final time in the area where it is going to be on display.


Here are the doors all ready to go.





Here is everything in the house waiting to be assembled... You have no idea how hard it is to try and move this aquarium stand by yourself it is a really odd shape... I had to enlist the help of a neighbor.





I had to wait for my wife to get home in order to get the stand moved into position and the aquarium on top of it. so in the mean time I assembled the doors and back board onto it.











We were finally able to get the aquarium on top of it and the sides on so here are the final stand shots.














And that is it for now... it is really nice seeing it in the living room all done up it really lets me know it is almost time to start filling it with water all I have left to do is some PVC and clean up and assemble it and water can start flowing.

 

looks really good cant wait to see it finished... mine is coming along unfortunately i can't do the work myself (to busy with work) i am having a guy do it for me at a local store... i am ready to get mine up and going too

 

I am doing it myself even though I don't have the time if you go to the first post I got this back in MARCH it has been a long time coming but I have only spent $1400 on this entire set up!

 

Update

Well I have a small update with the holiday's and all I have not been able to get much done I want to start to fill it with water but I had to change some things.

I was going to use slip to slip 1" bulkheads for the standpipes and the return plumbing coming out of the sump but I got to thinking if I ever have an issue with it I am going to have to cut the bulk head off the piping! Which is a waste of money.

So I took back the slip to slip bulkheads and exchanged them for some slip to thread on the nut side bulkheads that way I can just unscrew them if the time is ever comes. I will have to installing everything this weekend hopefully and start to fill with water.

But in the mean time I was able to get some other stuff done. Now I had seen this done on Mevle's reef so I can't take the credit for the idea. But I was on my way back home from the family visit and stopped by Target for the after Xmas sales, and I picked up two gift wrapping containers which will be perfect for my RO/DI reservoir and one for a salt water container.





They are going to sit in the back corner of the aquarium where they should be kept out of site I am going to have to run an RO/DI line from under the sink all the way over but it should come out really well. I have going to have to see what position I want them it but this is where they are for now.





I was also working all getting everything mocked up for the water to be added. So here are some pictures of what the back of the aquarium looks like as of now.





I was also able to exchange the magnets that were used to hold the doors shut with some of the pop back ones you would use on like a glass coffee table.



So this is what it looks like now.





I hope to silicone up the bottom board and get some spa flex for the return plumbing and get it running this weekend.

Cross your fingers.

 

Awesome job.
You may want to make sure you can get behind the tank in case you need to as you won't be moving it once it's filled.
I've been planning mine with that in mind am am leaving space under my big tank for the ATO container and such.

But I do like that idea, they are nice containers and you can see the water level in them.