OnefishTwofish's 50g breeder upgrade

As far as the spray paint goes - I had heard a lot about the Krylon Fusion for plastic - and i bought it in textured shimmer black for my side and front panels - sure enough it looks amazing!

Takes patience and several coats but I am very pleased with what I am seeing so far. The sump tank is getting more of a flat black treatment. Panels are still curing in the garage and I will be fetching those after work today.

Then I can start showing you all how I intend to attach the panels to enclose the stand but keep it really accessible.

So, just like before, stay tuned!

 

Ha! yeah...well, he got to hear me ramble on about everything as I was working on it. He enjoys a lot of the tank threads on this site too. Under that TV is a media center he put together for me which will be able to run any monitoring apps etc that I may want to use once things are put together etc

Tonight will be a bit more progress with the panel assemblies etc.

thanks for the encouragement!

 

Looks great so far! Can't wait to see more progress.

 

Very nice! i like what you did with the 29.....hmmmm that 29 looks very familar but if you need any help at all with the plumbing you know im right around the corner ad id love to help ya out!

 

Nice, I never really thought about a metal stand and enclosing it the way I like.. I cant wait to see what you have in store for us..

 

Like I told you Phil - baby steps! Ultimately this is YOUR fault for selling me the 29 etc! You said it would be addicting and sure enough - it is!




Someday I will have a tank like your 180 !!!

(and you were right - Millie is awesome! tank and stand came from her place)

 

I've done it to my 55g and it works VERY well and leaves you with a lot of interior space. Not to mention the stands are very lightweight when you skin them with 1/8" wood, laminants, or prefinished paneling.

 

exactly!

Don't get me wrong - so many of you out there have INCREDIBLE stands - beautifully done in both traditional and contemporary styles - but I also know the cost - especially in the case of some of these newer setups that look a lot more like updated cabinetry.

Right now the whole "simple form - with a lot of function" serves me well given my current abode. Plus, I am finding that unless I want to spend some serious bucks, there are not nearly as many up to date stand choices for anything shorter than 48" in length. There are exceptions, but not truly affordable ones - at least for me right now.

Also, I have found that the people here are so encouraging and helpful and eager to share that it does wonders for my confidence in taking steps to improve and improvise when I need to! The more hands-on i can be with this, the better it will serve me over the long haul.

You often see the black steel stands along the curb here and there - if this works out - maybe it will give someone else some inspiration to grab a stand like that and turn it into something unique! A can of spraypaint can go a long ways to cleaning something up. Especially with all the cool colors and textures these days



Anywho, thanks everyone - yes there will be more to show you all very soon!

 

Exactly, I have 2 steel stands that I got for basically nothing and with a couple dollars in trim, hardware, and paneling I ended up with a really nice and functional stand.

 

Ok.....i got busy again this weekend on the stand portion of this project.
There will be a few posts as I organize the photos.

I tucked my now painted sump tank into the stand before i started working on the panel side and front panels. (gave me inspiration to wrap this part of the project up so I can start buying plumbing supplies soon!)

edit: I also added adhesive felt all along the bottom of the sump tank framing so the tank slides over the marine vinyl without digging into it.

A couple more trips to Home Depot for more aluminum bar stock - i used my handy little hacksaw to cut things to size and then super glued the flat stock to the stand framing. When that was done, I repeated the process using the aluminum channel stock i got.

The fish kept close eye on things the whole time.