Drifter 851 Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Well it is officially after Christmas so not being one to rest on my laurels I started work on the big 240g tank build project. First thing was to tear down the wall that divides the office from the shop. 6 hours later....bye bye wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 Well got a bit more done over the past day or two. Now that the wall is down I was faced with the ugly perforated board ceiling that was left in the one section of the shop. So got all that ripped down and started staining the boards to continue the wood ceiling so it is all uniform from one end of the room to the other. Still have more of that to do but got a start on it now. Also started on painting the back wall to match the rest of the walls. Still a ton to do but go a decent start on it at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The3rdWalker 1,264 Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 How do you have room for all of these? I feel like each tank gets bigger and bigger! Are you also putting additions on the house? i7 7700k, 16GB RAM, GEFORCE 1080, 240GB SSHD, 2TB SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 I ran out of room, hence why I had to knock that wall down lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaGarratt 10,947 Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 I really believe you would live in a tank if you could Steve! Great stuff again, love seeing all your pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Another full day of work in the books. I must be getting old because these projects wear me out more than they use too that's for sure. Most of the walls painted and some things moved around just to see a basic idea of where I want everything. With my OCD I must have moved every bit of furniture 10 times tonight. It'll all have to be moved out again soon when I start working on the floor. Originally I had planned to do the dual 20g xtra high side tanks with waterfall(sandfalls) in them on each side of the main tank (you can see the one tank on the left of the main one in the pic below). Now I am thinking I may decide to do them built into the stand itself under the main tank to save a little room. Last thing I want is for the room to look cramped, I want it to be open and free flowing so gonna have to play around with the idea of where I plan to put those two tanks still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyberninja2601 1,105 Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Ever seen the movie the Money pit? I can't help but think of it with this aquarium project Remodel the entire home to put the aquarium in It looks great btw, but kind of ironic to have to do so much work to put a 240g aquarium in. Anyways looks like fun when you got the skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Don't really have to do all this just to use the tank, but it's just my nature of how I am I've always been a very OCD type person and when I get into something I like to try to have the best looking (insert blank) out there. So I never have been one to just be able to get a tank put it on a stand and stick fish in it like most people. My OCD takes over and I end up going all out then, it's gotten worse as I get older. It's a good and bad thing though. Good in the fact that I end up with something really nice looking, but bad in the fact that it ends up taking a lot of work and money. I do enjoy it. I find when I am working on an in depth project like this is when I feel at my happiest. Once it's done I'll enjoy it, but I will also be somewhat sad that I don't have a project to work on and will have to then find something else to focus on most likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 Little more progress on the 240g tank/remodel project. Put a Lowes gift card I got few weeks ago for B-day to use and got some more flooring with it today. Getting there slow but surely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaGarratt 10,947 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 You better be making a little slot for an inbuilt TV and ps4 so you can hangout with your gamer and fish homies. Real nice though Steve, awesome drive to get shit done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 That's in the section of the room not in the picture (just to the right & behind) that's where the 54" TV & PS4 are at. That was one of the reasons I tore the wall down actually, because I wanted to be able to enjoy the new huge tank while I was watching tv/gaming and such Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Still a lot to do such as more painting, finish the ceiling, finish the trout wall border between the two colors on the wall, trim work, new light for the troph tank, and not even to mention the actual work on the 240g tank like building the stand and 3d background and all that. With that said though, definite PROGRESS over the past few days of burning the midnight oil. The basement shop/office has been an ever evolving thing over the past 12 yrs, but I think I like this version and the openness of it now that I torn the wall down the best. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 Well got about 6 hours into the stand build for the 240g tonight. Still have a lot to do to it such as add center uprights and then doubling up 2x4's in between the upper & lowers sections etc etc. Building it so the vertical posts are supporting the weight and no weight on fasteners and such. About halfway there so far with it. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 Stand is all done. Could park a full size truck on it without issue lol.Just have to put the piece of sanded plywood on top now and still have to skin it with nice furniture grade 1/4" sheeting but that and the finish work will come later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCA-Paendrag 2,700 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Nice work there Steve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 Some before, during & after pics of buffing out the acrylic today using Novus 1/2/3 buffing compounds. Will probably buff it out again but looking pretty darn good even after just the first round of buffing. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaGarratt 10,947 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Coming along nicely Steve, what will put over the frame that supports it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason 1,245 Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Just catching up on this project. Looks like its coming along nicely! Is that glass tank on the bottom gonna be some kind of sump filter or something? Imagine it takes a larger gph filtration system for such a large tank. BEARDED, FOR HER PLEASURE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 Plan on skinning the whole stand framework with 1/4" oak cabinet grade sheeting and then staining it so that it has a nice furniture grade look to it when done. Jay I'm filtering this big guy with a pair of Fluval FX5's. The small 20g xtra tall tank below is actually going to be a visual "addition" to the main display tank. I'm going to do a 3d background and a sand waterfall in that tank where it looks like a waterfall coming off the top of a mountain . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason 1,245 Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 8 hours ago, Drifter said: Plan on skinning the whole stand framework with 1/4" oak cabinet grade sheeting and then staining it so that it has a nice furniture grade look to it when done. Jay I'm filtering this big guy with a pair of Fluval FX5's. The small 20g xtra tall tank below is actually going to be a visual "addition" to the main display tank. I'm going to do a 3d background and a sand waterfall in that tank where it looks like a waterfall coming off the top of a mountain . That sounds bad ass. BEARDED, FOR HER PLEASURE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted February 5, 2017 Author Share Posted February 5, 2017 Well came home today after dropping off some stuff at the local fish club auction and started right onto working on the background for the 240g build. I can say for sure that this background project will in fact be the death of me! lol. I'm doing it a bit different than any of the others I have done before. Making the rocks stick out anywhere from 1-2" all the way out to some full 6" thick rocks to really give it some nice 3d feel to the background. Adding some caves which I plan to back-light with blue cold cathode lights the way I did one of my tanks a few years ago. Also plan to do a full stalactite probably over to the left side. Having to carve the really thick 6" foam sections is much more time consuming than than any of the other background I have done before. I have a solid 10hrs of work into just what you see here today. And that's maybe what 15% done? uhg. I'm thinking I'll have around 100 hours into this one by the time it's all carved painted and sealed. Should be worth it though when done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Share Posted February 7, 2017 Another full day of work done on it today. Think I have around 30 or so hours of carving into the background so far. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 You might be an aquarium/fish nerd when the answer to the question of "what are you doing tonight" is...."Oh not much, just building a stalactite/stalagmite for my tank"..lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifter 851 Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Bit more progress for the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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