Well over a year ago, I had asked Dustin (RedEdge2k1) to build me a stand (6' long) and canopy out of maple plywood and trim, to hold my 150 Gallon acrylic tank (5' long).
The original intent was that the 5' long 150 Gal tank would go on top, and a 4' long sump would go underneath.
This required that the front of the tank have a large 4' long opening in order to fit the sump inside, and so this stand was built:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59609">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59609</a>
Since then, plans have changed (and changed, and changed..) so that I'm now going to a basement sump, and no longer require the giant 4' opening in the stand.
Here is the stand as it currently.. stands..
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/VLykpOM.png>
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My plans for this coming week are to:
<ul>
<li>Make plywood filler panels ~4\" wide to create doorways in the 4\" wide open area.
They will be laminated like the other front panel sections to support the top.</li>
<li>Mount the door panels to the front, now that they have been removed from the original mounting board.</li>
</ul>
Also, to finish the stand, I picked up a special kind of wood dye, called an NGR Dye (non-grain raising) that I plan to spray the stand with.
The general finishing order will be:
<ol>
<li>Sand the wood.</li>
<li>Spray the stand with 10% lacquer clear coat, to act as a wash. This acts to pre-seal some of the pores in the maple wood so that the stain gets applied evenly and doesn\'t blotch.</li>
<li>Sand again.</li>
<li>Spray the stand with NGR dye cut 50% with lacquer thinner. Repeat until I like the color - \"Medium Brown\", they call it.</li>
<li>Spray 100% sealer.</li>
<li>Sand again.</li>
<li>Spray with lacquer clear coats, satin finish.</li>
</ol>
The original intent was that the 5' long 150 Gal tank would go on top, and a 4' long sump would go underneath.
This required that the front of the tank have a large 4' long opening in order to fit the sump inside, and so this stand was built:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59609">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59609</a>
Since then, plans have changed (and changed, and changed..) so that I'm now going to a basement sump, and no longer require the giant 4' opening in the stand.
Here is the stand as it currently.. stands..
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/VLykpOM.png>
My plans for this coming week are to:
<ul>
<li>Make plywood filler panels ~4\" wide to create doorways in the 4\" wide open area.
They will be laminated like the other front panel sections to support the top.</li>
<li>Mount the door panels to the front, now that they have been removed from the original mounting board.</li>
</ul>
Also, to finish the stand, I picked up a special kind of wood dye, called an NGR Dye (non-grain raising) that I plan to spray the stand with.
The general finishing order will be:
<ol>
<li>Sand the wood.</li>
<li>Spray the stand with 10% lacquer clear coat, to act as a wash. This acts to pre-seal some of the pores in the maple wood so that the stain gets applied evenly and doesn\'t blotch.</li>
<li>Sand again.</li>
<li>Spray the stand with NGR dye cut 50% with lacquer thinner. Repeat until I like the color - \"Medium Brown\", they call it.</li>
<li>Spray 100% sealer.</li>
<li>Sand again.</li>
<li>Spray with lacquer clear coats, satin finish.</li>
</ol>
