Now that the stand is built and the tank is in place I figured it is about time to start the thread. I first have to say please don't mind my organized chaos haha.
I have had this 120g planted tank in place for 3 years and had many smaller tanks behind it.
This area is an odd cutout in my living room that used to be a laundry room before the previous owners added an addition to the garage. It has outlets four feet off the ground and a drywalled box that has h/c water and a drain. Perfect for a small fish room. I plan on installing a small wet bar with a sink along the back wall to use as storage and fragging. After getting the 120 broken down. I was left with a little 5 gallon as my only freshwater tank not counting the 375 g aquaponics tank in the backyard.
Some of you may recognize this tank from visiting @Steve Burton. Huge thanks to him for giving this tank away for free, its members like him that make this club a community.
After getting the tank cleaned it was time to start building a new stand. I have built quite a few tank stands but this was my first bowfront. It wasn't hard at all. I used the top of the old canopy as the base for the sump. This picture was before the extra braces went in.
I then ripped a 1x12 to make the upper wall studs and bowed horizontal supports. I originally had planned to make the side wall studs out of 2x4s but realized the magnets from the jebao gyres would get in the way. So I ripped them in half with the table saw and did half stud supports.
Now that everything was roughly mocked up I went to lowes and bought fake reclaimed wood sheets. They are thin and JUST flexible enough to make the bow on the tank. Once the sheets were cut I busted out the finish nailer and tacked everything down. My 6 day old baby girl was on the otherside of the house and still was not a fan!
I am now in the process of painting the back of the wall and stand. I really don't Iike painting...
I am debating on putting baseboard on the bottom and maybe trim on the sides. I still need to find a suitable way of hiding the gaps on the left and right sides of the tank.
Soon we will have the tank plumbed and ready for water!
I have had this 120g planted tank in place for 3 years and had many smaller tanks behind it.
This area is an odd cutout in my living room that used to be a laundry room before the previous owners added an addition to the garage. It has outlets four feet off the ground and a drywalled box that has h/c water and a drain. Perfect for a small fish room. I plan on installing a small wet bar with a sink along the back wall to use as storage and fragging. After getting the 120 broken down. I was left with a little 5 gallon as my only freshwater tank not counting the 375 g aquaponics tank in the backyard.
Some of you may recognize this tank from visiting @Steve Burton. Huge thanks to him for giving this tank away for free, its members like him that make this club a community.
After getting the tank cleaned it was time to start building a new stand. I have built quite a few tank stands but this was my first bowfront. It wasn't hard at all. I used the top of the old canopy as the base for the sump. This picture was before the extra braces went in.
I then ripped a 1x12 to make the upper wall studs and bowed horizontal supports. I originally had planned to make the side wall studs out of 2x4s but realized the magnets from the jebao gyres would get in the way. So I ripped them in half with the table saw and did half stud supports.
Now that everything was roughly mocked up I went to lowes and bought fake reclaimed wood sheets. They are thin and JUST flexible enough to make the bow on the tank. Once the sheets were cut I busted out the finish nailer and tacked everything down. My 6 day old baby girl was on the otherside of the house and still was not a fan!
I am now in the process of painting the back of the wall and stand. I really don't Iike painting...
I am debating on putting baseboard on the bottom and maybe trim on the sides. I still need to find a suitable way of hiding the gaps on the left and right sides of the tank.
Soon we will have the tank plumbed and ready for water!
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