Hello all.

[john86roe]

Well my name is John, I'm 26 years old. I've been working on saltwater tanks for over 8 years now. I've had and taken care of my own tanks since I was 9 years old (freshwater at the time) I've work as the head of the Freshwater dept at a pet store and just second under another guy of the saltwater. I started at the time working on setting up tanks and cleaning for customers and when the store closed I started doing it on my own. At the store I was the co-head of saltwater group. I also helped design a filter system that I did and still do make for people. My first one I made over 7 years ago is still working and keeping the tank at perfect levers. I have a 29 gal, freshwater live planted tank, and a 72 gal Bow front saltwater tank. I had it as a reef tank for years but hard times came and had to sale my coals (sad day in my life) but i have a "fish" tank now with Tangs, Clowns, Butterfly... ect..... I also built the canopy for it to house my lighting systems that I also wired up.

At the time these was taken I didn't have any real coals in the tank, or much of anything. boy does it look different now. lol

 

[Loki]

Welcome to the forum John!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R!

We appreciate your membership!

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[GratefulReef]

Welcome great group of people here!

 

[skinz78]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

If you already haven't done so please be sure to enter in our August 2012 Membership Drive contest!
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/me...ef2reef-membership-drive-win.html#post1026392

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Welcome to r2r!!!

 

[ritter6788]

Welcome John!

 

[AsphaltPays]

Welcome John to R2R!!


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[KSzegi]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[BarbH]

Welcome to r2r, nice looking tank. Interested in how you built your canopy for the bowfront, have a 72g bf myself that I have been trying to figure out how I want to go about building a top for. :welcome:

 

[revsgirl]

Hi John! Welcome to R2R!! You have a beautiful tank!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[john86roe]

Hey, I uploaded some more pictures to my profile so you can see the bottom of thew canopy. To get the curve of the tank made I took a large pice of cardboard and laid it on top of the tank with the front(of the cardboard) hanging over. I then took a pencil (or marker, pen...) and outlined the front of the tank to get the curve. That will give you a template of the curve. I then measured all the sides of the tank to get the exact dimensions. I used wood that was think enough to fit on the plastic trim of the tank, that way the glass tops can still open. I also had a piece of wood that goes over the center support. Now, it doesn't put any weight on the support, it was used to keep the front and back of the canopy in place. Also, since wood will expand when it get near moisture I added some overall length and with to the canopy. The wood is sealed before it was painted on the inside and i stained the outside then sealed it. I forgot what I used to seal the inside but I do remember that it took me a while and a lot of research to find one that would be safe to use. (I will also take more pictures of the canopy and upload them soon so you can see more of the details that is in it.) It is 3+ years old so it has some creep that need to be taken off and touch up..