Meredith's 180 In-wall happy place

[cameronh]

Looks ok from this side. I was real proud of myself here... this all took me about 4 hours or so. Lots of measuring and cutting and drilling.

Then I go to put the top platform on this thing and it's all kinds of messed up! It doesn't line up at all and is kinda warped looking. I must have done something wrong with this one. Or Richard bought warped 2x4's. Maybe I'll just tell him that the wood was warped otherwise it would have turned out perfect! I know better, you know better, heck he might even know better, but we can all live in denile for a bit right?

Lololol. That's not bad, just stick a wedge in it! https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/277669/ yours looks exactly like my buddies that I help build.

 

[melypr1985]

Lololol. That's not bad, just stick a wedge in it! https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/277669/ yours looks exactly like my buddies that I help build.

Yall's turned much more square. My husband said he can make it work with a little muscle. I have a feeling I'll be sitting on the top while he screws it down

 

[Ljaus]

Yall's turned much more square. My husband said he can make it work with a little muscle. I have a feeling I'll be sitting on the top while he screws it down

Lol! I wouldn't of done any better. Timber and I don't get along

 

[melypr1985]

Lol! I wouldn't of done any better. Timber and I don't get along

I can usually do pretty well with building things.... as long as they don't have to be pretty anyway I couldn't build furniture or anything. This one just kinda got away from me. Luckily Richard is confident that it can be fixed. So I'm holding out hope for my project.

 

[cameronh]

Yall's turned much more square. My husband said he can make it work with a little muscle. I have a feeling I'll be sitting on the top while he screws it down

It'll work=)

 

[tcarter1936]

Wood is tricky,and no matter what is never completely straight it just needs a little encouragment.
Some of the hardwoods I work with are expensive and hard to find completely straight so I use alot of clamps and glue.
I'm sure he'll get that pine frame in shape. Don't sweat it.

 

[Brew12]

I can usually do pretty well with building things.... as long as they don't have to be pretty anyway I couldn't build furniture or anything. This one just kinda got away from me. Luckily Richard is confident that it can be fixed. So I'm holding out hope for my project.

You did fine, this type of thing isn't uncommon at all using 2x4's. You may need to loosen some of the lower screws but it should all pull together with no problems.

 

[melypr1985]

Thanks guys! Richard will be home tomorrow night so I'm going to get him to help me work the "kinks" out of it. I figure I did a pretty good job getting it basically together. I'll be sure to post up pictures of the finished product. As soon as we get this done, I can figure out where to put the RODI system in the fish room. I'll be happy to have it moved over and all the new filters and membrane in it! It's looking ruff after running all that water through it all at once, not to mention making additional top off water for the other two tanks and water change water. This thing was working over time for sure!

 

[melypr1985]

UPDATE: Richard got the stand for the mixing station to work with just a little adjusting. It's not perfect, but we think it will be fine. Once the containers are one it and start filling, we will monitor it closely to be sure it won't be a problem. I still need to put some plywood on top and paint the whole thing. But here it is...

We also got the light hanger hung. It's simple, like everything else in this build (totally the plan) but it works well and can be adjusted easily. I only have one light hung, of course, because the other two are on the 75 and will have to stay there until I'm ready to start transferring corals over. Until then.... here's this:

 

[d2mini]

Coming along nicely!

 

[143MPCo]

Looking good what size containers will you be using for your mixing station is the plan to use brute trashcans or something else?

 

[melypr1985]

Coming along nicely!

Thanks Dennis!

Looking good what size containers will you be using for your mixing station is the plan to use brute trashcans or something else?

Thanks! I'm going with a 35 gallon container for the top (RODI storage) like this...

and the 20 gallon freebie container for the salt mixing bin. I got it from behind the store. I have two of them but I wanted more RODI than saltwater available so I got the bigger container (I'll be purchasing that this afternoon) for the freshwater.

 

[143MPCo]

Thanks! I'm going with a 35 gallon container for the top (RODI storage) like this...

and the 20 gallon freebie container for the salt mixing bin. I got it from behind the store. I have two of them but I wanted more RODI than saltwater available so I got the bigger container (I'll be purchasing that this afternoon) for the freshwater.

Ahhh ok, I have the same ones... They has worked out very nicely for me.

 

[melypr1985]

Ahhh ok, I have the same ones...

Oh cool! Do you like them? These were really the only thing I could find and afford (besides Brute cans) near me. The ones I really wanted were affordable until I found it would cost $400 just to ship them to me!

 

[143MPCo]

For the most part I like them quite nicely, they fit the space requirements that I had and I was able to plumb them quite easily and still gain access to the lower one in order to add salt.

 

[melypr1985]

For the most part I like them quite nicely, they fit the space requirements that I had and I was able to plumb them quite easily and still gain access to the lower one in order to add salt.

Good deal. I might still get a second one for the salt mixing, but for now, the freebie one will work and let's me get started sooner.

 

[143MPCo]

This is weird how it worked out...@30 gallons of RODI water it only takes 5 and 1/2 FULL cups to bring me up to 1.026 with my R2R cup... lol

 

[domination2580]

Just curious. What are the plans for cleaning the sand bed?

 

[melypr1985]

This is weird how it worked out...@30 gallons of RODI water it only takes 5 FULL cups to bring me up to 1.026 with my R2R cup... lol

I obviously need to get a hold of one of these cups! Hmm.. I think I know a few people

 

[melypr1985]

Just curious. What are the plans for cleaning the sand bed?

Well..... I tend to let my critters clean the sand bed for me. Conchs, Nassarius Snails, Hermits ect. I rarely vacuum the sandbed. In my 75, I've been having to vacuum the sand bed because of some cyano issues, but I've been pretty distracted with the new build, the flu (hubby and kid) and Christmas to pay much attention to that tank. It looks pretty bad, but I'm hoping they can hold on just a little bit longer to go to the new tank. For the most part though, I usually don't mess with the sand bed. This new one will be deep enough in most parts to be considered a deep sand bed (DSB) so I won't mess with it unless needed.