Azfishgal New Tank Diary!

joncat24

Active Member
Is your husband a carpenter by trade??? if not, he looks like he always has something to fall back on......excellent work
 

bocfuss

Member
I agree tell your hubby he is doing great, and then, crack the whip to make him hurry up, it already looks really good.
 

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by joncat24
Is your husband a carpenter by trade??? if not, he looks like he always has something to fall back on......excellent work

He's actually a very handy guy. His dad is a general contractor and he worked with him a lot growing up. So he's always had his hands on tools. As a matter of fact, when he gave me my engagment ring it was in a jewlery box that he made himself. It is 18" tall and has two doors with a turn rack for necklaces and the other side has 5 drawers with red velvet inside. Of course my ring was in the ring drawer. For his "real" job he works at Intel.
I'll be posting more pics in just a little while, because HE'S DONE!!!!!! (Except for the doors, being made by my father-in-law.)
 

reeferdave

Member
tell the hubby good job with the woodwork. and i get excited when i start a new tank and put some live rock in it. first marine tank i started was a 30gal tall. and i got some fiji and i thought it was the coolist thing ever.
 

azfishgal

Active Member
The construction is done!!! Now all we have to do is stain it and drill the holes (tomorrow) and then move it into the house on Sunday.

(Doors will be coming later.)

 

extremepcs

Member
VERY NICE! Did he paint the inside, or use some type of laminate, like melamine or formica? Either would be great for water. Wish I would have done that on mine. I used 3 coats spar urethane (designed for wooden boats) but I'm still afraid that over time it's going to warp or rot. I really like the bottom molding cut outs too. I was too lazy to do that.
 

extremepcs

Member
Originally Posted by azfishgal
It's a 12 gallon Nano tank (but come to find out it only holds 10 gallons), BUT will be getting a larger one in the future, probably a 20 gallon long. My new fish will be on the small side, so they should be ok in what I have. If I need a QT when they are full grown I won't be able to use this.
I was going to go with a 12g aquapod for a QT too, but I ended up getting a 30g long and a iron stand dirt cheap at my lfs. The tank, stand, T5 light, and glass tops only cost me $150 out the door. It was cheaper than the 12g aquapod they had for sale. I already have some new critters in it
That's not a piece of live rock in mine... It's a new Green Star Polyp coral.
 

bgrae001

Member
its looking good. Is he going to make a matching canopy?
What kind of wood did he use for the trim work?
 

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by extremepcs
VERY NICE! Did he paint the inside, or use some type of laminate, like melamine or formica? Either would be great for water. Wish I would have done that on mine. I used 3 coats spar urethane (designed for wooden boats) but I'm still afraid that over time it's going to warp or rot. I really like the bottom molding cut outs too. I was too lazy to do that.

He used melamine for the inside of the stand. I wish I would have gone with a larger QT, but what's done is done. I tried looking around for something cheap, but just couldn't find anything. I bought my Nano tank for $89, so I thought it was a pretty good deal.
 

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by bgrae001
its looking good. Is he going to make a matching canopy?
What kind of wood did he use for the trim work?
Yes, he will be making a canopy and he's using Cherry. I'm testing out stains right now.
 

azfishgal

Active Member
Stain has been put on. Will be putting on another coat on some of the boards, as the venier (sp) on the sides took the stain a lot better.

Tomorrow we'll put the clear coat on and then hopefully on Monday we can move it inside!
Then all of my work begins.
 

azfishgal

Active Member
Well, he did get it on the floor, but wipped it off. The stain is minwax red mahogany. I really like how it turned out. I think I'm going to finish it with a semi-gloss.
 

bgrae001

Member
I love cherry wood. The only problem I have run into with cherry is that if all the boards didn't come from the same tree they tend to darken at different rates. So in about 5 years you could end up with miss matched colors. I think it's going to look great.
 

azfishgal

Active Member
Originally Posted by bgrae001
I love cherry wood. The only problem I have run into with cherry is that if all the boards didn't come from the same tree they tend to darken at different rates. So in about 5 years you could end up with miss matched colors. I think it's going to look great.
Ya, it will be interesting to see what it looks like five years down the road. I think the non-uniform look will give it character. I've never been one for a perfect match, so it's all good.
 
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