jlanger's 120gal Arts and Crafts Inspired Reef Build (1 Viewer)

[jlanger]

Construction Phase 2 - Making Panels

The first thing I had to do was glue-up the panels for the sides and doors.
Waiting for glue to dry gives you time for the other steps.

From my designs, I had figured out the sizes of panels I was going to need.
The glue-ups are made oversized, so they can be cut to down to size later.
I cut the lengths and widths I needed, and glued the edges and clamped them down tight.
The photo shows two sets of glue-ups; two boards each. No glue in the center seam.

Staying with the panels.
Once the glue was dry, I needed to run the panels through the sander with 80grit sandpaper. The sander's a big one.
This helps flatten the panels down to one smooth panel as trying to glue 48" of wood perfectly flat isn't very time effective. Or possible.

Once the panels were flat, I needed them to be only 3/8" thick.
I ran the panels through the planer to just about 3/8".

Now I was able to cut the panels to size.
Once all the panels were cut, I ran them through the big sander again at 120grit and 150grit.
To remove any remaining imperfections, I used a hand sander with 180grit discs to achieve a nice smooth finish.

The next step was to prime and paint the panels.

**** Side Note ****
I really wanted the panels to stand out from the over-all appearance of the stand.
I did several mock-ups of doors with varying styles and colors before I settled on the final design.

I wanted the paint to match the hardware of the craftsman style. Oil-rubbed Bronze.
Lucky for me, they make a metallic spray paint in Oil-rubbed Bronze.

After a few coats of paint, they were ready for the doors and sides.

 

[jlanger]

Construction Phase 3 - Cutting Wood

In the design stage, I had made a cut list of all the pieces I needed for to build the stand.
I used the table saw to rip the boards into blanks about 1/8" over the width of the pieces I needed.
This is so I can run the blanks on edge through the planer to remove all the saw marks. And I am able to get very straight, square and precise widths of pieces.
You can see saw marks in the photo. These are eliminated and the wood has a nice smooth edge.

Since I need to get the side panels built first, I ran the corresponding pieces of wood through a dado blade to create the groove for the panels to fit in.
I stacked the dado blades to give me a 1/4" groove and ran the wood through.
The pencil marking you see on the wood tells me this is the outside of the board. It helps remind me which side is up.

From there, I cut the wood to the lengths I needed on an undercut chop saw. (Fancy chop saw.)
I now had my stiles and rails.
To make these parts fit together, I need to put tenons on the rails that will fit into the groove I just made with the dado saw.
I set the blade at the correct height and length and cut the tenons.

Here's a closer look.
Left: Stiles
Middle: Rails
Right: Center Stiles

With all my parts for the panels ready, I'm ready to begin assembly.

 

[jlanger]

Construction Phase 4 - Panel and Door Assembly

Welcome back...

The next step was to assemble the side panels and the doors.
I ended up bringing all the parts back to my place, so I could be at home yet I was able to keep working.

Each panel/door was made up of seven pieces of solid wood.
There are two stiles, two rails, a mid-stile and the two painted panels.
Here's just a quick look at the parts for the two doors.
Side panels are visible in the background.

To assemble the side panels, I glued the tenons and added some glue in the groove where the tenons will fit.
I used an all-weather wood glue that is made for outdoor applications.
You do not want the glue to be where the painted panels go. You will want them to be "floating" so when the wood expands and contracts during the year, your panels/doors will not crack.
You can see in the photo below, how the pieces are being put together.
Along with a side panel clamped while the glue dries.

I let the panels sit over overnight before I went back into the shop the next day.
The next step was to run the panels/doors through the wide-belt sander to make all of the joints nice and flush.
Starting with 80grit and working my way to the 150 grit sandpaper.

I then hand sanded them with the random orbit hand sander with 120grit sandpaper to remove the cross-grain scratches left by the wide-belt sander.
And finished the sanding with 180grit.

The panels are now ready to be assembled into the stand. And the doors are ready to be stained.

 

[jlanger]

Construction Phase 5 - Cabinet Assembly

With the sides of the cabinet done, I was ready for the front and back face frames.

I cannot find any photos of those being made, but I can at least walk you through the process. But you can make them out in the completed stand photos.

The front face frame is only four pieces of solid oak.
The two stiles with a top and bottom rail.
I ran the stiles and bottom rail through the dado saw to create the dado that the sides and deck will fit into. You'll see this during the assembly.
The face frame is assembled using glue and pocket screws.
Since I have used this process just about daily for the past twelve years, the shop has a Castle Pocket Hole Machine. The machine consists of a router bit and a drill bit. The router bit creates the pocket for the screw to fit in while it leaves 3/4" of wood for the screw head to hold against. The drill bit then drills the hole to guide the screw towards the other piece of wood.
Once assembled and dried, it was passed through the sander.

The back face frame is similar to the front, but it contains an extra mid-rail and a panel to create a half open back.
The back was put together using both the pocket screw method and the panel technique used on the side panels.
Once assembled, it was sanded along with the front face frame.

The photo of the back face frame actually shows the inside of the stand.
I wanted there to be no screws or plugs visible from looking in the stand.

For the deck of the cabinet, I used a 1/2" sheet of quarter-sawn plywood. For some reason, the wood suppliers do not carry 1/2" rift-sawn sheets of material. I could have had it special ordered, but I wasn't that particular about the difference.

I now had all the main pieces for assembling the stand.

Laying the front face frame down on the bench (covered with cardboard to protect against any scratching), I ran a bead of glue down the dado.
I placed each side panel into the dados and nailed the panels into place with 3/4" brads.
This next step was just for added strength.
Through the front if the face frame, I drilled and countersunk pilot holes so I could use wood screws to really pull the sides into the face frame. This joint wasn't going anywhere.

You can also see in the photo I drilled other pilot holes in the face frame and side panels. These holes are for the screws that would eventually hold the posts onto the cabinet.

Next I ran a bead of glue into the dados for the deck to fit into.
The deck was slid into place and tacked in with brad nails.

To finish the "box", I ran beads of glue into the dados on the back face frame and set it into place.
I attached the back the same way as the front with the wood screws going into the side panels.
From this view, you can make out some of the pocket holes and the pilot holes for the posts.

Here's what the cabinet looked like after assembly.
You can see the screw heads that hold the side panels and the pilot holes for the posts.

You will notice that I only painted the outside of the flat panels for the sides.
I wanted the inside of the stand to just be the red color of the stained wood.
The opening in the back allows for the plumbing and electrical to pass through.

I wanted to add more support to the structure of the stand.
I added some cross-bracing that ran from the front to the back. One on each end and one in the middle.
They were glued and pocket screwed similar to the face frame assembly. These braces also give me a place to screw the stand's top down onto the stand.

For added support to the deck of the stand, I added a couple of supports to help carry the weight of the sump.

All that was left to complete the cabinet, was to add the posts.

The posts were designed to look big and solid. Not the case.
The posts are built using boards that are mitered at 45 degrees so the grain of the rift-sawn oak is consistent. These were cut out of the nicest boards that came in the order.

Each back post only consists of two pieces.
And the front posts each consist of four pieces.
Each post was glued and nailed together before being added to the cabinet.
In the above photos, you can see how the face frames extend beyond the side panels. This is so that these extensions are butt-jointed into the posts and create another glued joint for added stability and strength.
Each was glued and then screwed onto the cabinet.

So now, many of the screws that were visible on the outside of the stand are now covered by the posts. The rest will be covered by the decorative trim.
To finish the bottoms of the posts, I planed a 5" wide board down to 1/2" to trim around the bottom of the posts.
The last thing to do was to create the look of false-inset doors.
I love the look of inset doors, but the hardware to do so takes up much more room inside the stand. And it's also a lot harder to keep the doors centered in the opening and keep the door flush with the face frame.
To achieve this look, I added a false top and bottom rail that will flush out with the installed doors.

All that was left was quite a bit of hand sanding to prep it for staining.

 

[jlanger]

Construction Phase 6 - Some of the Details

Before I take this project into the finishing room, I thought I would show how I made the cove molding that will be going on the stand and canopy.

Since I designed this stand to have many elements of the craftsman style, I knew I wanted to have corbels in the details. Corbels are just a fancy word for shelf supports, but these are definitely more decorative than functional.
I knew going in that I wasn't going to find anything close to what I wanted in a home center molding rack.
So I would have to make them. On the table saw!
Router bits at this size really go up in cost. Plus it was another project inside of a project.

The size of the corbel is 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" with a 3/4" radius.
I sat down and used our shop's AlphaCAD software and drew up the corbel to determine just how I was going to make these using a table saw.
I also had to factor in the grain of the wood so that after I milled the cove, I would still have the look of the rift-sawn grain coming through.

It turned out I had to glue-up quarter-sawn stock that was 1-1/2" thick by about 2" wide.

I had to build a jig that had the correct angle and blade height to give me a 3/4" cove.

This first pass through the saw blade gives us the actual cove.
It looks small at this point, but it will get there.

The next step was to knock off the corners that meet the cove.
This involved setting the saw blade at 45 degrees and running the stock through until the blade met the cove.

The next cut gives us the back side of the molding.
Still set at 45 degrees, run the stock through until the blade leaves 1/2" of stock at the bottom.

And the for the final cut, set the saw back to 90 degrees and set the fence at 1-1/4" and square off the molding.
As a reminder, I use push sticks and take other safety precautions when cutting these smaller pieces.

When I began this process i figured out just how many lineal feet of the molding I was going to need for the stand and canopy and I doubled that number. I knew I was going to have more projects that I would want these pieces for.

To finish the molding, I needed to sand all the surfaces smooth.
For the cove, I just took the adhesive backed sandpaper and wrapped it around a 1-1/2" dowel and hand sanded the saw marks out. A very long and tedious process.
I also used a oscillating drum sander to help sand out the shorter pieces when I got to cutting them down.

You can see in the finished photos all of the places that I used this molding.
It definitely was worth all that work to achieve such a distinctive look.

 

[jlanger]

Finishing Phase

It's time to bring some warmth to this cabinet.
The stain color that I use is a custom mix that I came up with way back in 2001.
We had just moved into our new place and we purchased a lot of mission style furniture. The warm colors of the woodwork really set the relaxed mood of the rooms, so at this time I knew that I wanted all of the projects I was going to build had to match this color.
That process took about an hour. In the end, I had a custom mix of Minwax stains that was spot on. It took 2 parts Golden Oak, 5 parts Red Oak and 2 parts Special Walnut.
Over the years I've tried other stains and have even gone into Sherwin Williams to have them make a match. Nothing has worked out. The hardest part of trying to get the match was getting the grain to hold onto the very dark Walnut color. I could get the reds and oranges, but just not the dark brown in the grain.
I think I have gone through about 5 gallons of this custom mix over the last 12 years, and it still holds up today.

Back to work.
We use an air sprayer to apply the stain.
The first step is to spray the inside of the cabinet and then wipe the stain into the pores and clean off any extra. Most people think that you just apply the stain and try to wipe it off. You need to rub the stain into the wood. The pigments in the stain are forced into the pores of the wood. This is what gives you the nice rich color of the stain while allowing the grain of the wood to show.
From there I sprayed the back and sides.
I sprayed the entire surface of each side; including the painted panels on the sides. Since the paint already sealed the wood, the stain just wipes off but I was sure that the stain was able to get into the joints and not leave any unfinished spots.
I saved the front face frame for last.
This was just because of doing this for so long with kitchen cabinets, it's the way it was done.

After the stain has had time to dry.
The cabinet is ready to be sealed. We use a pre-catalyzed lacquer for finishing our cabinets at work. Using a HVLP spray gun, I spray the finish on using the same steps as I did for staining (the inside, the back, the sides and the front). The HVLP spray gun really makes this process go very fast. You only need to apply a thin coat, as this will be pulled into the pores and seal the wood.
This first coat takes about 30 minutes or so to dry.
Once dry, I took a 200grit piece of sandpaper and "scuffed" the entire cabinet. What this does is it knocks off all the tiny bumps left by the lacquer as it sealed the cabinet. You're not really sanding the finish off, just smoothing it out. I took an air hose and blew off the fine dust from scuffing the cabinet. I think I even took a dry rag and wiped it down for good measure.
I repeated this last step by spraying on another coat of lacquer. This will take a little longer to dry, but now the wood is getting a layer of finish on top of the wood. When this layer was dry, I scuffed the finish again. Cleaned off the dust and applied another coat.
When all was said and done, there was one seal coat and two finish coats.

For staining the doors, the process is the same.
Starting with the back side of the doors, apply stain, rub and wipe.
Flip the doors over and repeat on the front.
Finishing with the lacquer was the same as with the cabinet. One seal coat and two finish coats.

My next step was to start adding all the details to the panels.
Next time. (Modern Family is about to start.)

 

[jlanger]

The Details and Finishing It Up

With the cabinet and doors stained and finished, it was time to work on adding all the little things that make the cabinet show the craftsman style.

There is something I'll call the false top that was added to the cabinet.
I took a sheet of 1/2" quarter-sawn red oak and cut the shape to match the stand with a 1-1/2" overhang completely around the entire cabinet. I then applied a 1/4" trim piece completely around the false top to finish the edges. This gave me a 1-3/4" overhang that my cove molding would butt up against.
This was sanded, stained and finished just like the cabinet and was attached to the cabinet with screws. The quarter-sawn side is facing down to be visible (if laying on the floor).

The cove molding I made earlier was then cut to the sizes I needed and stained and finished.
The corbels all line up with the stiles that are on the doors and side panels. This molding was also used to wrap the posts.
To create another level of detail, I made some thin strips of oak trim at 1/4" thick by 1" wide. This was sanded and spray painted with the oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. This trim would run tight under the false top in between the corbels and cove molding.
All of these pieces were glued and nailed on with brads or micro-pins.

The final details went onto the painted panels.
I made oak trim strips that were 1/4" thick by 3/4" wide. These were cut to fit inside the flat panels. Since the trim was 1/4" thick and the reveal of the frames were 3/8" thick, this creates another level of detail and craftsmanship. The strips were applied with a small bead of glue and tacked on with micro-pins.

This last detail was also applied to the doors.

Once all the details were attached to the cabinet and doors, I sprayed one final coat of lacquer on the pieces to seal any holes and gaps.
So everything now has four coats of lacquer to create a nice durable and smooth finish.

It was time to attach the doors to the cabinet.
We have a hinge boring machine in the shop that drills out the three holes that are needed to install the concealed hinges. After the holes are drilled, the machine also presses the hinges into the door. This machine makes hinging doors extremely quick and easy. It only takes about ten to fifteen seconds to put two hinges on a door.
I was ready to install the doors.
Remember that I added the false top and bottom rails to the cabinet face frame so it would look like the doors were inset.
Once the doors were installed, the stand really came together. The side panels matched the doors and it really looked clean and sharp.

The last steps to complete the stand was to purchase the hardware and order the laminate top.
I chose to go with a laminate top because I know how much water is dripped and spilled in any given day with a reef tank. (I just can't keep from getting my hands wet!) I chose a HD laminate that mimicked granite and accented the oil-rubbed bronze in the panels and the reds in the stain.
Yeah, I know. I could've made the laminate top. I built trade show exhibits for three years prior to working in this shop, so I have quite a bit of experience working with laminates. And for the cost of purchasing and shipping the laminate, it wasn't much more for them to just make it for me.
I had the countertop supplier build the top 1" thick and laminate all six sides.
I had them laminate the bottom first, then the ends, then the front and back and finally the top. This way I kept any water from finding its way into any seams of the laminate.
The laminate top was attached from inside the cabinet with wood screws.

The hardware I chose was in an oil-rubbed bronze finish.
And I chose these 5-1/2" pulls that are normally used horizontally on drawers, but I turned them and have them as my door handles.
These pulls add a nice simple and straight (but heavy) accent to the doors.

The stand was now complete!
But I wasn't done. What was I going to do for a canopy?

 

[jlanger]

More pics...

I thought I would post two more pics of the complete build.
Just to keep your interest.

Here's a pic focusing on the stand.

And here's a teaser focusing on the canopy.

Enjoy.

 

[jlanger]

Canopy Construction Phase

The design of the canopy was quite simple compared to the stand. It just mimicked the same design and dimensions.
The panels on the front and back (yep, the back looks exactly like the front) are copies of the doors, and the sides are copies of the side panels.

Now you might wonder why I decided not to build my canopy to cover the entire length of the tank.
At the time of the design, I was running a cheaper LED fixture over the current 45gal display. I was planning on buying a second fixture to cover the 120gal and the two fixtures would easily fit in a shorter canopy. With this being the plan, I went ahead and built the canopy.

I had mentioned earlier in the thread that I was an idiot and forgot the camera during the day I built and finished the canopy.
But here's what I have...


I started out the build process pretty much the same way as the stand.
I planed, cut , sanded and painted the panels.
I milled, dadoed, and cut the stiles and rails.

The four frames were all glued and assembled to create the canopy box.

The next step was to make a 1/2" thick frame that was attached to the top off the canopy box. This frame extended beyond the canopy box by 1-3/4" on all sides.
I planed the oak down to 1/2" thick, cut the four pieces with 45 degree miters for the corners and nailed the frame together. Then this frame was glued and screwed to the canopy box.

The top of the canopy was another panel.
This panel was made with a 3/4" by 4-1/2" solid oak frame with a 1/2" painted panel. This panel extended beyond the frame below it by 1/2" on all sides. This top panel was then glued and screwed to the rest of the canopy.

The bottom of the canopy was another 3/4" frame. This one was 3/4" thick and extended beyond the canopy box by 1/2" in all sides.

The final steps to making the canopy was to repeat the corbels and oil-rubbed bronze trim details that I described in the stand build. And I added the 1/4" trim details to the painted panels.

Even though this shows a finished canopy, it shows the multiple layers of the canopy that I just described above.

With the main canopy built, it was time to figure out how I was going to mount this over the aquarium.

 

[jlanger]

How to Mount the Canopy Phase

I have always wanted to build a light fixture that really emulated the craftsman style. A fixture built of wood and art glass that was hung from a wooden mounting plate on the ceiling. I also wanted there to be absolutely NO POWER CORDS visible from the canopy to the power supply. This meant I had to have power from above.

Early on I figured out that if I wanted my lights to be hung just above the aquarium, I needed a way to make sure I could move the lights out of the way when I needed to get access inside the tank.
I looked at many of the lift systems and knowing how much my canopy weighed, this was not going to be easy to come up with a nice clean design.
One day it just hit me that I didn't have to move the canopy up. I could move it back!
So I looked around for options to make a sliding canopy.
What I came up with was using a heavy duty sliding door system for bypass doors.

Having figured out what I wanted to do, I designed a mounting plate that would hide the sliding track system and keep a clean look to match my stand and canopy.
The mounting plate would be attached to the ceiling.
The sliding tracks would be enclosed in a wooden box to hide the hardware and make it look as inconspicuous possible.
The sliding brackets would then attach to the canopy. Keeping it suspended above the aquarium while making it movable when needed be.

The mounting plate was built so that i could attach it to mounting blocks on the ceiling.
The plate itself was another solid oak frame with a painted panel.
The sliding track was hidden inside a wooden box that continued using design elements from the stand and canopy.
The sliding brackets were made from two matching oak blocks connected by threaded rods hidden inside 3/4" square aluminum tubing that was painted with the oil-rubbed bronze paint.

Here's what the mounting plate looks like assembled.

Here's a close-up of the sliding track system. (Photos flipped for proper orientation.)

With the canopy and mounting system stained and finished, it was time for installation.

Knowing how heavy all of this was, I wanted to reinforce the ceiling.
Luckily, the location of the aquarium was underneath a soffit that had plumbing and heat ducts above it. I was able to gain access inside the soffit from our mechanical room so I could add support bracing and extra joists to support the canopy. It was only a 30 foot crawl inside the soffit to get my work done.
I also ran electrical wire over to this location, since I did not want any cords running down from the canopy.
I installed the bracing. I installed the recessed outlet for power.

I was now ready to start mounting my lighting fixture.

 

[jlanger]

Mounting the Canopy Phase

Let's get this up on the ceiling!

I used heavy duty lag screws to attach four mounting blocks to the ceiling . These blocks were attached with a jig that made it so that the blocks are aligned to guide the mounting plate into its correct position. There are a total of eight threaded inserts in the blocks for attaching the mounting plate.

I then lifted the mounting plate into position and attached it using eight panel connector bolts. These have a very low profile and have a bronze finish to match the existing hardware. I forgot to mention that I had drilled a hole for the power cord to pass through to the recessed outlet that was hidden above.

I then drilled a hole in the top of the canopy ( and trimmed it out) for the power cord. Two electrical face plates were also drilled and painted to cover the two holes that the cord passes through. These two plates will be held in place with velcro; as it is too tight a space for any screws to be removed when the cord needs to be plugged/unplugged.

The power cord is attached inside the canopy so that any light fixture can just be plugged into it for power.

Now trying to get this canopy up to be mounted is not easy. It's heavy for just one guy.
I made some supports to hold the canopy just under the sliding brackets and was able to get the canopy into place.

I just needed to attach it with six more of the panel connector bolts.

Since we're looking at a close-up of the sliding bracket...
The sliding trucks are epoxied to the threaded rods that are passing throught the square tubing.
The three bolt heads on the top wooden block are just decorative; to match the ones below.
The three lower bolts are screwed into the panel bolt heads that are inside the canopy.
There is just enough of a gap between the wooden blocks to get an allen wrench in to screw the bolts in.

Once all the bolts are tightened, the canopy rises about an eighth of an inch so I can slide the supports out from underneath.
The canopy is mounted!

Here's where the canopy will normally be sitting; all the way forward.

And now it's slid back. I gain a good seven inches of space.

Not only does this lighting fixture complement the stand, it's functionality is great.
I absolutely love not seeing any cords dropping down behind the aquarium.
I love how easy it is to slide the canopy back and forth during maintenance.

My only problem was.. What light fixture will I use?

 

[jlanger]

Thank You!!

At this time I would like to thank everyone that has read through this thread.
I really wanted to do this so I would have a record of what I did when I built this stand and canopy.

I will take any questions you may have. As I know I probably skipped over some steps or details rather quickly.
I will also accept any criticism or suggestions.
There are as many ways to build a stand as there are builders.
I just so happen to have been doing this for awhile. I know what I like, I know what I want and I know what works for me.

I will continue to discuss my tank build.
I'll show you what I did for my overflow, plumbing, custom sump and other little projects.

Thanks again.
Just one more photo. What really matters.
There are fish in there. They're camera shy.

(This photo was taken at the beginning of February 2013. Much has been added since then.)

 

[jlanger]

Plumbing Phase

Now that you've seen how I built my stand and canopy, here's some insight to how I did my plumbing.

When I purchased the 120gal tank, I did so without it being reef-ready.
I didn't want to have to deal with working with someone else's overflow. I wanted the overflow to take up as little real estate in the tank as possible. And I wanted the returns to be through the back of the tank. I wanted it to maintain that nice clean look.
I debated with doing a coast-to-coast BeanAnimal overflow, but I didn't know how it would work with the returns coming in from the back also. As I researched other options, I found that Gl@$$h0les had an overflow box with returns built in. When I contacted them about it, I found out that it had been discontinued. But I had found they made a very nice looking overflow box that took up very little space in the tank.

I purchased the 1500gal Overflow Kit along with two 3/4" Loc-line Return Kits.
Having never drilled a hole in a tank before, I was nervous about wrecking a $450 tank. Was I ever wrong! Drilling the four holes was extremely simple and easy. My advice is to take your time and let the drill bit do its job.
I placed the overflow box in the center of the tank. This does make it a little inconvenient when it came to installing the box, but it's where I wanted it. One return went on either side of the overflow box; still located towards the center of the tank. This all goes back to my OCD about having a clean and refined appearance. I didn't want to see the plumbing pipes behind the aquarium, unless I was looking back there.

For plumbing the drains and returns, I bought black pvc pipe (OCD).
With the black pipe, it is hardly noticeable in the shadow created by the lights and the tank. And I should mention I painted the back of the tank black.
The two drains are 1-1/2" diameter pipe that empty into the skimmer chamber of the sump. During the initial set-up phase, I was having trouble with noise and bubbles from the drains. Having done some research and some trial-and-error set-ups, I found that having reverse dursos on the outlet of the drains helped.

I should tell you about my sump design before I get any further.

I wanted my sump to feature a frag grow out section.
My corals are ever growing and I'm continually fragging them. And I'm not really a fan of having frag racks in the display tank. And I was hoping to not have a second set-up just for frags.
I designed my sump as a raceway.
Water enters on the left end, travels across the front half, falls over to the back half and then gets returned from the center in back.

I purchased a 40gal breeder tank during PetCo's dollar-per-gallon sales.
For my glass baffles, I cut the pieces myself form 1/4" thick glass.
You will notice that two of the glass baffles are notched. I took my glass to a local stained-glass cutter and he cut the two notches for $20. I then sanded the edges with a hand sander to polish the cut edges.
To glue the baffles in place, I used Momentive RTV 100 Series clear silicone.
I used masking tape to keep the silicone beads nice and clean.
After a day to cure, I ran a leak test and everything was sealed tight.

It's really hard to tell from these pictures, but here it is.

The first chamber (on the left) is the drain/skimmer chamber. The water level is at 9" deep for the skimmer and it overflows only in the front half of the sump. Since the above photo was taken, I added another baffle to force the water flow down in the frag chamber.
Water flows across the frag chamber to the right side of the sump and the goes over the baffle to the rear right corner. This is my media chamber. Or it could work for using chaeto algae as the flow through this chamber does tumble very well.
From there it goes under and over a bubble trap to the return chamber located in the middle of the tank.

I have yet to set-up the frag chamber for my frags. But I hope to use it soon.

To return water back up to the tank, I am using a Reef Octopus Water Blaster HY-5000 pump. A very quiet and energy efficient pump.
I used a Cepex ball valve on the main return and unions and gate valves on my two return lines.
The returns go through the back glass and have Loc-line pipe and flares for directing the water flow.
There are no anti-siphon holes or check valves used. I have plenty of extra room in my sump for when the power shuts off and the tank drains. (I've tested this over and over again just to be sure.)

Here's a look at the entire inside of the stand when I finished the plumbing.

 

[jlanger]

I Need to Upgrade Phase

I thought I would show everyone why I upgraded from the 45gal to the 120gal.

Overcrowded.

That picture was taken just minutes before I began the relocation. The Zero Hour Event.
You can see how overgrown the montipora sp. corals had become.
They were growing on the glass, they were battling each other for space and I didn't have any room to place the smaller corals.
And the fish needed more room to swim. They just needed room; period.

In the move, I was able to remove the six-line wrasse and the pulsing xenia corals.
Both had become issues I didn't want to have in the new system.

I really enjoyed the 45gal system over the years.
A little bit of remorse to see it torn down and put away.
But I am very pleased with the new 120gal.

 

[jlanger]

I was beginning to wonder what more I could do with this thread, but I see there are some more things to discuss.
The black waste container on the left-side of the stand is for my ATO. I'm waiting for my BRS Top Off Doser pump and I will be using kalk as my top-off.
For the past month I have been testing at least every other day (if not everyday) to monitor my Ca, ALK and Mg. My tank has been using just about 2oz. of ALK per day, so I think it's time to start using kalkwasser as my top-off water.
I'm also waiting for an LED strip to mount inside the stand to light up the frag section of the sump. This may also evolve into adding some macro algae to the small section of the sump in the back right corner.
I'm also contemplating using reactors for carbon and GFO.
So, I guess there are still a few things I can update the thread on in the near future.

 

[jlanger]

LED Lighting Update - New Illumina Modules

The past two weeks (Back in March) have been very busy with my 120gal system.
Thanks in most part to BRS Bonus Rewards Point Sales!

I finally purchased two of the new Multicolor Aux Modules for the Vertex Illumina SR-260 light fixture.
Installation was very simple. And after I figured out all of the updates and got the modules online, I programmed the new color channels to slowly add to the overall light spectrum.
Most people are keeping the red LEDs to a minimum percentage, but I have mine set a bit higher (20%) as the red/orange/yellow colors on my trio of Red Sea Lyretail Anthias really pop now!

I'll have to have my brother come over and take new photos.
My camera sucks for actual display photos. SUCKS!!!

 

[jlanger]

Inside the Stand Lighting Update

I also upgraded the lighting inside the stand.
I first received a used Ecoxotic Panorama Pro White LED Light Strip as a gift. I was going to use this as lighting for the frag section of the sump. But I needed to buy a power supply first.
But what I received was more than generous...

I was shocked when I opened the box and found two brand new Ecoxotic Panorama Pro LED Light Strips. One was the 12000K/445nm Royal Blue strip and the other was the 445nm Blue strip. THANK YOU!!!
I set the two new LED strips over the frag section of the sump. I have the lighting controlled with my ReefKeeper Lite and the dimmer that comes with the lights.
My frag section now has better lighting than my old 45gal ever did.

I used the 'old' LED light strip to light up the sump.
Since I had extra parts from the other Ecoxotic lights, I used the power supply and dimmer.
To really make this effective, I added a magnetic switch to the light. When I open the doors to the stand the light comes on. When the door shuts, the light turns off.
Here's how I did it.

Here's the parts I used to make the switch work with the Ecoxotic light.
A dimmer from Ecoxotic and the magnetic switch.

I cut the wires from the dimmer and split the wires.

I connected the switch to the wires.

I then installed the switch on the stand and the door.

This works great!
Every time I open the door, light is on.
Close the door, light is off.
(Do you think we can install these on our kids? When they walk into a room the lights come on, and when they leave the lights go off.)

 

[jlanger]

Filtration Update

I added some more components to my maintenance and filtration.
Thanks again to BRS sales.

I finally got my ATO set up.
I have been tracking my Ca/ALK/Mg levels for the past few weeks and kept up my levels with daily dosing.
I wanted to switch over to using kalkwasser in my make-up water.
For a reservoir, I am using a black Rubbermaid office trash can with a tight fitting lid.
I purchased the BRS Top-Off Dosing Pump and have it plugged into my ReefKeeper Lite. I have a timer set up to add the needed amount of kalk every hour. It turns out I need the pump to run 3-1/2 minutes per hour to keep up with evaporation.
I have been testing my levels to see if I need to adjust the amount of kalk I am adding to keep my levels stable.
As of now, I am only adding 1 tsp of kalk per gallon of RO/DI water. I'm sure that will have to be increased.
I really like not having to add top off water daily anymore!

I also purchased a BRS Deluxe Reactor for carbon and GFO.
My nitrates and phosphates have not been of concern, but I knew that someday I would like to have a reactor running.
The water coming out from the reactor is being pumped over to my protein skimmer intake, so that any dust from the reactor can get filtered out before entering the display.

And I also purchased one Ecotech Marine MP40w ES to add to the display.
So I finally have NO CORDS going over the top of the tank into the display.
That was one of my top design concerns. And it's done!
I know I want to add another MP40, but I think I spent enough money this past month already.

So here's an updated pic of the inside of the stand.

My next project is to clean up some of the electrical.
I might add another DJ Power Center over on the left side so the MP10s don't have cords running across the entire stand.

I might build a larger frag rack as I have too many frags right now.
And I really should start fragging the plating montipora sp. corals. They're fighting for space already.

Thanks for following along.

 

[jlanger]

It's quite nice to finally sit back and look at what's inside the aquarium rather than under and over it.

But as I look at what's inside, I'm finding more projects to add to my list.
I think it's time to start affixing the smaller corals and frags in place; as my red tuxedo urchin likes to push them around.
And I need to coax the rose bubble tip anemone to come out front; as it wants to stay on the backside of the aquascaping.
And I really should think about cutting up the big green montipora sp. corals; as they are already encroaching on other corals.

And I'll try to get my brother to come over and take some more photographs show I can post more recent pics.
But here's the ever watchful Randall's Goby.

 

[jlanger]

So there it is. My complete 120gal Arts and Crafts Inspired Reef Build.

I hope you enjoyed the long read, but I do like to discussing woodworking and reefkeeping.
If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to ask.
Someday down the line, I will have to sign up to host a TCMAS Member Meeting.

Right now, my family is waiting for me to get ready to leave for my son's lacrosse game.
Yep... lacrosse + outdoors + "winter" = good times!