270 Gallon SPS tank for JBNY

[DrBDC]

Nice catfish!

[melev]

I like the skid/sled you made. That was a really good idea.

[IRISSERVICE]

very nice...

[Julio]

sweet tank! can't wait to see this thing in full effect!

[thisisme]

very nice

[JB NY]

Originally posted by Konadog
Looks like the hardest part is over! I always get nervous when moving a tank, it could be a great beginning, or lousy ending.

I like how you boxed in the stand, can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.

Hi Ken,

Yeah I was really nervous about moving the tank. The day before, all I could think about was that tank dropping or tipping while carrying it. To say I was relived when it was done is an understatement.

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

[JB NY]

Here are some pictures of me making the drawers for the stand. I am using Blum sliders for the drawers. The sliders are full extension, support up to 75lbs and allow the drawer to have a soft close. So no matter how much weight is in the drawer and how hard you push the drawer to close it, the slider will catch about 2-3 inches before the drawer fully closes and slowly shut the draw. I thought with the tank on the stand that this would be nice to have.

But first I had to actually make the drawers themselves. I had never done that before so it was a bit of a learning experience. I decided to make the drawers using finger joints, simply to see if I could do it.

So I had to first build a jig to make the fingers. Ihe jig is just a fence with a peg that is the same size as the fingers (I chose 3/8" for the fingers).



Then you start cutting the fingers. Start with the board against the peg and using a dado blade set up for 3/8", run the board through.


Then you just move the board, taking the hole you just cut and place it over the peg and run another cut. Keep doing this until you run out of wood.


To make the mating side, you start the board on a scrap that is the same size as the peg. This way when the two sides are put together, they mate up correctly.


All the pieces cut up.


Then I routed out a groove to accept the drawer bottom, and dry fitted the whole thing before I glued it up.


then glue it and clamp it up, After it has dried sand down the corners to make it all nice and flush and attach the drawer guides and...I have my first drawer!

It even opens and closes correctly!




Now I just have to do three more.

[JazzMan]

We need to start calling you Norm Abrams.

[Julio]

jack of all trades!

[Konadog]

Joe, nice work!

Putawaywet (Bret) did something like that with his old EcoWheel tank, very nice when you need to service anything under there!

[cali_reef]

Originally posted by Konadog
Looks like the hardest part is over! I always get nervous when moving a tank, it could be a great beginning, or lousy ending .

I have one of those sitting in my garage right now

[bleedingthought]

Very nice! I read it before, I think, but are you going to do drawers on the left and then all your equipment on the right with a door?

[Konadog]

Originally posted by cali_reef
I have one of those sitting in my garage right now

Sorry to here that Pierce! Your tank or Cindy's?

[melev]

Joe, you did a beautiful job on your first drawer.

[JB NY]

Thanks guys.

I'm putting drawers in both sides. All the equipment with the exception of the lighting ballasts will be in the basement. With my last tank I opened the front maybe once every 5-6 months. I figure with the drawers I would get more use out of the space. I will have about 18" of open space behind the drawers anyway, so that should give me plenty of room for anything else I can think of that I might need to put back there.

[JellyTheory]

Hi Joe,

Fantastic work so far! Congratulations on getting the tank in the house.

Do you have a date in mind on when you are going to begin filling the tank? Are we looking at a few weeks or a few months?

-Chris

[steve68]

Joe u have some great skills.
& it helps to have the right tools & friends.

[JB NY]

Originally posted by JellyTheory
Hi Joe,

Fantastic work so far! Congratulations on getting the tank in the house.

Do you have a date in mind on when you are going to begin filling the tank? Are we looking at a few weeks or a few months?

-Chris

Thanks! I think I am looking at about 6 weeks till I put water in it. I still need to get my sump room in the basement finished. I was supposed to have a new vinyl floor put down in the sump room last week but one of our cats had to have an operation on his tail and he sleeps in the basement. My wife did not want to have the floor put down while he was recovering. So it looks like I will be able to get it done the week of 4/23, so figure about 3 weeks after that is done.

Originally posted by steve68
it helps to have the right tools & friends.

That it does!!

[chacha]

Great tank, very nice

[chacha]

Great tank, very nice

[JB NY]

No big updates for the last few days (at least nothing I can take pictures of). I redid the finish that got ruined again and this time is looks 100% better, now you can hardly notice that I messed it up.

I also had to do my taxes the other day so that killed a day or so. Good news is I don't owe any money this year. Yeah!

I also found that I need to work on my box making skills. I've been having some problems getting my drawers to be perfectly square. So that has slowed me down as I needed to redo the last drawer because it didn't line up right when in the slides.

But I did have the floor guy over the house to check to sump room out for a new vinyl floor. Looks like I'm all set, I need to confirm tomorrow but I hope to have a new floor in the sump room in two weeks. At that point I can really get going with the plumbing!

[bklynmet]

Very exciting!

[steve414]

Very nice!

[Zoos]

Is Sophie reef safe?

[crab0000]

Are you using the bottom of the drawer to square it? If the bottom is square it should square up the box when you install it.