Back in the hobby after a 12 year break Marine X 110.4 build

[anen]

Hello all-

I was active here on MR back in the 2009-2013 time frame but I had to take my tank down when I took a job in San Francisco. There I was living in a small studio apartment and didn't have space for a tank. I have since moved to the Vegas area and am ready to get salty! The tank is a Marine X 110.4 and I'm planning for it to be SPS dominant. I'll probably do a thread on R2R but I'm posting here first since this is where I fell in love with the hobby and in case I can reconnect with anyone who I knew from back then.

While the Waterbox tank is nice, the stand was not. The frame was made out of very thin aluminum which I just did not trust. I actually sold the stand to someone who told me they were buying it so they could use the pieces to reinforce their own Waterbox stand because it was swaying . Also, because they had a support piece between the doors I wouldn't be able to remove the sump if I ever needed to. That didn't work for me so I bought this aluminum frame from Alufab.

I am cladding the frame Elos style in marine grade plywood that I sprayed with white poly.

I applied walnut veneer to the doors but I haven't sprayed a topcoat on them yet.

For those of you who are curious I attached the panels to the frame using these things called button fix. They were designed for this purpose so you need to use a spacer. I am using some 4mm standoffs.

I used the Red Sea sump modification kit to cut the baffles out of my sump to accomodate a Reefmat.

That's it for now- plan to get water in this thing next week.

 

[Geraud]

Welcome back! That's a nice stand!

 

[piranhapat]

Welcome back to the hobby. MR is not the same for some time now. But once in awhile I like to check and wish it was making a comeback. Beautiful set up in the making. Keep us entertained with updates. Good luck

 

[wco]

Keep it updated! Following ~

 

[anen]

Welcome back to the hobby. MR is not the same for some time now. But once in awhile I like to check and wish it was making a comeback. Beautiful set up in the making. Keep us entertained with updates. Good luck

That's sad to hear- are you referring to the general decline in forums vs social media or something else?

 

[akma]

Nice, Welcome back. I came back in November and so far I love it.

Unfortunately, MR is much quieter than it was 15 years ago. R2R and social media is where most people I post now.

 

[Noinoi24]

Love the stand…

 

[anen]

Tank is on the stand!

One thing that freaks me out a little is the foam pad that comes under the tank was compressed by the packaging materials probably from sitting so long. There's a good bit of the corners that is not touching the stand. I exchanged emails with Waterbox and they say it is perfectly fine though

Either way, filling the tank will need to wait since I called an audible with my gear. Over the years in my reefing absence I have been cobbling together an Apex system. Given where things are, I'm not sure starting a new tank with an Apex is the right move. I just ordered a bunch of Hydros and Reef Octopus stuff. Once I get my return pump I'll be able to do my plumbing, and get some water in this thing.

In the meantime I have to finish the doors of the stand up and get started on some cabinets.

Behind the tank is an alcove where I will be putting a bank of cabinets. The left wall of the alcove faces a bathroom. The plan is to build a base cabinet where I will store my RODI and plumb it to the drain line under the bathroom vanity. I have cut a hole in the right side of the alcove so I can run dosing lines to the tank. Upper cabinets will serve as storage for all the reefing junk.

 

[anen]

Nice, Welcome back. I came back in November and so far I love it.

Unfortunately, MR is much quieter than it was 15 years ago. R2R and social media is where most people I post now.

Welcome back to you too! I don't get the appeal of social media for stuff like this. Its much easier to search the forums than it is to go through a bunch of FB wall posts. Its a step backwards IMO

 

[Poseidon87]

You can always use pvc board underneath for the extra support they sell it in homedepot I put them under my displays

 

[shinylights]

i do the same but with 2x4s always nice having the extra support, furthermore id love to see rockwork and such.

 

[anen]

You can always use pvc board underneath for the extra support they sell it in homedepot I put them under my displays

I have a 3/8 sheet of LDPE under the tank. Between the frame and the plastic I have 1/8" of neoprene.

 

[anen]

i do the same but with 2x4s always nice having the extra support, furthermore id love to see rockwork and such.

I will post as soon as the rock is in!

 

[dacaptain78]

Looks great. Best of luck with it!. I just ordered an Alufab stand as well. How was the assembly?

I plan on sheathing the stand with wood as well. How are you planning to attach the wood panels to the stand? I was think of attaching with a French cleat so I could just lift the panels off for maintenance, but open to ideas.

 

[anen]

Looks great. Best of luck with it!. I just ordered an Alufab stand as well. How was the assembly?

I plan on sheathing the stand with wood as well. How are you planning to attach the wood panels to the stand? I was think of attaching with a French cleat so I could just lift the panels off for maintenance, but open to ideas.

Aluminum extrusion is very flexible with how you put things together once you wrap your head around it. My alufab stand came milled for anchor fasteners, this makes secure joints that are quick to put together. They do increase the cost as the hardware is expensive, but I think for an aquarium stand that is the way to go. I put together a light rack which I will picture below out of 20 series but because its so light I just used exterior brackets.

To see how I attached the side panels, please see my previous post where I used "button fix". They work a little too well and it is difficult to take the panels on and off. I am going to try and switch these to standard cabinet hinges so I can have easier access for maintenance. I am going to try the method in the youtube link below.

This is how I do the front panels. The white trim is attached to the front of the stand using threaded inserts. Those are the three holes you see near the hinges.

I then used blind insert corner hinges to attached the doors to the trim pieces. This configuration gives me adjustability in every direction.

And yes water and rock finally in the tank! Still have a lot of work to do though- water is not flowing down to the sump yet. I'm trying to figure out where to position the UV sterilizer.

I also put this light rack together. I was going to use an old ATI Sunpower fixture, but my wife doesn't like the light spill so I ordered 2 Reefi Unos and a Quanta Helix.