Anyone Ever Try This?

[angel]

Lowe's is a great place to waste some time and daydream about fixing stuff. I visited a ton before finally starting to remodel. They're one of my favorite places.

[titansfever83]

Mike, I used 2x8 I believe, I had both the block and the wood in my shop so I put them to use.

You can get the styro up to 2" thick. Lowes and HD should have several different thicknesses. And while your at it, buy some extra sheets and build a 3D background for one of your tanks!

[fishme]

Ha...I've seen those 3D backgrounds and I really admire people who can do it. I, on the other hand, would no doubt severely injure myself somehow if I tried it.

[titansfever83]

There are plenty of DIY step by step instructions on the web. Though if I could bring myself to paying the money for a manufactured one, I would get it from this guy.......


www.aquaterra-intl.com/gallery.html

He has some very nice 3D backgrounds and I have never heard of a bad review about him.

[fishme]

Well. went by Lowe's today and bought the goods to build the stand for my old 45 (sounds like a country song "Stand for My Old 45). Anyway, I wound up spending a whopping $22.21. For that I got:

--6 concrete blocks 8x8x16 size. I decided on 8x8 rather than 6x8 because I wanted the additional height. $1.07 each for a total of $6.42
--Half-inch plywood was the biggest expense at $11.94. But for that I got a big, 4-foot by 8-foot sheet. Even after cutting what I need for this project, I have a 4' by 5' sheet left to use on future projects.
-- A pair of 2x4 cut to 36" each for a total of $1.98

They cut everything for free. I have it all painted black. I had a quart of flat latex paint aruond from when I painted the back of some of my tanks and used about half a quart on this project. Spread a bunch of papers on the floor and sat down and did it in about an hour. My kind of project. In fact, just about the only kind of project I"m capable of.

Now comes tearing down the tank and moving the inhabitants to a pair of 30 gallon tanks for a short vacation. I'll probably do that tonight. I'll put a picture up when it's done. I know it won't be anything special but it'll probably look better than the one it's on now, and it's hard to beat $22 for a stand.

[jon carman]

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[angel]

Good project!

[fishme]

Got the tank broken down and the inhabitants settled in other tanks. I'm gonna take some time now to try to figure out a way to clean the front glass of that tank now that it's broken down. I still can't figure what the deal is. No amount of scrubbing will budge it.

[angel]

Do you think someone had glued something in there before? Maybe it's from that. Or paint.

[fishme]

No, I've owned the tank for more than 20 years. It was sitting in a basement covered by a blanket for most of those years. The odd things is that it was fine the first few months after I set it up, but now the glass looks like it has some sort of stain on it. Now that it's broken down, I'm thinking of dragging it into the bath tub and crawling in there with it and scrubbing until one of us gives up.

[jon carman]

be careful with a tank that old, I think the silicone begins to lose strength after 15-20 years. I don't know though, My oldest tank is right at 15y but it is in my garage so if it bust not the end of the world.

[fishme]

Yeah, I'm considering putting it into semi-retirement, maybe just using it as a growout tank or a rescue tank. It has always been my favorite because it fits in a relatively small space. Same footprint as a 30 gallon but 24 inches tall. I'm slowly building up to the possibility of adding a large tank to my collection, or at least something over the 100-gallon range. My largest at the moment is 75 gallons. I think not having to purchase a stand could open up more possibilities for me in terms of money. I'm still going to try to clean this thing up, but I'll be mindful not to stress the silicone too much.

[titansfever83]

Try a razor blade if nothing else works.

[fishme]

Nothing, and I mean nothing budges it. I don't know how to explain it, but it actually appears to be some sort of defect that has appeared in the glass, almost like it is inside the glass. Anyway, I've decided to move it to a back room and use it as a future growout or rescue tank. So now my snazzy, new $20 tank stand is sitting in the living room unused:



Oh, well, I'll move one of my 30s in there.

[titansfever83]

Very nice Mike, I like it!!!