Hi there my name is Pat Murphy, I am new to Reef 2 Reef kinda. I've been hesitant to post on here. But this will be my first article.
Last summer (2018) I decided to go ahead and build a system. I decided on a 120gallon. This put the wheels in motion for me to learn how to silicone a sump, drill an aquarium, build my own stand and canopy.
At the time I post this there is about 8 months worth of content I can share with everyone. I guess we will start from square one and go from there. Also these are all posted on my playlist on YouTube @ Murphy's Aquatics
First I will show ya the stand build. I build the stand for the 120gallon 7ft long.. 2 reasons, #1. So I had room for equipment down the road and #2 if I ever wanted to get a 180 I would have plenty of room.
First off let's get straight into the frame of the stand
Started the build off to 1 faithful trip to the local lumber yard. Plenty of 2x4s
The stand will be 25 inches deep so these will be the cross braces for the top and bottom of the stand
Next up these are the 7ft long sections. Keep in mind this will be longer than a footprint of a 120gallon. This will be important later on in this thread.
Here is the rough frame put together with wood screws. I created the rectangle frame and screwed in the legs to the insides. So I could brace the outside with YEP more 2x4s.
At this point I made an outer shell to fill in some of the space. Used a kreg jig to make the joint pieces seem seamless. Came out very awesome.
These are the side covers for the outside of the frame. The intent is to have all plexiglas or acrylic windows with just a small sliver of wood as each door will open.
I planked the bottom of the stand, this is where the 75 gallon DIY sump will go
Now this the final product with the outside face boards air nailed on the front, side and the planking for the bottom. . Used 3/4" butcher block top style board for the top surface... I will be costing this with a countertop coating later on.. well that's enough for the build today hopefully you are as excited as I am for letting me share this with ya guys.
Last summer (2018) I decided to go ahead and build a system. I decided on a 120gallon. This put the wheels in motion for me to learn how to silicone a sump, drill an aquarium, build my own stand and canopy.
At the time I post this there is about 8 months worth of content I can share with everyone. I guess we will start from square one and go from there. Also these are all posted on my playlist on YouTube @ Murphy's Aquatics
First I will show ya the stand build. I build the stand for the 120gallon 7ft long.. 2 reasons, #1. So I had room for equipment down the road and #2 if I ever wanted to get a 180 I would have plenty of room.
First off let's get straight into the frame of the stand
Started the build off to 1 faithful trip to the local lumber yard. Plenty of 2x4s
The stand will be 25 inches deep so these will be the cross braces for the top and bottom of the stand
Next up these are the 7ft long sections. Keep in mind this will be longer than a footprint of a 120gallon. This will be important later on in this thread.
Here is the rough frame put together with wood screws. I created the rectangle frame and screwed in the legs to the insides. So I could brace the outside with YEP more 2x4s.
At this point I made an outer shell to fill in some of the space. Used a kreg jig to make the joint pieces seem seamless. Came out very awesome.
These are the side covers for the outside of the frame. The intent is to have all plexiglas or acrylic windows with just a small sliver of wood as each door will open.
I planked the bottom of the stand, this is where the 75 gallon DIY sump will go
Now this the final product with the outside face boards air nailed on the front, side and the planking for the bottom. . Used 3/4" butcher block top style board for the top surface... I will be costing this with a countertop coating later on.. well that's enough for the build today hopefully you are as excited as I am for letting me share this with ya guys.
