RossMartin
Member
Hi All,
I've been reading about on the forums for years. I had a marine tank until i visited The Green Machine whilst away for work for two days. The second day I took my girlfirend up there and she loved the planted tanks, so we ended up walking away with an ADA 75P!
I decided to self build the cabinet as i've always fancied giving it ago and have seen others do it succesfully. I got some waterproof 18mm MDF cut to size and built it to the ADA sheet that is available on the internet (or PM me if you want it!). I used wooden dows, waterproof MDF glue and screws to put it together! Unfortunately my old iphone broke so i don't have the majority of pictures that i took whilst building it, but i do have the below.
This was when i was checking that the cabinet was the right size but also using 25l water cannisters to help glue the two bottom bits of wood together:
I used about four coats of Waterproof MDF primer applied with a roller, paying particular attention to the edges:
I then uses Dulux "Night Jewels 3" for the exterior paint and did a colour match on a Ford Forcus RS for the green interior!
I've got some toys to go in the cupboard and some glassware! 1 x JBL e1500, 1 x JBL e700, Exteranl 300w Hydor heater and a JBL CO2 setup. I have a 2kg fire extinguiser and regulator on the way!
I brought a 150w metal halide and tried a few design on how best to suspend it. It weight 7.1kgs! I didn't want to hang it from the ceiling as it made it awkward to move so i got a local welder to weld me up a couple of 1" square steel tubing into an upside down L shape. These can easily take 10kg each hanging off the very end. I cleaned them up and brought some metal sparay paint primer that was a similar as i could get to the colour of the cabinet. I then drilled this to the cuboard and hung the halide.
Regarding the layout, i like the idea of moss overhangs and a banked landscape. After ordering some wood for The Green Machine i came up with this layout. I'm not sure about the stones! The left hand side will have a gravel/sand in it with different sized stones covering the gab and some riccia stones to help with the border. I have used ADA Amazonia and i have Powersand in the garage. Not sure whether to use it or not!
Any feedback would be welcome has i have never done this before!
Thanks
Ross
I've been reading about on the forums for years. I had a marine tank until i visited The Green Machine whilst away for work for two days. The second day I took my girlfirend up there and she loved the planted tanks, so we ended up walking away with an ADA 75P!
I decided to self build the cabinet as i've always fancied giving it ago and have seen others do it succesfully. I got some waterproof 18mm MDF cut to size and built it to the ADA sheet that is available on the internet (or PM me if you want it!). I used wooden dows, waterproof MDF glue and screws to put it together! Unfortunately my old iphone broke so i don't have the majority of pictures that i took whilst building it, but i do have the below.
This was when i was checking that the cabinet was the right size but also using 25l water cannisters to help glue the two bottom bits of wood together:
I used about four coats of Waterproof MDF primer applied with a roller, paying particular attention to the edges:
I then uses Dulux "Night Jewels 3" for the exterior paint and did a colour match on a Ford Forcus RS for the green interior!
I've got some toys to go in the cupboard and some glassware! 1 x JBL e1500, 1 x JBL e700, Exteranl 300w Hydor heater and a JBL CO2 setup. I have a 2kg fire extinguiser and regulator on the way!
I brought a 150w metal halide and tried a few design on how best to suspend it. It weight 7.1kgs! I didn't want to hang it from the ceiling as it made it awkward to move so i got a local welder to weld me up a couple of 1" square steel tubing into an upside down L shape. These can easily take 10kg each hanging off the very end. I cleaned them up and brought some metal sparay paint primer that was a similar as i could get to the colour of the cabinet. I then drilled this to the cuboard and hung the halide.
Regarding the layout, i like the idea of moss overhangs and a banked landscape. After ordering some wood for The Green Machine i came up with this layout. I'm not sure about the stones! The left hand side will have a gravel/sand in it with different sized stones covering the gab and some riccia stones to help with the border. I have used ADA Amazonia and i have Powersand in the garage. Not sure whether to use it or not!
Any feedback would be welcome has i have never done this before!
Thanks
Ross