I started my aquascaping journey with possibly the hardest style/type of tank Juwel Trigon a few years ago, I've had my issues and learned some lessons, and now it's time for it to go, my reasons to make life easier for me when it comes to the regular maintenance and hopefully cutting down on the on-going current flow and light issues.
This has been a long time coming, I purchased a 90/45/45 with help from @Iain Sutherland nearly a year ago now, when I got home I promptly put the new tank (to me) in my shed with every intention of doing a new scape within the next few months, obviously, that didn’t happen did it ☹. My first dilemma, do I buy a new unit or do I build/try to build a bespoke unit. I weighed up the pros and cons, cost approx. £400 v-time x effort x minimal cost well T x E x MC won, not really any competition as an avid DIY-er. I will say that it was a lot of hard work and took a lot more time than originally estimated in my head (solvent paint drying times) plus the added cost of some extra tooling that I didn’t already have, all in all, it has probably cost more than a readymade shop-bought unit. I am however happy with my bespoke unit; I just need to topcoat the main cabinet now and it’s all done.
Apologies image-heavy while I play catch/bring you up to date.
My homemade multi bench partially created for this cabinet.
New tooling, Router always wanted one for DIY stuff but could never justify the cost, hover because I decided to use dust extraction (my lungs are not getting any younger) as I was using MDF and the dust is nasty.
My first attempt at making my drawers from scratch, showing 2 errors the first was the side channel for the runners didn't go all the way and the drawer back the drawer base channel goes all the through. Nothing was screwed at that stage.
This has to be the most expensive paint I have ever bought for a DIY project but I was told that this stuff was the best on the market.
After I put the main cabinet together I decided to test it for the load it was liable to carry outdoors, of course, first was to fill tank, I did this with the help of 2 spirit levels showing any movement left to right/front to back making sure it was going to carry the weight of the tank full of water. There had been no movement so I left it to sit there overnight, before draining the tank I thought I would add some more weight to simulate added rock soil and so on, I put a piece of 6x2 across the top of the tank and climbed on top I did have a little wiggle while there but I don't have any pictures of this though.
The cabinet has now passed weight testing so let's crack on with the rest of the build the drawers, they created a lot of heartaches and headaches trying to get things the way I wanted them to look and fit with plenty of swearing.
This has been a long time coming, I purchased a 90/45/45 with help from @Iain Sutherland nearly a year ago now, when I got home I promptly put the new tank (to me) in my shed with every intention of doing a new scape within the next few months, obviously, that didn’t happen did it ☹. My first dilemma, do I buy a new unit or do I build/try to build a bespoke unit. I weighed up the pros and cons, cost approx. £400 v-time x effort x minimal cost well T x E x MC won, not really any competition as an avid DIY-er. I will say that it was a lot of hard work and took a lot more time than originally estimated in my head (solvent paint drying times) plus the added cost of some extra tooling that I didn’t already have, all in all, it has probably cost more than a readymade shop-bought unit. I am however happy with my bespoke unit; I just need to topcoat the main cabinet now and it’s all done.
Apologies image-heavy while I play catch/bring you up to date.
My homemade multi bench partially created for this cabinet.
New tooling, Router always wanted one for DIY stuff but could never justify the cost, hover because I decided to use dust extraction (my lungs are not getting any younger) as I was using MDF and the dust is nasty.
My first attempt at making my drawers from scratch, showing 2 errors the first was the side channel for the runners didn't go all the way and the drawer back the drawer base channel goes all the through. Nothing was screwed at that stage.
This has to be the most expensive paint I have ever bought for a DIY project but I was told that this stuff was the best on the market.
After I put the main cabinet together I decided to test it for the load it was liable to carry outdoors, of course, first was to fill tank, I did this with the help of 2 spirit levels showing any movement left to right/front to back making sure it was going to carry the weight of the tank full of water. There had been no movement so I left it to sit there overnight, before draining the tank I thought I would add some more weight to simulate added rock soil and so on, I put a piece of 6x2 across the top of the tank and climbed on top I did have a little wiggle while there but I don't have any pictures of this though.
The cabinet has now passed weight testing so let's crack on with the rest of the build the drawers, they created a lot of heartaches and headaches trying to get things the way I wanted them to look and fit with plenty of swearing.