75 gallon tank
Let's build a stand - Part 1
by
, 02-05-2012 at 01:28 AM (1502 Views)
First let's take care of some house keeping. I ordered some more parts Friday (Mag 12 for return, (2) 150 watt heaters, and the biopellet reactor). I was a little disappointed because the Vertex reactors were out of stock, so I ordered the slightly more expensive Reef Octopus. Both reactors seem to get good reviews so I don't think I necessarily settled for a lesser version and I was into free shipping so I didn't want to wait for the Vertex reactors to be restocked. Everything should arrive by next weekend so it was time to get started on a stand so I could work on my plumbing next weekend.
A good friend of mine has a few trees which were badly damaged during the snow and ice storm we had a few weeks ago and I was going to trade the use of his pickup for cutting down and removing the damaged trees. I also get the firewood out of the deal so that's a win - win situation. Unfortunately for me and even more unfortunately for my friend he got pneumonia. So he get's a minimum of 1 week bed rest and I was out a truck (I hate not having my own truck anymore. A situation I definitely plan to remedy once the housing market is on steadier feet.)
So $20 later, I had a rental from Home Depot and a load of wood to get started.
Here's my stack of cut wood. 2x6's for the top and 2x4's for the legs and base.
Kreg pocket screw jig and the "pockets".
Kreg pocket screws and a photo of the recomended screw size chart from the side of the package. I'm using 2x lumber (thickness is 1-1/2") so I have the 2-1/2" screws.
If anyone chooses to use this kit, you'll also need the longer #2 square head bit to reach the screws in the pocket. I had the smaller size from a kit I was given a few years ago, but they wouldn't reach all the way down into the pocket to bottom out the screw. Another thing to note is even using the 2-1/2" coarse thread as recommended for soft 1-1/2" wood, it is very easy to over tighten the screws and cause them to spin in their holes. (Had to drill new holes on several which I overtightened.)
End frames screwed together.
Front and back frames.
The frames screwed together and extra "screw strips" added in the corners.
This is as far as I got tonight (those pesky noise ordinances are always getting in the way of having late night fun around here ;-0 ). I also ran out of normal 2-1/2" screws. So tomorrow I need to make a quick trip back to Home Depot to pick up another pound of screws and finish screwing the frames together and put the other two sleepers in the base frame.
As always, everyone's thoughts are welcome.
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