So today I fitted the hinges to the doors and then screwed the doors onto the cabinet.

Transcription

1 Day 9 Today was a lighter day because I thought I was tending to neglect the wife and kids at this stage more to the point I was made aware of it by that special someone. So today I fitted the hinges to the doors and then screwed the doors onto the cabinet. Back to the local hardware store and bought six self-closing 38mm Offset brass hinges two for each door. I also bought some door handles that I liked. Above you can get the general idea of what they look like only thing I can think of telling you is to make sure that you space the hinges appropriately so they don t look out of kilter so to speak. Here is the 6x2x2 pine fish tank cabinet in place just don t forget to place a piece of Styrofoam between the glass tank and the cabinet to compensate for any irregularities. That way you tank won t crack on you when it s in use.

2 Day 10 OK so I have decided to use a rock wall for my 6x2x2 tank. I went to a not so local fish store and found the following rock wall these things are NOT cheap. The model/type name for this particular rock wall was called Olgas. In my opinion these rock wall walls were a simple and effective way to enhance the appearance of my aquarium. Plus it had a bunch of nooks and crannies, overhangs, etc for smaller fish to hide in. Also a good place for adding small plants like anubias which would grow along it. Finally since it has a rough finish, a GREAT place for beneficial bacteria to grow! I bought some Selleys Glass Silicone while I was out in order to permanently stick the wall to the tank. Also I didn t want the wall to slowly peel itself away from the back and potentially trap fish behind it. Now I used this particular brand of silicone because after reading the package details I saw that it was safe for use on aquariums. So quoting from the product packaging: allow the product to fully cure for 7 days. Prior to usage, throughly wash out with water, drain and refill before introducing fish. Suitable for constructing and repairing small aquariums. Specialist design required for large tanks. Now I used some easy adjustable G-clamps to hold the rock wall to the tank while I was working with the silicone. You can see the yellow G-clamps on top of the tank. gotta do. So this step added an extra week to the whole project due to waiting for the silicone to cure. However in the long run, if you want your fish to survive in the tank, you gotta do what you I also took this brief hiatus to spend some time with the family and reconnect. Oh yeah, also connect my Fluval FX5 canister filter and hoses into the desired locations as well as adding the gravel to the tank. I used RG8 Gravel mix because I thought it went well with the rock wall. Above you can see what I meant by the rock wall having a lot of nooks and crannies, etc. Plus you can see where I placed the intakes and output for the FX5. Also here is a picture showing the rock wall, RG8 gravel and filter accessories waiting for water to be added. Oh yeah and the top of my daughters head!

3 Day 11 Now what decent tank cabinet is without a hood to provide cover and a place to sit the aquarium light? As such I decided to design and make a hood that would cover the entire top of the glass tank with a sloping lid. Once again it was off to the local Bunnings to purchase all the required piece of pine for my tank. I bought the following for use to construct the hood: 1 piece 90x19x2400mm pine to be used as the front face of the hood. This piece was cut 1865mm long this is so that the hood actually overhangs the tank. I also used my trust roman double ogee router bit to router the BOTTOM side only you need the top edge to be straight. I also mitre cut both sides ready for joining to the sides. Below you can see how both the right side of the hood and the front panel fit together as mitre joints. 1 piece of 190x19x1800mm pine that would be cut into two 630mm lengths. These will serve as the two sides of the hood. Since I wanted a sloping hood, I had to measure where to cut my slope. I measured in 430mm from the rear of what would be the side of the hood and then measured another line to make the slope match the 90mm height of the front face of the hood. You can see what I mean by looking at the image above. I also mitre cut these pieces as well.

4 1 piece of 42x19x2400mm pine for use along the back of the hood. I cut it the required length so that it joined both the left and right hand sides together. Remember to use a set square or in my case mitre clamps to make sure it all sits square. Nothing worse than having a wonky tank hood that doesn t fit at the front but is too large at the back. I also routered the bottom edge of both sides. 2 pieces of 190x19x2400mm pine to be used for the top of the hood. I then cut it to size so that it fits exactly on the top of the hood frame. I then used a biscuit joiner to cut out the necessary grooves so that I could join the two pieces of pine together. I also used sliding clamps that I borrowed from work so that I could apply enough pressure when joining both pieces together with hi-grip glue. Refer to images below to see that biscuit join groove cut out. 1 piece of 240x19x2400mm pine to be used for the sloping lid of the hood. I measured again the required size based on the length of the hood and cut it to size. Once again the Double Roman Ogee router bit came into play to router the front edge of the hood lid. This pretty much ate away a whole day of cutting, routering, gluing and clamping until I was ordered back inside.

5 Day 12 Today I wanted to attach the two pieces I glued and clamped last night to the top of the hood frame using wood glue and nails. As you can see below, this is how the hood looked after I nailed it into place. Below you can see how the hood looks from the front view for the time being as well as what the double roman ogee router cuts look like. Since I wanted my aquarium light to sit within the hood, I decided to use the remaining 42x19mm pine. All I did was measure halfway up the left and right hand side of the hood. Please remember to measure TWICE to make sure that both left and right hand side are level with each other. Otherwise when you sit the aquarium light on top it will be sitting at an angle. You can see what I mean by looking at the picture on the left.

6 Days Now that I have finished constructing the tank hood and it has had time for the glue to dry, I still need to stain and estapol (or lacquer) the hood. So out came the golden oak stain and time to apply two coats. Remember to allow 8 hours between each coat otherwise you won t get as good as an effect of bringing out the grain in the wood. Once this was done, I applied three coats of Wattyl Estapol Gloss. Once all the stain and estapol had cured I used three 45mm Butt Decorative hinges. Above are some images where I made my final amendment to the tank. I added some plants and some larger pieces of driftwood. Also, here is an image of the whole reason why I wanted to build the tank. The pleco has grown from a 5 catfish when he was in the 3 foot tank to as of today more than 16 in length!!!!