The famous 'leak test':

Can you spot the 2 baby turkeys?

At this point I realized that I needed to make the holes for the pipes (Minor detail...lol). I wanted the pumps (the pump room will be next to the tank) to be below the water level in the tanks, so I wouldn't have any pump priming problems. At first I was going to drill them in the sides, but then thought of just adding one more course to make it taller. Here you see a picture of cutting the blocks for the pipes, before placing them. The little saw blade in the green hand grinder, is a diamond blade, and really works great at cutting block:


I took a sheet of plywood, and made a top. Around the sides of the top, I screwed 1x1 lumber, to overhang the walls. And then I wanted it to have some kind of seal, so I used a can of urethane foam to make a bead around the top of the blocks. After waiting about 35 minutes, it was at the right state of hardness (still soft, but not sticky) and I put the board on top. This squished the bead and formed a good seal with the top.

I put a hinge right over the thermal mass divider, so either side can be opened. Here's the finished top with hinge attached;

Here you can see the squished seal, and also the pipes for the plumbing:


Getting back to the actual aquarium stand, I've added the first sheets of 5/8" plywood (19/32!!!.... What's the deal with the 1/32 anyway??? I guess with millions of sheets sold, if they shave a 1/32 off each board they save a bundle.....Pretty soon it'll be 53/128ths or some such idiocy).

I changed the process of making the stand. What I did was cut the plywood sheets using the CAD measurements, and then I screwed the 2x4's to the bottom, and also using glue. The legs were then attached using glue and 4 inch lag bolts.

By the way, the glue I'm using is called 'Gorilla Glue', and I figured out that all it is (besides being expensive!!) is the same polyurethane that is in the pressurized cans of foam (like 'Great Stuff' for example, but there's other kinds just as good, and cheaper). So, if you use this foam, and you get a bad can, or it loses pressure or something, you can cut it open to get at the stuff inside, and you'll have the best wood glue around.

If it still has some pressure in it, you will have to release it first by keeping it upright and moving the nozzle. You'll have to do this every few hours, or once a day, until no pressure is left. Then you can cut it open. A mustard squeeze bottle works great as a dispenser....



This my temporaty cooling system for my existing 44 gallon tank. It's a cooler pad with a PVC pipe along the top with little holes in it. It's hooked to a small pond pump in the aquarium, that is controlled by a thermostat on top of the tank. So far it keeps the temp at 81 with the outside temperature at 100. This won't be enough when it gets more humid later in the summer, and HOTTER!......

 

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