I started this build when I won the tank in January during the semi annual grand raffle at the SCAPE Meet at Lotus Aquarium in Hawthorne.
It was the first prize drawn, and jokingly, I yelled, "it's pronounced Nick Shades." Right after, Kole, the SCAPE President looked me dead in the eye among the crowd of over 100 and said, "Nick, get up here." I had to see the ticket, it really was me.
I got this idea about 3 years ago. No in-tank overflow chamber, a display with a sump that is larger than the DT. The return and overflow drilled through existing glass and into the live rock. I still have not got it running, but for the most part, everything is working the way that, I want it to, to a certain degree.
I originally planned on building the stand from scratch, but after playing with the pre fabricated options available, I settled on the Brooklyn 40B from Imagitarium/Petco. ~40 bucks. It is metal, and pretty easy to put together, it would allow me to focus more in the skin.
The first thing I did after putting together the stand was figuring out how I was going to drill the stand. I have done 1/2" bulkheads for canister filters on fw nanos and I was very satisfied with what they had going on in their limited capacity for a nano, and how little real estate they take up when they have been drilled into a nano, so again, on with the smaller bulkheads.
I have not met anyone who has drilled an AJ. I was unable to find out if they were tempered, so I actually bought a second one, just in case, from Blue Crown Aquatics in Rosemead/El Monte, who provided them to SCAPE for the raffle.
I was going to build this tank regardless, so if it meant external overflow after shattering this tank, or proceeding as planned, it was going to happen.
Thankfully, drilling the tank worked. Two holes, not 6 inches from eachother (4.5 inches OC, actually), bulkheads in, and time to make the skin for the stand.
I have always enjoyed rustic appearances. I love distressed, and repurposed wood. But I hate collecting it for projects.
Alternatively, something that always makes me laugh at work is the number of people who go through the cheap furring strips asking for it to be culled so they can get a new bin down in order to find a single piece of random zebrawood (sorry, doesn't exist).
I personally, have always loved would-be culla of wood. They might not be useful for framing, exposed surface, or a header shim, but they can be so ugly, that they become beautiful, and an expert wood worker can make wonderful things with knots, crowns, and warps.
I am not an expert wood worker. But I would love to retire as one.
I dug through some boards I had at home, and found a configuration that I could make the appearance of a crate with. I headed to Lowe's and found some boards with a bit of character.
I scraped, brushed, sanded, stained and made as much happen as I could before turning them into a panel for them all to work together.
Satisfied with the results, I managed to a color that I was very satisfied with.
Before checking it against the stand itself, I waxed it to see how the distressed and unstained portions would darken with the wax on it.