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Anyone interested in a pico reef build?


Capt. Obvious

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Well I guess it is time for another update, lucky for all of us I have something brewing...

After long deliberation and self-realization sessions, I have to come clean to everyone. I...am lazy. No I mean it, super lazy. With this in mind I have decided on the trio of pico reefs stand will be.....

An Ikea Stand of some sort (easy right, it is all just put together by pictures no big deal....)

So it begins...I measure the sump dimensions and head off to Ikea.

Something you may not know about Ikea .. they don't sell much that has 30+" long sections that are not all divided up . It is after this initial scout mission I come home (empty handed) and sit down and begin perusing the Ikea web site/catelog. fast forward a day and I am back at Ikea, purchasing an "Besta" extension unit, and chrome stand. Sadly, the door I wanted are discontinued and there are none in stock. but at this point I at least have something.

Luckily (not really) my son was sick today so I got to "work from home". So I began quite simply...by looking at the instruction book as if someone had just handed me a moldy banana peel, and I discarded it in the same manner...placed the shelving off to one side....let's be honest after-all, I will not be using it. I then commenced to assemble the chrome base/stand onto the bottom (only fishing the instruction comics out of the trash twice) of the unit....success.

the moment I had been waiting for...sump test fit... only had to displace 1 wall..this is the mockup....no screws in it yet

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update: after being kinda pissed off at ikea for being out of the discontinued doors i realized I could convert a tall door into one long sliding door (after about 5 hacks) as 2 x regular door = height of tall door...tada math...enter ikea trip #3 O_o

Upon entering the rat maze I know the quickest way to the location of the displays...to my shock there is an employee dismounting all the discontinued doors! I ask her if they have any of the tall doors in stock...they do 72 to be exact...on a long shot I ask about the small ones...nope...sold out 2 days ago...but she has this display one...I mention I really need two when one of her coworkers overhears us and reminds her there is one on another display unit...amazing luck, and to top it off...doors normally 30- discontinued reduced to 20 - discounted as floor models - $9.99/ea

I present to you current mock-up...again nothing is screwed in yet...but looking pretty nice. IMHO

Black-brown "body"

High-gloss brown doors

post-771-0-68064100-1330667960_thumb.jpg

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So, decided since the kids were away at my mother's i would get some things done (routine tank maint, finishing up some build stuff.

So in the process, i killed my daughter's tank...i really dont want to talk about it.

I did manage to "finish" the stand...I'll post pictures soon. But the bad so far...defiantly is outweighingthe success if completion.

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OK, so system is up and running (finally), and here are the pics

pardon the wire/lighting mess...something I am still working on/determining (the 7600k stock LED's are "nice" but are in a crappy spectrum, and they come in contact with the overflow, so ...they have to go. the upgraded led option I purchased, fits under the hood and doesn't hit the overflow and is in a better spectrum (120000K) but the hood itself focuses the "throw" too much causing deadspots. the ecopico arm is just laying there, looking like a viable option.(run dual ...one to each side of the hood, front to back rather than side to side) and the tunze hasn't caused a huge sandstorm (fingers crossed)

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