MisterTang's Innovative Marine Nuvo 38 and custom stand

[MisterTang]

As is frequently the case, now that I've got a tank up and running and stable, it's time to change everything around.

 

Right now, I've got a non-reef-ready tank, and as the months have gone on, I've realized I'm fighting a losing and frustrating battle without having a sump/skimmer. As such, I've decided to upgrade to an Innovative Marine 38 from my current bowfront.

 

Firstly - the Innovative Marine stand sucks. It looks like it's recycled from those middle school science fair cardboard displays, and it doesn't fit my ATO bucket and hardware, so I'm building my own.

 

Livewyr25 on nano-reef built a custom stand, but he was a little sparse on the details, and his stand had a few structural weaknesses, so we're going to improve on that simple design. Nothing too complex, so others without a lot of experience or tools can duplicate it. Since this will make a grand total of two Google-able stands for the Innovative Marine 38, I'm going to generically step through the process so that people who hit this via Google get an idea of what's required, but would be happy to detail a specific step further if needed.

 

TOOLS YOU MUST HAVE

 

- A circular saw

- A drill

- Two-part epoxy

- Clamps

- Sander

- Tape measure

- Square

 

TOOLS THAT MAKE IT WAY EASIER OR WILL GIVE YOU A BETTER RESULT

 

- Table saw

- Miter saw

- Hand plane

- Router

- Nail gun that shoots finishing nails/brads

 

 

 

First, cutting out the frame with 2x4 pine - make sure you get the straightest pieces you can get. My first batch was bowed/warped really bad, and I had to start over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using 1.5-inch galvanized deck screws, craft the top and bottom squares of the frame. You will then need to fit the vertical support pieces, clamp the assembly together, and use the inner and longer vertical 2x4 pieces to attach the top and bottom squares together.

 

 

 

 

Counter-sink your screws! You will have a much easier time during finishing if you take a few minutes to do this. You can also buy drill bits that will drill the starter hole and create the counter-sink divot for you in one easy step.

 

 

 

 

 

This is what your frame should look like completed. Notice a few differences in my design - the two "L" shapes of the top "box" of the frame probably provide better structural support than the original. The long vertical "inside" pieces should be just slightly shorter than the entire length of the frame. Using a sander, or in my case, a nice sharp hand plane, take this opportunity to make sure the top and bottom of the frame sit level and that none of the edges protrude. It's not unusual to have some wobble in the frame at this point - this will go away once we attach the plywood.

 

 

 

Find some nice, high-quality hardwood-veneer plywood. I chose a sheet of oak in this case, but you will also find maple out there, but be aware that maple can be harder to stain. I got this particular sheet at Lowe's - my local Home Depot did not have a really good double-sided pre-sanded hardwood plywood product and only carried single-sided, so you may want to shop around a bit. Single-sided will cost you less, but isn't as good quality IMHO.

 

 

 

I opted for a combination of two-part epoxy to glue the plywood onto the frame, followed by some finishing nails through a nailgun. If you don't have a nailgun, you can probably get away with just using epoxy.

 

 

Don't be afraid to make mistakes! Here you can see that I slipped while using my router on the front face. 50% of woodworking is knowing how to hide your mistakes. In this case, the door will hide it, so we'll just press on and not get discouraged. You can also use a saw to cut four pieces for the opening on the front face, but you will get a better result if you can use a router and cut the hole yourself, since there will be no "saw seams" on the front.

 

 

 

Purchase some square hardwood trim to cover the rough edges of the plywood. Notice that my hardwood trim is slightly "higher" than the plywood face - you should do this to ensure a better finish result later. Glue these pieces on with epoxy as well.

 

 

 

You'll probably get a better result (no gaps) if you glue on the hardwood trim all at the same time.

 

 

 

Use a sander - or for a better result, a hand plane - and make the hardwood level with the plywood. Keep in mind that the nice finish on the plywood is really thin, so don't get carried away sanding. Find a nice, smooth-grit sandpaper for your sander. Also, consider practicing on a discard piece to see how much effort it takes to sand through the nice hardwood finish on the plywood so you know how much is too much.

 

 

 

Here's where you should consider borrowing or renting a router. You can technically cut/sand your way to this result, but you are wa-a-a-a-a-a-y more likely to make a mistake and screw it up. If you're using the router, spring for the rounding bit that has the small wheel at the bottom. I'm not sure you can get a bad result from those.

 

 

 

The door and top are just more of the same - plywood surrounded by a nice hardwood frame. I glued these with a proper wood glue instead of epoxy.

 

 

 

At this point, it's just a matter of staining the wood whatever color you like, and attaching the door with a hinge.

 

I was able to build this in what amounted to a long weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday. If you aren't as experienced with woodworking and don't have some of the optimal tools above, it'll take you longer. Go slow and measure twice!

 

 

[YHSublime]

Looks really nice, you did a great job with the stand. Always measure twice.

[Cliff Puckstable]

There is a lot of talent on this forum. I bet with all our powers combined, we could take over the world...

 

Fantastic stand, mate.

[Coral Hind]

Nice job on the stand!

[MisterTang]

Thanks everyone!

 

 

The tank arrives tomorrow. I haven't yet decided on whether or not I'll be buying all new rock for this tank, or reusing the rock currently in my bowfront. The problem with my current rock is that it has some minor bubble algae on it that has developed due to not having any sort of skimming or filtration, and I'm not sure if I want to introduce problems into the next tank. On the other hand, it's starting to purple up and get some interesting biofauna, so I might just vacuum off the rock and hit the new tank hard with GFO after the initial cycle to starve off any remaining nuisance algae.

 

Stand has a couple of coats of a nice walnut PolyShades stain on it. Initial results with the stain were not impressive, but my dad figured out that cutting it with mineral spirits made it coat much more evenly. Our initial assumption that oak hardwood and oak veneer would coat approximately the same was not exactly accurate, but that's why you test on discard pieces

[Orion]

Great job on the stand.

Bubble algae will pop up even with proper skimming, and filtration. GFO will not get rid of it. It's a very tough algae to get rid of as it can survive with minimal nutrients in the water.

Emerald crabs can help, but probably won't eliminate the algae. Manual removal, and making sure the spores do not spread is the only way to get rid of it with a tank that is up and running. You can try to starve it by leaving the lights off, but it may take a week or longer running the tank with no light.

[MisterTang]

Good call. I pulled the rocks out today and scrubbed the bubbles off of them and then rinsed. We'll see how it goes...

[John Ford]

You did an excellent job on the stand

[MisterTang]

Since the last update, I received the tank, finished staining the stand, and have started the transition process from my old tank to the new IM tank.

 

 

And a nice shot of my favorite zoas that I got at the last WAMAS meeting:

 

[Shoelace]

Looks wonderful.  I really like the grain on the lip of the stand!

[YHSublime]

Looks really nice! Looking forward to watching this one grow!

[LanksTank]

Great job on the stand! Love the finished product.

[Jason Rhoads]

Excellent work, and thank you for taking the time to post such detailed photos. 

[Origami]

Well done!

[Nhanguyen09]

Look good