It begins again

Nice to hear of your progress between trips and all.

 

Started the stand skin



Now a little paint.


Water is going in now

Also ordered my AI VEGAs very excited

 

Very cool.

It's nice to feel that motivation and excitement when you start a build.

I bet your fish are going to think it's heaven.

I hope you do SPS again to some extent, you had some impressive pieces.

 

i have to say as I build and get back into looking around. the SPS bug is sure getting itchy. The build does include an nice dosing system. So I'll be ready

 

OK So I think I'm almost there.
Here is the almost finished stand as I add water. Nothing like adding an entire bucket of salt and knowing that isn't going to be enough

Still missing 1 door. Need to pick that up this week



I was thinking of leaving the oak
1) just clear coat it
2) Black tinted stain
3) Paint it

What do you think

 

My vote is just a natural finish to the oak. I think it adds nice contrast to the black stand.

What salt mix are you using?

 

I just use IO. I've tried them all and really feel it's cheeper and easier to buffer less expensive salt to the levels you want than to blindly accept the still not perfct levels of more expensive salts

 

I alternate between IO and IO Reef Crystals and I totally agree.

Looking at Pro lately, just playing with the idea so I wanted to see what you used.

 

Excellent build! Can't wait to see some life in that thing. As far as the finish, my vote is on the natural as well. However, have you thought about laying some tile on it?

 

Great progress Jason, I vote for clear coat on the top also.