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Unread 04/24/2017, 07:22 PM   #66
benbarfield
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Colorado
Posts: 127
it's starting to take shape

It was a busy day yesterday. I didn’t finish all the work I wanted to get done but was happy about the progress thus far. Yesterday was all about leveling the tank stand. I ended up adding a 2” cement block piece to the top of each end of the stand. The second picture shows the 1.5x1.5 metal bar I used to ensure leveling of the middle section of cement blocks. After a few hours of shimming the top is level.





The only issue is the front left of the tank is just off by an 1/8” or so when I finished leveling. Water weight will help with what I have attributed to the wooden frame warping or not being completely level. Time to test the some water weight. I took the hose and attached it in the utility room to fill my RODI water/trash can. Below you can see the trash can full of water.





The water weight in the trashcan is nowhere near the tank weight but it did help a little bit. I am sure the weight of the tank and refugium will be more than enough to completely level it out. I then drained the water from the trashcan into the p-trap under the stand as an official test for draining the tank and it worked beautifully. Score one for the home team.

Next the RODI unit was mounted to the wall in the utility room. Below the RO unit is where the water/trashcan will live.



Framing was then started for the cabinets. The tank will sit on the far right of the stand and have a front and side viewing panel. The cabinets will be “floating” away from the tank and the stand to ensure as the house settles it will not tear away the cabinets. I added a 2x6 across the front ceiling that butted against the access panel into the ceiling. The 2x6 was drilled into the flooring I-bean above. From that I attached vertical 2x4s that will be the framing for the cabinets.



You can see the gap I left from the upper cabinet framing so it is not attached to the tank stand. The idea behind this is like the floating walls in basements to allow for settling of the tank with all the weight.






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