Finally Arrived!

[toddnbecka]

I ordered 6 T10's from AP back in the middle of July. They said 8-10 weeks, and when I still hadn't heard from them after 12 weeks I e-mailed them. They said they were backed up due to a bad material issue, which caused the delay. Then a couple weeks later I started receiving shipping info updates from Estes. I went with freight because it was a couple hundred less than FedEx.
Last week I got a telephone call from Estes saying that they'd be coming this way on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning I got a call from the truck driver, seems that there were 2 500 lb pallets of laminate flooring that were the wrong color sitting in front of my pallet on the truck, and he wanted to know if I had a forklift. (Doesn't everyone have one in their garage? lol) No forklift, so he said maybe he could drive back to Winchester VA (where he had driven out from) and they could send a van out to me.
Then he called back a bit later, saying he could probably break down my pallet load to deliver it, but he couldn't find my home address on his GPS. I asked if he needed directions, and he replied that he wasn't good with directions, but might be able to use the GPS on his cell phone when he got into Cumberland and picked up service again.
I was mildly surprised when the tractor trailer backed up into my driveway (at least he's a competent driver if not a particularly good navigator...) and after I rounded up a pair of scissors to cut the straps on the pallet we unloaded the 9 pieces of the shipment.

[Minkness]

Woot! I can't wait t see them all put together and looking sexy! Did you get any add ons? Lights, heat, ect?

[toddnbecka]

Only add ons I went for were shelves for 3, figured I'd try them out and see if I liked them better than the rubber coated wire shelves I can get for about half the price at Wal-Mart. Those don't reach all the way across the back like the pvc shelves, but are easy to remove for cleaning,
I assembled the first one, following the directions step-by-step very carefully. Then when I got to the part that said take the top off to apply the silicone sealant, then put it back on again, I skipped that step for the other 5. Waste of time really, just assemble the sides and back, seal the edges, then put the top on. They sent 3 tubes of silicone, and I only used 1 to seal all 6 cages, the other 2 are unopened. The sides fit so much better than my not-quite-square plywood boxes, though with the vent slots in the sides and backs I suspect air circulation will be about the same even w/out the gaps where the glass meets the wood.
Have to wait a couple days or so for the silicone to dry, will probably wait until next Saturday to actually put in the RHP's and glass. Planning to finish the other plywood enclosures this week, and hopefully have them all ready to set up shortly.

[Minkness]

Man, that all sounds like a serious DIY! No wonder they are so cheP, they just provide the precut supplies...

[dannybgoode]

Nice delivery. I have done truck driving in the UK so have some sympathy for the driver. Very annoying when an undeliverable load is in the way of the thing you actually need to get to!

Pictures when you've finished the mammoth task of putting it all together!

[Albert Clark]

Congrats on finally getting your order. Hopefully everything is in there and nothing missing.

[toddnbecka]

Man, that all sounds like a serious DIY! No wonder they are so cheP, they just provide the precut supplies...

Much easier to ship broken down, not a big deal to assemble them. They just screw together then the seams are sealed with silicone to make them water tight. Nothing missing (although I haven't counted the glass pieces yet) and along with the 2 tubes of silicone I also have a handful of extra screws left over. They look like stainless steel or galvanized drywall screws, do the black ones come with black screws?
As far as I could tell the silicone is dry now, but I can wait another few days to start setting them up until the other 3 plywood enclosures are finished. WIll be another week at least to get the glass doors for those.

[EL Ziggy]

Great job putting those enclosures together TnB. I remember putting my 4 together. I gave the sealant 72 hours before putting my critters in. Those AP cages are very well made and the assembly was pretty easy. You'll have to share pics once you get everybody moved in!

[MDT]

TnB, regarding the sealant....when you think you have applied enough, apply a bit more. I thought I did a good job but when I still had my retics, it took one watery poo to find out it wasn't sealed enough....

[REM955]

TnB, regarding the sealant....when you think you have applied enough, apply a bit more. I thought I did a good job but when I still had my retics, it took one watery poo to find out it wasn't sealed enough....
Maybe worth it to flip the cage and apply it to those edges? I'm thinking to do that if I end up with more cages.

[toddnbecka]

The silicone sealant goes around the inside edges and corners. I did lay down a fairly heavy bead before smoothing it out, and made certain it got pushed into any tiny gaps as I went along. A second round likely would be a good idea though, had to do that with the fiberglass tub/shower after the bathroom remodel. The seams in the surround were much wider, but even using a caulking gun to lay down the bead some water still managed to get through the first seal, but the 2nd application did the job. Bad thing is now the tops would have to be taken off again to do the 2nd coat, though that's just a matter of a couple minutes to remove the screws.
Will silicone bond to the first layer if it's already dry? I know that when resealing a glass aquarium you have to remove every scrap of the old silicone first and clean the glass with alcohol if you expect it to hold water w/out leaking when you're finished. With the tub surround I think the 2nd layer likely sealed separately from the first application since the seams go so deep.

[MDT]

Will silicone bond to the first layer if it's already dry? I know that when resealing a glass aquarium you have to remove every scrap of the old silicone first and clean the glass with alcohol if you expect it to hold water w/out leaking when you're finished. With the tub surround I think the 2nd layer likely sealed separately from the first application since the seams go so deep.

Good question... I did add more to mine, but in fairness, I no longer have the retics, and carpet poo is much less offending and voluminous. So, no clue if I helped it or just eased my mind...

[toddnbecka]

Making progress, have a RHP installed in one of the new AP enclosures and ran a second bead of silicone around the bottom edges. However, I'm going to skip the extra silicone on the rest and take my chances, don't want to wait for them all to dry again.
Assembled and stacked, will be installing the RHP's in the rest shortly:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1070108_zpscwv7gvn4.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/toddnbecka/media/P1070108_zpscwv7gvn4.jpg.html)

Went to Lowe's and got 3/4" pvc pipe and fittings to build a base for an enclosure stack. Figured I'd do one first to make sure it would work out, looks good so far. Added risers in the middle of the longer stretches to prevent bowing:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1070107_zpsixw3gv63.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/toddnbecka/media/P1070107_zpsixw3gv63.jpg.html)

Will be painting some plywood pieces and screwing them down to the tees and corners to provide additional structural support tomorrow:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1070112_zpsz5pwexxj.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/toddnbecka/media/P1070112_zpsz5pwexxj.jpg.html)

Also finishing up the other 3 plywood boxes, will be stacking 2 AP's on top of one plywood enclosure with the pvc base 12" off the floor. Occasionally get water in the basement when the outside drain backs up during heavy rains, base will keep the wood dry as well as provide a little storage area for tubs and such:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1070110_zps3ykzvuxx.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/toddnbecka/media/P1070110_zps3ykzvuxx.jpg.html)

[dannybgoode]

I really like that pipework as a base. How strong is it. Could it support a nice big bio viv with a good layer of substrate in it?

[toddnbecka]

I'm not sure exactly how much weight 3/4" pvc will support, but it's certainly strong enough for this. I would think a single larger viv would be fine, not likely to weigh more than what I'll be loading with the one plywood and 2 pvc enclosures. I have plastic storage shelf units around the basement with much thinner pipe walls on the upright plastic supports that are rated for a good bit more weight than what I'll be stacking on top of it. Not a big difference in price for 10' lengths of pvc pipe, took 3 to build the first base, but when you add all the tees and corner pieces to connect it I figured this would be a decent compromise, lol.
First thought was to use 1.5" pipe but the fittings cost nearly twice as much as the 3/4". I also considered folding tables, but I wouldn't be able to stack 3 on each (basement ceiling isn't high enough) so I'd have over $150 in 4 tables vs $80 for 3 pvc and plywood bases cut to the right height.