40 GALLON TANK TAKE 1!!!!!

[perpetual98]

This will be a running "blog" of my 40B build.

11/6/06

Ordered a 45mm and a 40mm hole saw from ebay. Total cost $17 shipped

http://i5.ebayimg.com/01/i/05/69/ea/2d_1.JPG

Ordered three 1" bulkheads and three 3/4" bulkheads from ebay. Total cost: $22.44 shipped

http://i16.ebayimg.com/03/i/06/1e/81/91_1.JPG

Ordered a drill guide from Sears.com. Total cost: #34.94 shipped

http://s7.sears.com/is/image/Sears/00967173000

Running total: $74.38


11/07/06

Tomorrow I go to pick up my 40B from a guy in Madison. He's selling it for $40. I have a guy who is interested in my 26G bowfront, and I told him that I want $40 for that. If all goes right, I should have a fair swap and three happy barterers.

The stand is coming along nicely. The stand itself may be completed in a week or two. The doors and canopy might take a while longer. I haven't taken any pictures of the stand build as of yet, but I'll run through and take some before I get much farther.

Here's the mockup that I made using Sketchup.

http://www.perpetualproducts.com/images/Complete%28small%29.png

I got around to taking some pictures of the stand last night before I got too far along. Right now I've got the top and bottom supports done, and one of the sides almost done. I'll glue up the other side tonight and it should be ready to go soon. It shouldn't take me a whole lot longer to assemble the stand as it will be mainly screwed together.

I also go to pick up the tank tonight. My drill guide should be delivered today, at least according to the tracking number.

The guy who wanted my bowfront keeps lowballing me on price. I asked him for $40 for a tank that I spent $75 on, and he offered me $20. After some haggling, he came up to $30. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I want to sell it to him at $30. Part of me just wants to get it out of my garage.

I'm having some problems with the server that my pictures are on, so I can't post them right now. This seems rather weird to me since this site is running on the same server.

[perpetual98]

11/08/06

Ok, it looks like the server is back up, at least for the time being. If there's continued problems, I'll find a different place to host the pictures.

Here we go...

Here's some of the wood that I had laying around in the garage. This all came from a soft-sided waterbed that we took down. I busted it all apart and was going to cut up the wood and burn it in the fire pit, then I had the idea of actually using it for something.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand1.jpg

You'll notice all of the nails in the wood. Those things are WAY sharp too! Here's one of the many piles of nails that I ended up pulling out...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand6.jpg

Here's a couple pictures of the framing for the sides. They're all glued/bisquitted (is that a word?) together and have a 45 degree bevel on the edges. I also filled all of the nail holes the best I could and sanded it. I'm going to paint the stand anyway, so I don't need it to be perfect.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand3.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand4.jpg

Here's the top and bottom support frames. The bottom will have a 3/4" shelf on it and the top is a 1" or 1.25" piece of countertop that I have laying around at home and haven't cut up yet.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand5.jpg

Here's another picture of some of the scrap wood that is left. I'll burn this stuff. :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand7.jpg

11/08/06 continued...

The tank is in hand! Great dimensions. I can't believe that I didn't get one sooner! :)

I've also got the other side for the stand glued up and clamped. Tomorrow after work I should be able to get it somewhat assembled and looking like a piece of furniture as opposed to a pile of lumber.

Tank cost: $40.

I'm also high bidder on a Ranco Dual Stage Temperature Controller on ebay. We'll see if I win. If I do, great! If I dont, no big deal.

Running total: $114.38

[perpetual98]

11/08/06 continued...

God bless ebay. I won my auction for the temperature controller and it wasn't even at my highest bid. Not the cheapest thing in the world, but oh well, what in reefkeeping is.

http://i5.ebayimg.com/01/i/08/e2/3e/a7_1_b.JPG

Total cost: $81.44

Running total: $195.82

11/09/06

I had some time after dinner tonight to do a little more assembly. Everything was glued, and about as straight as it was going to be. Time to bust out the screw gun and the air nailer and air stapler. God bless Home Depot...

Here is one of the two sides all assembled and ready to go on the top and bottom framing...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand8.jpg

Here's a closeup of some of my "it looked better in my head" construction...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand9.jpg

This is one of the sides attached to the base frame...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand10.jpg

And here are both sides screwed to the top and bottom frame...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand11.jpg

And here's some scrap wood that I had from an entertainment center. This will provide the bulk of the vertical support as it's wedged in between the top and bottom frames and then stapled in with about 50 1" narrow-crown staples. Did I mention I love air tools? :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand12.jpg

Total cost for the stand so far: $0.00 (priceless) ;)

Running total: $195.82

[perpetual98]

11/10/06

Well, for all of my trying, and convincing myself that I can do this "on the cheap" the costs involved are slowly creeping up. Well, not so much creeping as they are rocketing up! :)

I ordered a RO/DI unit from someone on RC. $115 shipped for a nearly new (according to him) 6-stage Water General setup. We'll see what model number it is when it arrives.

I have a feeling that it might be this one, but he didn't verify the part number with me.

http://www.watergeneral.com/prdimages/4-RD102.jpg

Total cost: $115

Running total: $310.82

I wonder if I'll be able to keep it under $1000? I hope so, lighting will make or break me. I've got a 150W halide and a 70W halide setup that I can use, and I've also got a 4x65W PC setup that I could use if I wanted, as well as a 4x24W T5 setup with IceCap SLR reflectors. I'm leaning towards selling some items so I can fund a 36" T5 setup and maybe I can still use the 150W halide...

[perpetual98]

11/11/06

Well, I was working on the top for the stand last night and had a brain fart and made it 2" too narrow from front to back. D'oh!!! Shouldn't be that big of an issue though. I've already formulated some contingency plans in my head to rectify. I'm going to attach some more wood to the back, and depending on prices, I night put some laminate countertop material over it. It'll make it look better and should add a lot of strength considering I have multiple pieces of wood glued together. Strength for the tank shouldn't be an issue though.

I also sold some chaeto which will help offset some costs.

Total price of chaeto sold: $20

Running total: $290.82

11/12/06

Stopped at Menards today to pick up some more stuff for the stand. Grabbed some Formica countertop material for the stand, as well as some handles for the doors and some pine 1x6's for the doors too.

Ok, on to some pictures and whatnot...

I cut three pieces of the 1" thick MDF 15" long by 2" wide. I attached these to the back of my "boo-boo" top to get it to the correct depth of 26".

After that, I busted out a cheap paint brush to apply some contact cement. Talk about a buzz after working with that stuff in the garage for a while. Yeesh.

You have to slather contact cement onto both pieces that are going to be attached to each other, then let it dry for about 20 minutes before attaching the pieces. Easy enough, even with a buzz....

Here's the top getting ready for the cement... (you can see the error of my ways where I had to attach the 2" strip to the back)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand13.jpg

Here's some glue getting slathered onto the top of the stand...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand14.jpg

Here's some glue getting applied to the backside of the Formica...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand15.jpg

This is the top with the Formica glued on. I left about a 1" overhang on all sides that I trimmed off with either a flush-bit in my router, or the bevel bit, as seen in a bit...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand16.jpg

Here's an end-view of the top with the Formica glued on...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand17.jpg

I flipped the top over and glued the Formica onto the sides...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand18.jpg

Here's another shot of it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand19.jpg

I trimmed the top with the flush bit (didn't take pictures of that) and then busted out the 45 degree bevel bit for the router...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand20.jpg

Here's a picture from my first pass of beveling the edges. I'm going to paint the MDF that is showing to match the rest of the stand...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand21.jpg

After I did that, time to start cutting wood for the doors. Measure once, cut three times, right?

Mmmmm, bisquits.....

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand22.jpg

Total cost: $25.00

Running cost: $315.82

[perpetual98]

11/13/06

There's just some days that the postman is good to me. The hole saws arrived today, as well as my Ranco dual stage temperature controller. Woohoo!

I spent some time in the garage working on the doors to the cabinet. I only messed up a little bit when doing some routing that I've never tried before. I'll probably try to hide that corner under the top lip of the countertop so it won't be as noticable. It took me a little bit to figure out that the router wanted to "wander" away from the guide when you went a certain direction.

Here's a picture of one of the doors after it was all sanded up...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand23.jpg

Not sure why, but here's a closeup picture of the door...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand24.jpg

I did a couple of the vertical details with the router and now I'm doing one of the horizontal details. I clamped a guide board onto the door so the router could follow it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand25.jpg

And here's a pic of the finished horizontal line...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand26.jpg

To do the 45 degree details, I just clamped your trusty square onto the door in the right position...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand27.jpg

And viola! Detail complete!

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand28.jpg

Then I threw the first coat of paint on the door. I'll probably do 3 coats, or less if I'm antsy.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand29.jpg

No new costs today! Woohoo!

Running total: $315.82

11/14/06

Well, I got some time to get some paint put on the rest of the doors and I started with the first coat on the stand...

Here's a picture of one of the doors before I put the gray paint on it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand30.jpg

And after the first coat went on. I'll probably do at least 2 coats of gray, and then I might put a poly over everything, depends on how I feel. :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand31.jpg

[perpetual98]

Here's the cruddy looking stand before paint...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand32.jpg

And here it is after some paint was slapped onto it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/stand33.jpg

Running total: $315.82

11/15/06

Ok, I brought the tank home from work and busted out my layout tools, markers, drill, safety glasses, etc...

I first laid out where I thought that I wanted the bulkheads to be. I'm sure I'll wish I didn't put them in the spots that I did, but oh well, too late now...

I just used a sharpie marker and drew some crosshairs where I wanted the holes...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank1%7E0.jpg

Another closeup of the layout lines...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank2%7E0.jpg

Here's a picture of the "rig" that I used to drill the holes. It worked really slick. I'm guessing that the holes for the 1" bulkheads took about 5 minutes each, and the holes for the 3/4" bulkheads took around 3 minutes each. I put about 6" of cold water in the bathtub and ran a MaxiJet 1200 (it was the first pump I found) and pumped the cold water onto the hole saw to keep things cool. Not sure if I needed to, but I did, so you'll have to live with that. :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank3.jpg

Here's a shot after all 6 holes were drilled. I did a dry fitting with a couple bulkheads and things were dandy! 8)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank5.jpg

Here's a couple more pictures of the holes for your hole-viewing pleasure! (Not THOSE holes, you sicko)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank6.jpg

*pic deleted due to post limit*

I also ran to Home Depot at lunch and picked up some items that I needed for plumbing. I'm sure I'll need to pick up some more stuff, but I got a jump start on it. I also grabbed some stuff for the electrical. I can't find a cover for one of my project boxes though. :'( I'm sure it's in my post-tornado looking garage somewhere. When I get elbow-deep into that project, you know that I'll be posting pictures.

Home Depot: ~$50.00

Running total: $365.82

11/16/06

Not much to report today. I got a second coat of paint on the doors and stand. Didn't figure it was worth posting pictures.

I also came up with a brilliant idea for my electrical system. It'll probably be a couple days before I get to start on that though. I plan on getting some beer imbibed this weekend. Might cut into my productivity! :)

Running total: $365.82

[perpetual98]

11/19/06

I got the doors installed yesterday after watching OSU beat Michigan in a great football game. I haven't taken any pics yet though because the stand it up on it's side while I painted one of the side panels. I think I'm going to run to the store and pick up some poly today before the Packer game. I'd like to get a coat or two of poly on everything to protect the latex paint from getting dinged easily, and it should add another layer of waterproofing to the stand.

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing for lighting. I THINK I'm going to go with a 4x39W T5 setup with a 150W halide, but it all depends on how much room I have over the tank. I'm not sure what I'm going as far as a canopy goes. I'm leaning towards a cabinet that is mounted on the wall about 12" above the tank, but if I go that route, I have to make sure it's not super heavy. I suppose drywall anchors would work. Another option would be to build a canopy that sits on the tank itself, but I don't know if I want to go that route. The third option is go get a fixture that sits on the tank, but then you're talking serious $$$ (~$400-$500) and since I have 75% of the lighting components to do the T5/halide lighting, that may make the most sense. 4x39W may be overkill though, maybe a 2x39W and the 150W halide would work.

Hopefully pictures later today!

11/22/06

No new pictures yet. Nothing terribly exciting has happened with the stand so far. The back of the tank is painted black with about 6 coats of black spray paint. The stand is painted and there's 2 coats of poly on it so far. I have to do some touchup work on the stand where paint has snuck around some tape. I should have more pictures soon.

I've also incurred some more costs, go figure, with more costs coming!

I bought a bunch of miscellaneous plumbing supplies and PVC stuff for $21. I should have enough stuff to plumb the drain to the tank and the returns mostly plumbed up. I'll probably need to get knee deep into that phase before I know what else I'll need.

I bought a Digi-Lab Temp/Salinity/SG tester from someone on Nano-Reef.com for $60 I was going to get a refractometer for at work, but I thought that this would work in its place.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=12494

I also ordered some stuff from Petsolutions.com that should arrive probably Monday the 27th.

I grabbed the following...

A SCWD for my closed loop...

http://www.petsolutions.com/Images/200/57300001.jpg

Red Sea Labs Master Test Kit

"Scientifically accurate tests for your marine aquarium. Kit includes 45 ammonia tests, 80 nitrite tests, 60 nitrate, 100 pH tests, and 60 alkalinity tests. Complete with test vials, reagents, color charts, and full instructions."

http://www.petsolutions.com/Images/200/30721100.jpg

And an AquaLifter pump for my copepod breeding area (more details on that in the coming weeks)

http://www.petsolutions.com/Images/200/33101137.jpg

Total cost on the Petsolutions.com order: $75.95

Running total: $532.77


11/22/06 Continued...

Ok, I got around to doing some plumbing work and taking some pictures.

Here's some plumbing that I didn't end up using, but I think would have worked well. What I did was take a flap-sander on my Dremel and sand out the inside of a 90 degree PVC elbow. I sanded the sharp corners and opened up the hole a bit. Not sure how much more flow I would have gotten, but I'm betting that it wouldn't have hurt things...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing1.jpg

There's a hole in my tank!!! Wait, there's like 6 holes... Here's a pic of the tank before I took the tape off of the inside...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing2.jpg

The back of the tank...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing3.jpg

Here's the bulkheads dry fit in the back...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing4.jpg

Here's some more plumbing dry fit onto the tank. I'm trying to minimize the space taken up behind the tank by plumbing. I cut a couple of the bulkheads shorter and also cut a couple of the PVC fittings a bit shorter...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing5.jpg

Here's another picture of some of the plumbing. The tank is going to be pretty close to the wall, so I think that turning the ball-valves towards the inside will make them easier to get to and also take up less space...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing6.jpg

Here's a fairly modified 90 degree elbow. I cut around 5/8" off of it to take up less space. I don't think that it will affect things...

[perpetual98]

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing7.jpg

And here's some fittings that will be in the tank. They're white now, but I will spray paint them black so that they don't stick out like sore thumbs...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing8.jpg

Running total: $532.77

11/24/06

Even though I had the day off of work, not much happened with the tank. Went out with some friends from high school last night and had a beer-induced lack of motivation day. :D

Did manage to drill some holes in the top to run some plumbing into the stand...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing9.jpg

I also went to the LFS to look for another 40 breeder for the sump. They wanted $62 for one. A decent price, but I'm going to look around for a used one.

11/25/06

Got some time this morning to work on some of the electrical. I have a bunch of 3 rocker switches sitting in the garage that I'm using. I also had a couple "project" boxes for some previous electrical stuff that I did. I got the boxes from mouser.com and used our CNC machine at work to drill the holes where I needed them and to cut out the lids to accept the receptacles.

Here's a picture of the box after I ran the 3 wire power cord into it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/elec1.jpg

Here's some of the stuff that is going into each box (there are 2 boxes)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/elec2.jpg

Here's a picture of one of the completed boxes. The top switch will control the outlets to the right of it, the middle switch controls the middle outlets, etc...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/elec3.jpg

Mounted one of the boxes in the stand...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/elec4.jpg

And here's a picture of both boxes connected up and tested. The lighting will be on a separate system that I haven't quite figured out yet.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/elec5.jpg

I think I have to make a trip to the hardware store today so I can wire up the Ranco dual-stage temperature controller to some outlets. I just need a couple bucks worth of parts and that should be done.

Oh yeah, I'm also going to start using some lower-resolution photos in this thread to take some of the strain off of my server. Maybe that will help with the outtages I've been having. They shouldn't be too bad to look at either.

[perpetual98]

11/28/06

I've been lax on my posting and photos lately. Work has been insanely busy this week and my motivation fell off the chart. I did manage to get the dual-stage temp controller wired up.

Here's a picture of the raw parts...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/controller1.jpg

After I attached the two boxes together, I ran some wire into them...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/controller2.jpg

Wiring them isn't terribly complicated, but it takes some planning, and some wire nuts. :)

Here's a picture of the completed assembly...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/controller3.jpg

The controller (at this point) is set up to turn a heater on when the temp falls below 79 degrees, and turn fans or a chiller on when the temp goes over 80.

The outlets on the left are for heating, and the ones on the right are for cooling at this point.

I also sold a few items that I had floating around in the garage, so that helps costs!

SOLD: 4x24W T5 setup: $150
SOLD: 2x36W PC ballast: $25

Running total: $362.77


11/30/06

I ordered some black acrylic off of ebay to make the overflow, but some delivery mishap occurred and it got sent back to the seller. I asked for a refund, but we'll see what he wants to do. He said he'd send it back to me, but I said that I'd just use clear acrylic for my project.

I took at 12" x approx 5" piece of clear 1/4" acrylic and had grand designs on bending into a half circle.

Here's the piece of acrylic and the pot that I used...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/oflow1.jpg

I taped the acrylic to the pot in the center and put it into the oven at about 325 degrees. I kept an eye on it pretty closely...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/oflow2.jpg

Here's the acrylic starting to "bend" when it got soft...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/oflow3.jpg

And here's the acrylic after I took it out of the oven and taped it to the pot and let it cool...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/oflow4.jpg

It turned out what I'll call "OK" Not the most perfect half-circle. I had to do some "tweaking" of it in the garage with the torch because it was twisted, and that introduced some bubbles into it because of uneven heating. No big deal in my book, it just has to work, not be a work of art.

I painted the inside of it black, then used Weld-On 16 (all I had) to join it to a flat piece of clear acrylic for the bottom. I then used a router bit with the bearing (can't think of what it's officially called right now) and cut the bottom acrylic flush with the overflow wall. Wait! It's called a flush trim bit! (You'd think my brain would be awake right now)

It's still all taped and painted and drying in the garage, so no pictures of that yet, but I promise I'll snap some. :)

[perpetual98]

12/05/06

Not much new to report lately. I'm kind of at a standstill until I get the tank for the sump. Until then I can't really progress much further. Also, the budget has dried up for the time being. Christmas and property taxes looming on the horizon have made the "fun funds" dry up.

The overflow is siliconed onto the tank. I'll take some pictures one of these days. :)

I did sell an Iwaki pump that I had in the garage that I was going to use for this project, but realized that I'll have to go submersible.

SOLD: Iwaki pump: $67

Running total: $295.77

Sweet! I was trying to figure out how to run the pump to my copepod culture tank. I wanted something that would turn my Aqualifter pump on for about a minute once per hour. Figured a digital timer would work, then I found the answer! Bought this from a guy on Nano-Reef for $35. They normally go for over $100:


http://www.krisanderin.com/ebay/cyclestat.jpg

Here's a description:

Green Air Products CycleStat II Repeat Timer

The Cyclestat II repeat cycle timer is capable of accurately functioning equipment repeatedly at very short increments from 5 seconds to 30 minutes of “ON” time and 7 minutes to 8 hours between cycles. Precise and easy to use, it is ideally suited for irrigation, misting, drip systems, ebb and flow, CO2 enrichment or ventilation controls to name a few. Automatic reset feature allows function synchronizing with other system controls. This feature provides an interesting variety of timing combinations.

Push button reset for manual cycle operation. Power "on" and "cycle on" LED indicator lights. The Cyclestat timer plugs directly into wall or equipment outlet with rear mount 3 prong plug. Timed equipment plugs into flush mount grounded front outlet. Operates on 110 VAC with 15 Amp switching capacity.

I also sold a HOB refugium that was in the garage.

Cyclestat timer: $35

SOLD: HOB Refugium: $25

Running total: $305.77

[perpetual98]

12/09/06

Ok, time for some long-awaited pictures. I spent some time in the garage today cleaning it so that the wife would get off of my back. It was long overdue anyway. Now I can walk into it without jumping over buckets, and trash, and wood, and tank parts. I basically treat my garage as a walk-in dumpster. I haven't been able to park a car in there in years. lol :o

I also changed the theme on the board, I think it looks a lot better now, what do you guys think?

So here's some pictures of my overflow and some dry-fit plumbing...

This is a picture of one of the return lines and one of the closed loop lines. The return line has the 90 degree elbow in it. I did this to raise them above the water line to help with power-outage flooding. :)

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing10.jpg

This is what the back of the tank looks like now...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing11.jpg

Here's a close-up shot of the overflow and the return line for the drain. I still have to get a screen for it...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing12.jpg

And this is a top-down shot of the overflow itself. I put a clear bottom on it, because I figured that why block any light if I don't have to?

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/plumbing13.jpg

I also used Google Sketchup to mock up my sump/refuge plan. I had some time to kill...

http://perpetualproducts.com/images/sump_plan2.jpg

I was investigating how much my skimmer would take up and I realized that I need a new impeller/shaft assembly for it because the one that I have (it's about 3 years old) has a lot of wear to it and doesn't spin well. I might upgrade needle-wheel pumps to get better performance from it. I probably won't need a skimmer for a month or two anyway.

Running total: $305.77

[perpetual98]

12/11/06

I was trying to figure out another way of draining water to the closed loop without one of those big ol' ugly strainers when I had an idea...

I took a 4" PVC cap that i had laying around and cut about 1.5" off of it...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/drain1.jpg

Then I took a pencil and a ruler and made a bazillion lines and marks on it.... (ok, 155 to be exact)

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/drain2.jpg

Then I took it to the drill press to unleash the fury...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/drain3.jpg

And since I was feeling giddy, I put a stencil on it before I painted it. Yeah, I know it'll be behind rocks and it will get all crudded over time, but oh well...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/drain4.jpg

And here is is siliconed onto the tank, but it's hard to tell in the picture...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/drain5.jpg

I also sold some more stuff that I had laying around, and I don't even remember what it all is off the top of my head, but here's what I do remember...

SOLD: Old gutted T5 fixture that someone wanted for some reason: $10
SOLD: Some non-reef-related electronic stuff that I had: $500

[b]Running total: -$204.23[b]

[perpetual98]

12/13/06

Ok, I got MOST of the parts to make my ASM-G3 skimmer a recirculating skimmer with my extra OceanRunner 2700 needlewheel pump. I had to order a couple uniseals for the skimmer, which were about $3 each. I'll lump that in with some misc. costs for the build. I also am waiting on delivery of some carbon fiber shaft material because the ceramic shaft for the OR2700 is missing. That pump hasn't seen much action in a long time, so I must have misplaced the shaft at some point. The carbon fiber shafts are cheap though, only a couple bucks a piece. I just need to cut it to length.

On to the pictures!

Here's a shot of the dirty ASM-G3 skimmer before I decided to hack some holes in it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/skimmer1.jpg

You can see some hazing marks on it where a 250W heater was contacting the skimmer body at some point. It's fairly cosmetic, so I'm not worried about it.

Here's the bottom 1" uniseal installed. A couple of 90 degree elbows constitute the input into the pump...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/skimmer2.jpg

Here's a picture of the top 3/4" uniseal...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/skimmer3.jpg

This is a shot of the dry fitting to see if things worked out. So far, so good...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/skimmer4.jpg

Threw the whole bad boy into about 8 gallons of water in a Rubbermaid tub to see how it worked...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/skimmer5.jpg

And here's a shot of some bubbles!

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/skimmer6.jpg

Various plumbing stuff/odds and ends/shaft and uniseals: ~$20

Running total: -$184.23

[perpetual98]

12/17/06

Picked up my sump today! The guy who I bought my 4 black clown fish from had another 40 breeder in his basement and he sold it to me for $25. Can't go wrong with that! It needed some severe cleaning, and it had green paint on the back. Nothing that a razor blade can't take care of!

Here's a couple pictures of the sump. Nothing too fancy, so I won't bore you folks with pictures of it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump1.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump2.jpg

I also drilled some 3" holes in the side of the stand. One will blow in and the other will blow out. In conjunction with a clip-on fan blowing across the sump, those three fans will constitute my cooling of the tank when it's too hot. Hopefully that will suffice.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/fan1.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/fan2.jpg

I also added about a dozen or so wire clips to various parts of the stand to help hold onto cords and keep things neat.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/wire_clip1.jpg

I also picked up an Intermatic dial timer. It's a double-pole, double-throw timer so I can use it to either turn something on (for up to 4 hours) or turn something off with a twist of the dial. I'll probably at least put the skimmer pumps on that timer, and perhaps my return pump. That has yet to be determined.

I attached some thin wood to the back of the stand too. It REALLY helps kill any lateral movement, making the stand that much more stable. Nothing really to photograph though.

I'm HOPING to get the tank wet this week, but I'm not sure if it will happen or not. I still need to get the pumps in, the baffles put into the sump and the plumbing shored up.

I'm STILL up in the air about lighting. I'm seriously leaning towards a 4x39W T5 setup and the 150W halide that I have in my garage.

Intermatic timer: $30
Quiet One 3000 pump (return) and Quiet One 4000 pump (closed loop) $100.00

Running total: -$54.23

[dakar]

Woohoo! Looking good! Glad you took the time to move your log over here... No more digging around looking for the link...

ETA to getting her wet?

[perpetual98]

It took about 40 minutes to move the blog over due to the fact that my photos on my SMF forum are all height/width adjusted and I had to take code out of every picture link because vB doesn't code the same. :(

I'm going to TRY to get the tank and stand and sump brought in to work this week, but I don't know if that will happen. One of my guys who works for me has a truck so I can bring the stand, but he's going on vacation starting Thursday and won't be back until January. It would be nice to get everything wet and cycling for a week or so over the holidays when we have some long weekends. I think the pumps will be here on 12/19, so then I can finish the plumbing. I suppose I can put water in the display at least as long as I have all the ball-valves closed while I'm finishing the sump/refuge. We'll see I guess.

[dakar]

Your log definately shows one characteristic... You enjoy drilling holes!!!!!!!!!!

[perpetual98]

Dave, there's just too many "hole drilling" and marriage jokes going through my mind right now, so I'll try to internally censor myself for once. :p

[Whoyah]

Thanks for posting your journal of this project. I am really enjoying watching everything come together. I really like the running tab too.

[perpetual98]

No problem! I'll try to keep this thread current as my "blog" is over on my forum. It shouldn't be too hard though, I'm only posting about 3 times per week anyway.

Eric

[graphixx]

Eric, I have to agree. This is a fantastic thread you have got here. You are cutting no corners on this thing. You have put a lot of hard work and energy into this thing. I think thats why its been soo fun reading and following along with it. I cannot wait to see it a few months down the road. Congrats buddy!!!

[dakar]

Dave, there's just too many "hole drilling" and marriage jokes going through my mind right now, so I'll try to internally censor myself for once. :p

Thanks, should have thought about that before I posted it... LOL

Seriously, whatching a system go from thought into being is great.... really gets folks creativity rocking.

[Sparky]

Dave that is a loaded question!!! Looks great Eric!!!

[perpetual98]

12/20/06

Well, I've got most of the plumbing dry fit, the sump under the stand, and the baffles cut. I haven't worked on the pictures for that yet. I'm getting close to getting this puppy wet!!! :)

What I DO have pictures of today is my Auto Top-Off that I finished up. Had everything in various parts in the garage it just took me putting them together all pretty.

Here's most of the parts that went into it...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/topoff1.jpg

I had some headphone wires/jacks from another project that I soldered the float switches to and used some shrink wrap on. The power connector came from a project box that I never got around using, the power switch came from a Finnex light that I gutted, the float switches have been laying around in my garage forever, and the transformer is just a wall-wart that I busted up to use the guts from.

Here's the top cover of the project box... From previous experience with water changes and various other reasons, I know that it's darn nice to be able to turn the ATO off when you're doing maintenance without having to unplug it, that's why I was psyched that I stumbled across the switch the other day. I KNEW I'd find a use for it...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/topoff2.jpg

And the inside of said cover...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/topoff3.jpg

Heres where I stood after I soldered the 120V AC power. The transformer knocks everything down to 12V so a relay can handle the control and switching of the 120V AC to the outlet...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/topoff4.jpg

Here's the box all assembled without the float-switches plugged into the side...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/topoff5.jpg

And here's what it looks like when those are plugged in...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/topoff6.jpg

I've also ordered some light bulbs for the 4x39W T5 lighting that I'm going to use, and I'm expecting the light-mover to be in tomorrow. I'll post pics and prices as I start to work on the canopy.

[dakar]

I really like the idea of the headphone jacks for the float switches, good thinking.

[Whoyah]

Very nice. I built one similiar to this but I really like the idea of the phone jacks and the outlet in the box. I completely agree on being able to turn the ATO off and on. One thing that I would like to add is a timer switch inline. I forget a lot of the time to turn the ATO back on after I am done. If I could just delay the ATO for say an hour that would solve alot of my problems.

[hummer]

yes very nicly done .... i planend to also tapor all the fittings for better flow i will all so try to document my tank biuld (sp) to for you all

what kind of paint did you use for the pipes in the tank ??????

i did not know you could use paint . glad i read this tread. i dont like the white pipe ...just bought all my plumming to day from manards and use the 15% off bag . try to buy gray but thay dont have much. and my welldon 16 just came to day bought 5 tubes with no... surcharge of 20 $ on it


ps... looks great thanks for all the pics.:):):):):):)

[perpetual98]

I just used Krylon spray paint for the pipes in the tank, and the back of the tank. I've used it for lots of in-tank stuff and never had any problems.

I've also heard that you can use RIT fabric die to soak the PVC in and it will soak up the die, but I've never tried that.

[hummer]

thanks for the reply
:)

[perpetual98]

12/27/06

Ok, I've been slacking on both working on the new tank, and taking pictures of things that I've done. In the past week or so I've cut all the baffles for the sump, finished the auto-topoff system, built the duplex part of the refugium out of overpriced egg-crate and mounted some of the electrical components. I had to mount some of the electrical stuff on the outside of the stand, which I really didn't want to do, but due to space constraints I felt that it was the best thing to do. Besides, the dual-stage temperature controller, the ORP controller and the pH controller are on the outside away from splashing and humidity, another plus. If I route all of the wiring decent, it shouldn't look too bad though.

Here's the brackets that I made from scrap acrylic to hold the float switches...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bracket1.jpg

I used the good ol' heat gun to heat up the acrylic and bend it to go over the sump...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bracket2.jpg

Here's another picture of the main bracket...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bracket3.jpg

I then used some more 1/8" scrap acrylic to make brackets for the float switches. I'll use some little zip-ties to hold them to the main bracket. I drilled a bunch of holes every inch on the main bracket so I'll have some options once everything is installed.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bracket4.jpg

Here's a picture of the components all labeled and pretty. :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bracket5.jpg

Here's the materials that I used to make the duplex part of the refugium. I just zip-tied everything together. Pretty easy...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/duplex1.jpg

And here it's all put together...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/duplex2.jpg

I had a few new costs, but the good news is that I only have some reflectors to buy for the T5 bulbs and I should be done with expenses, except for a few odds and ends.

I bought the motor for the light mover off of ebay. It will run my 150W halide back and forth across the tank. I'm pretty psyched about it. The bad news is that it makes my canopy that much more complicated. Oh well...

http://i4.ebayimg.com/01/i/06/5b/38/82_3.JPG

I also ordered 4 36" CoralVue T5 bulbs, two 50/50 and two blue ones. I run 48" ones over my 120G tanks and I like the way they look.

Agramover: $140
Bulbs: $75

Running total: $160.77

[perpetual98]

12/27/06 continued...

I also worked on the baffles for the sump. I'm going to go with the pressure locking baffles that I found information on the web about. I also posted that here: http://www.myreef.com/smf/index.php?topic=19.0

I cut the baffles about 1/4" shorter than the width of the tank, maybe a bit less than 1/4". The EPDM gasketing material will fill up the remaining space and hopefully hold them in place. I'm also going to be adding a little bracing to make sure that they don't move. Kinda defeats the purpose of the pressure locking baffles, but they're all still removable if need be...

Here's the EPDM stripping on the side of one of the baffles. Couldn't be much easier to install to be honest...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/baffle1.jpg

Here's a couple more shots...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/baffle2.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/baffle3.jpg

It's hard to see in this picture, but I also welded some 1.25" pieces of acrylic to the center baffle in the bubble trap to keep the distance between the baffles not only even, but it keeps the center piece of acrylic about 1.25" above to floor of the sump...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/baffle4.jpg

Here's a shot of the electrical components that I mounted on the outside of the stand. I'll be trying to route all of the wires so that it looks good...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/electrical1.jpg

Other than all of those goodies, it's ready to be taken to work for setup. I took the display tank to work today and I'm going to try to grab a van from work tomorrow at lunch so I can grab the stand and sump and whatever else I'm sure I'll need.

Woohoo! We're close now! While the tank is cycling for a month or whatever, that'll give me time to build the canopy for the lighting.

[hummer]

can you explane more about the presure lock baffles ?

what is epdm stripping?

tell all !!!! i would likeuse this system in my sump!!!!!!!! :):):):):) verry cool verrrrrry cool!!!!

[perpetual98]

Well my Illini friend... If you had perused the link that I had provided (here (http://www.myreef.com/smf/index.php?topic=19.0)) then you might have the required info. :) I can see how you might have missed said link though because you're trying to wrap your brain around how the Bears are going to lose to the Packers this weekend. :p

[hummer]

du(me) must a read right over it im sorry so wrap up on what i saw it must not registerd in my head on what i read some times

[perpetual98]

12/28/06

Quoting Professor Farnsworth from Futurama...

http://www.ams.org/mathmedia/images/md-200510-stringtheory.jpg

"Good news everyone!"

I got everything to work and got the plumbing all cemented together. I tossed one end of the RO/DI hose into the tank and proceeded to start filling. The RO/DI was on for about an hour or so before I left work and with the 5 gallons of water I had laying around in a bucket, I would guess there was about 10-12 gallons in the tank before I left to go home. I was a little nervous about running the water all night in case something happened, so I put it on a timer to it will shut off in a few hours. As impatient as I am to get it running, I want it to be done right. I'm pretty sure that when I get to work (provided the stand didn't collapse :) ) and turn the RO/DI back on that it won't be full by the time I leave work, so that will be a bit disappointing. Oh well.

I took some more pictures with my other camera, but that's at work. I've got a busy day at work tomorrow so I'm not sure if I'll have any time to post them before the weekend. If I don't forget the camera at work, I'll post some this weekend.

[hummer]

yay yay you ...the man and nice job on the eletronicks(sp)

[graphixx]

Eric, that is a suweet set up you got there. man I cannot wait to see that when its all done!!!!! keep us posted buddy

[perpetual98]

Needless to say, I hardly got any sleep last night. All I could think of was that the stand collapsed and everything was wrecked and I had 20 gallons of water on the floor of my office. Got into work today and everything was good! The tank was about half full. I brought 5 gallons of water from home and dumped it in, as well as my last bag of Southdown sand. It's about 3/4 full now I think. I turned the RO/DI water back on, but I doubt that it'll fill the sump today. We'll see I guess.

[perpetual98]

12/29/06 continued...

Well kids, here are some pictures of the agonizingly slow fill process and whatnot...

Here's a shot of the area in my office "before" tank...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/before.jpg

And here's a picture of some masking tape that I put on the tank so I could see how long it was taking to fill. :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/levels.jpg

I MAY have borrowed a couple, or three, 5 gallon water jugs from our drinking water fountains to help expedite the process. Shhhh

Here's where I was last night when I left work...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank_filling.jpg

Here's a picture of the sump all assembled before I put it into the cabinet...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump_dry1.jpg

And another picture of it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump_dry2.jpg

And here's a couple pictures of the sump installed in the cabinet...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump_installed1.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump_installed2.jpg

I'm pretty close to actually being able to turn the pumps on. The closed loop is up and running, but I think I'm going to have to dial the return back a little bit because my drain can't handle it.

[graphixx]

man talk about good use of company time!!!! and I want to call you out on giving me a hard time when I was laying in bed unable to sleep thinking about my tank.
but its looking good buddy

[Sweetpea]

Eric, it looks fabulous! I am so excited for you!!!

[perpetual98]

Well Greg, when you're just waiting for water to fill the tank, there's not much that you can do. We were pretty busy at work though, so I actually did some work while the tank was filling.

On a bad note, the pressure locking baffles don't seem to hold very well. I was kinda expecting that though, so I'm going to use some more egg-crate to hold them in place. Not much of a setback.

On a positive note, the tank is running! I adjusted the float switches and the pumps are running. I have to tweak the drain to the sump because it was splashing. I also had to take the 90 degree elbow out of the overflow area because the elbow was restricting flow more than I wanted. So far, the whole setup is rather loud, and I don't even have the skimmers going. I'm guessing that when I get the salt added, it'll quiet down a bit. The saltwater just seems to flow different than fresh. The temperature controller is running too. I'll stop by work this weekend to check on the tank.

Eric

[dakar]

What.... got your own ice box and toaster in your office too? hee hee

I know you've been working on getting your office and stuff together for over a year now... glad to see everything is coming together for ya.... tank looks great too!

[Whoyah]

Its coming along nicely. Sorry if I missed this part, but what is the eggcrate rack system in the sump for?

[perpetual98]

what is the eggcrate rack system in the sump for?

I could try to explain it, but an easier thing would be to go to www.reefvideos.com and check out the Sump Concept video.

In a nutshell, it just allows me a couple different "zones" in the refuge.

[Whoyah]

Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

[hummer]

that look realy cool ...all you need is some zip ties on the wires and your all set. :):)

[perpetual98]

Oh I've got plenty of zip ties! I'll clean up the wires once I route them all close to their final destination. :)

[Whoyah]

Man that is a great sight. I need to watch all of those videos.

[jojo22]

So Eric when ya gonna come out to Ohio and set my sump up for me???

[perpetual98]

Provide beer and airfare and I'm there!

[jojo22]

Wow what a great offer now if only you wern't so far away and you only wanted rootbeer we might have had a deal!

[Whoyah]

Those are some awesome tanks on reefvideos.com. I really like Marte's tanks. Some amazing colored corals and great fish population.

[hummer]

yes i agree...... the reefvidieos.com thankyou !!!!! that was great love the vidioes and seeing others people exspeshaly(sp ) like that

[perpetual98]

01/04/07

Not much new to report. The tank has been up and running for almost a week now. I brought the salinity up to 1.023 and that cleared up the silt that was in the tank. The temp controller and the topoff are working like they're supposed to. I need to raise the skimmer up a couple inches because it's in the sump too deep and even with the gate valve wide open, it still overflows the collection cup. I won't need the skimmer for a while though.

Here's a couple pictures for the heck of it...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/tank_running.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/sump_running.jpg

[Sweetpea]

Looks like you're almost there! Yeahhh!

[hummer]

what is that acrilic box that si hanging on your sump?

[perpetual98]

It's a 24" CPR Aquafuge. Eventually it will me my copepod / greenwater culture area. It's basically a HOB refugium. I've got another 12" one at home I'm not using because I got the 24" one.

[perpetual98]

01/05/07

I have a tub full of live rock in the garage that is mainly rubble. Most of it will end up in the refuge, but I pulled the larger pieces out of the tub and brought them into work for the display. I need 3 or 4 large pieces for the display I think. I may call Premium Aquatics and talk to someone on the phone their about cherry picking me some show pieces.

Here's a teaser pic before the weekend...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/fts_010507.jpg

[perpetual98]

01/07/07

Today I spent some more time working on the canopy that will hold my lighting and ballasts and timers. I got pretty far, but left a few items at work, namely my Weld-On so I couldn't finish what I wanted to, but I got a good start at least...

Here's a picture of the door. I did the same beveled routing pattern as on the stand. It'll all be the same color pattern too. The paint is drying as I type. I didn't take any pictures of it after I painted though. I'm going to put another coat on and then some clear poly. I should be able to get the mechanism done for the light mover too once I get my acrylic work done.

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy1.jpg

Here's a picture of the top framing for the canopy. This will be bolted to the drywall. Unfortunately my office walls are made with metal framing, and we haven't had much luck driving screws into them and making them sturdy for shelving and stuff on other walls. Anyone have any idea if you can get different fasteners that work better on metal studs?

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy2.jpg

Here's what the canopy looks like with the 3 corners bolted together. The lower front section will be open to allow access to the tank. The lighting will flip-up to provide more access to the tank when needed.

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy3.jpg

I put the "legs" on with hinges where the T5 lighting and the rail for the halide will be mounted. It's another one of my famous designs where I have no plan and just start cutting wood until I reach my desired goal. lol Here's a picture of that...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy4%7E0.jpg

And here's a similar picture except the "legs" are flipped up. There is no top to the canopy because it will be above eye level. I figured that combined with a small fan or two (if needed) will allow for adequate cooling of the lighting.

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy5%7E0.jpg

[jojo22]

Yeah it should be easy to have a nice lighting set-up when you own a lighting store!!!

[perpetual98]

I had to buy 4 bulbs and 4 reflectors the rest of the stuff I had laying around. :) To be honest, I didn't even buy the bulbs from my supplier. I have to buy a case at a time, so I ended up getting them from Custom Aquatic just like everyone else. :)

[perpetual98]

01/08/07

Did my first water test today..

Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 2.5
Ammonia: 0
pH: 8.3

The water is looking really clear now, so that's cool. Still need some more rocks... I'll probably try to bring in my live rock rubble this week and put it into the refuge as well as try to make some pod piles out of the rubble in the display behind the main rocks.

[hummer]

looks like there a photo missing of the clear tank,,,,lol

[perpetual98]

01/09/07

Ok, I decided to work on some pictures of the stuff that I did last night. I spent about 5 hours in the garage working on the lighting. I got the acrylic bracket made to join the light mover motor to the Regent halide pendant. I also got the rail for the light mover mounted onto the canopy flip-up frame.

On to the pictures!

Here's a picture of my ugly acrylic work. This is the piece that joins the light rail motor assembly to the Regent metal halide pendant itself. The pendant houses a 14,000K Hamilton 150W HQI bulb. For grins, I decided to mount a couple fans on the bracket blowing down for a bit of cooling of the halide pendant and the T5 bulbs. The fans are 24VDC fans and I'm going to run them at either 12V or 20V depending on which power supply I go with.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/bracket1%7E0.jpg

Here's some pictures of the acrylic bracket, the light mover motor and the pendant all put together. This equipment comes in at almost exactly 5 pounds. (I'm trying to keep this as light as possible due to the way the canopy is mounted on the wall)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/halide1.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/halide2.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/halide3.jpg

Here's some pictures of the rail that the light mover rides on. I thought that drilling some holes in it would lighten it up some, but it didn't make that much of a difference. The rail itself is almost spot-on 5 pounds, and I drilled the holes on one side and it only took about 4 ounces from the weight and for the amount of work that I put in drilling the one side, I didn't feel the work was worth the weight reduction.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/rail1.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/rail2.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/rail3.jpg

Getting closer now! I'm hoping to get the lighting up this week. I need to pick up some solid wire so that I can wire up the T5 lighting. Looks like I need to make a list of stuff to get from the hardware store!

[Whoyah]

Pretty cool little bracket. What kind of distance will the light move once installed?

[hummer]

looks great totaly pro.. like....you...are....good!!!!!!

[perpetual98]

I haven't figured out the distance yet, it'll probably depend on my aquascaping. I figure that it will move about 24-26 inches total. I probably won't need it to move any farther than that. This light mover thing is more of an experiment so I'll know how well them work on future tanks. Not the cheapest experiment by any stretch though. :)

Eric

[perpetual98]

01/11/07

Ok, I brought the canopy to work today, but I can't find the freakin' $3 hinges I bought, so I have to run to the hardware store at lunch and grab some more so I can get the lighting installed today.

Here's an overview picture of one side of the canopy. You can see the ballasts are all mounted on the back support to keep the weight near the wall. The T5 ballasts are all wired and tested with solid copper wire. 18 gauge was the biggest solid wire that they had at Ace Hardware that I figured would fit into the ballasts. I think I've also used 20 gauge in the past and that's worked fine, but it's a little thin.

Also on the flip-up bracket you can see where the light rail bar will fit into the notch. Below that notch on both sides I drilled some 3" holes just in case I wanted to install some more cooling fans. I don't have any fans for it right now though. We'll see how the heat is.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy8.jpg

Here's a closeup of the end of one of the T5 ballasts with some of the wiring...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy9.jpg

I also ran the wiring though a terminal block strip to make things easier for me. It also allows me to easily transition between stranded and solid copper wire for getting power to the ballasts.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy10.jpg

And here is the halide ballast for the 150W halide.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy11.jpg

I suppose I should update some costs here...

40B tank for the sump: $25
T5 reflectors, Phoenix 150W 14,000K bulb, misc. hardware costs: $125
Wood and some other stuff to build the canopy: $0 (Home Depot gift card for Christmas :) )

I'm sure I'm forgetting some costs. I'll add them when I can...

Running total: $310.77

[Iconz]

Lookin good! I started wiring the lights I bought from you last night...

Those T5 ballasts, where they are mounted, which side of the canopy is that, exactly? Or, do you have a full-canopy shot?

Thanks!
-JD

[dakar]

Neat freak! Besides being neat and tidy looking good.... now lets see some light! :)

[perpetual98]

Thanks guys... JD, if you're looking at the tank, the T5 ballasts are on the right side. I didn't have any left-handed ballasts, so I had to put them on that end which means that I had to rearrange some other stuff to fit them there.



Ok, I'm kidding. They can go anywhere you want. :)

Dave, I'm aiming to have the whole hodge-podge installed this afternoon. I just weighed everything on a scale at work. The entire canopy is just under 50 pounds. I'm hoping that a whole mess of drywall anchors are going to hold it! lol

Pics and maybe a video of the light mover to come!

[Sweetpea]

It looks really great, Eric! I am excited to see the whole set-up together! (And video? You are too good to us...) :)

[perpetual98]

Everything is mounted and working for the most part. I don't have something to plug some of the lights into the timer, so I'm manually working them for now. I also need to wire the fans. More to come!

[perpetual98]

01/11/07

Woohoo! Progress! I got the canopy mounted above the tank and the 9 drywall anchors (3 different kinds) managed to hold up the 50 pound canopy. 2 of the anchors are the wing-type anchors that are in the metal studs, so I think that I'm going to be good. Everything is fired up and running, but I don't have everything on timers just quite yet. That'll be my minor project for tomorrow I think. The T5 all work and are BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT!!! The halide on the light mover works and it's amazing how much brighter the 4x39W T5s are than the 150W halide. I'm using 2x54W program start ballasts on the T5 bulbs. Not sure if they're being overdriven though. Things went off pretty much without a hitch, and I even installed it by myself for the most part. The cleanup crew arrives tomorrow. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly sure if there's really much for them to clean up at this point. The tank has been running for 2 weeks. More water tests on Monday.

Here's a picture of the door mounted to the canopy. I was working on it on the floor of my office at this point. I only used 1 of the support brackets because it seems to be fine by itself. I'm not real thrilled with how far it keeps the front open, but it'll work. I hopefully won't need to get in there terribly often. I can access the tank for feedings and light maintenance without opening it because the bottom of the canopy is 5.5" off of the tank. (The width of a 2x6)

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy12.jpg

Here's a picture of the canopy sitting on the 2x6's while I drilled holes through the back so I knew where the anchors were going...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy13.jpg

This may be the coolest picture that I took, and it was just a quick picture. Shows the surface agitation, and the water disappearing into the overflow and the lights and stuff...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy14.jpg

Here's a picture of the T5 bulbs fired up when they are in the flipped-up "access the tank" position...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy15.jpg

And here's a picture of everything all together. The picture is rather blurry though. I'll bring in my good camera one of these days maybe and snap some decent ones...

http://ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/canopy16.jpg

And for the curious, I made an animated gif of the light mover moving the halide back and forth... :) It takes about a minute to move the light from one end to the other.

http://perpetualproducts.com/images/agramover.gif

And if you're REALLY bored, you can see the 2 minute or so long video of the pendant moving back and forth here:

Video...

The big 'ol crash that you hear at the beginning is me knocking the cordless drill over on my desk. The camera picks up all sorts of ambient sound and it sounds like a car hit the building, but it was nothing like that.

[Iconz]

That looks AWESOME! Great job bro! I'm impressed. And, Yeah, I bet that is ALOT of light!

[Sweetpea]

Omigosh Eric - it is AMAZING!!!

[greg97527]

lmao! How many watts per gallon is that? if each t5 is 54 and then the 150 halide you have 9.15 watts per gallon..........4 is perfect lol and ur at over double that.........omg cant wait to see some acro's in that thing and how they turn out.

[jojo22]

SHOWOFF!!! But it is show worthy!

[dakar]

lmao! How many watts per gallon is that? if each t5 is 54 and then the 150 halide you have 9.15 watts per gallon..........4 is perfect lol and ur at over double that.........omg cant wait to see some acro's in that thing and how they turn out.

4w per gallon is perfect? No way... 10 or more is more my style.

The whole setup looks fatastic Eric.... no wires or plumbing showing... I really like that wall mounted cabinet idea for the lighting... hope you found some studs to mount it to. 50lbs is a pretty amount of weight to suspend off drywall.

[hummer]

verry nice you are very talanted

[RWalston]

I agree with Dakar. I just put in dual 400w mh along with dual 250w mh, and 4 75w vho on my tank. for a total of 1600w of light. my tank is a 110.

There is a lfs here in phx that uses the motorized track lighting on their display tank. The corals are fab in it because there are no shaded areas because the light is moving the corals grow natural and not toward the lights.

[perpetual98]

I think I have a nice amount of light over my 40. Personally, 1600W of light over a 110 is just a waste of electricity. :)

[RWalston]

yeah that is what my wife is saying so I convinced her then I need to replace all of my Seio Super Flow Pumps with the new Tunze nano streams and she agreed.

[Iconz]

lol, just lol

[perpetual98]

01/15/07

Did another battery of water tests today..

Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 4.0ish
Ammonia: 0.1
pH: 8.3
salinity 1.023
Temp 79 (pretty much rock steady there because of the controller)

Nitrates and Ammonia went up a little bit. I'm not surprised since I added a whole mess of live rock rubble to the refuge and I'm sure that the water chemistry in that bucket in my garage wasn't terribly ideal. :)

[AlgaeFarmer]

Where are the new pictures?!?! :)

[perpetual98]

01/17/07

Not much going on lately. I added a cleanup crew about a week ago and lost a crab and snail or two. I also added 4 green chromies and a goby that I just had to have. 2 of the chromies are MIA (one died for sure, saw the corpse, and I assume the other one is dead, or made the trip to the sump) and the goby passed yesterday. It had a wound on its side, not sure if I bought it like that, or it developed it in my tank. One of the emerald crabs made quick work of it though.

You can see that video here:

YouTube- Emerald crab lunch

I'm getting 30 pounds of cured Marshall Islands live rock from Premium Aquatics on Friday. There's some corals that I had in a 10G tank at home waiting for this tank to get set up. There's a couple SPS that weren't doing too good in the 10G tank and a couple zoanthid frags and a couple shrooms. When I get the new live rock in the tank and everything aquascaped, I'll get all the corals mounted in a more permanent location. Right now most stuff is just sitting on the sand.

Cuz I'm bored at work today and don't feel like actually working, here's a FTS from today. :)

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/fts_011707.jpg

[mutts]

looking good!

[Iconz]

Looking REAL good, actually!

[jojo22]

Looks sweet bud!!

[mutts]

I really like that light mover, have you noticed that helping? where did you get the idea from?

[hummer]

wow awsom i realy like the painted clown fish

[perpetual98]

01/19/07

Ok, did some serious changes to the tank today! The tank is really cloudy right now, so no new full tank shot until probably Monday...

Anyway, I took the steel rail out of the canopy and replaced it with an aluminum one. It's all tweaked up and running smooth as silk now! :) Since I had everything in pieces, I wired up the four 24V fans to my old Dell laptop 20V power supply. The fans are all rather loud running together though. I may end up dropping them down to 12V.

I noticed over the course of the last few weeks that there was little to no flow along the back wall of the tank due to the way that the plumbing was set up. I took a SEIO 620 out of one of my tanks at home and set it up Tunze style to move water along the back wall. I also put a nice bed of live rock rubble along the back wall too for a nice pod haven I'm hoping. The 620 is making a nice difference. Now I've got a cord in my tank though. Can't really see if though. :)

I also got in my 30 pounds of Marshall Islands Live Rock from Premium Aquatics. It's beautiful stuff! One has a nice acro skeleton on it, but it's dead. Would have been neat to get a free SPS. ;)

It totally slipped my mind to put something next to the rocks so you could gauge the size though, but here's some pictures of the rock before it went into the tank...

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/liverock1.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/liverock2.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/liverock3.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/liverock4.jpg

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/liverock5.jpg

Everything is now in the tank, everything is running, now I just have to sit and wait for things to grow. lol

I glued some loose zoanthid frags to some smaller pieces of rock and put it back in the tank. I think I lost one frilly mushroom that slid between some rocks. Hopefully it'll crawl out for some light, if not, I don't think I'll rip the rocks apart to rescue it.

New water test parameters and a full tank shot next week!

Eric

[mutts]

Those are some really nice rocks, love the color on that one, should look awsome after its been in the tank for a while

[Sweetpea]

Super nice rock! Looks like Premium Aquatics has some really great stuff! Good for you!

[hummer]

i do like that rock too how much and where did you get

[perpetual98]

I also got in my 30 pounds of Marshall Islands Live Rock from Premium Aquatics.

It was almost $200 with shipping. Check out their site now, they're changing locations soon and are having some nice sales.

[perpetual98]

01/22/07

Came into work today and found a setback, but hopefully it is one that I can recover from. My topoff line had fallen out of the tank, so the topoff wasn't running (well, it was, just not into the tank.)

This in turn causes a series of things to happen. First, the water level dropped in the sump until water was no longer pumping up to the display tank. The next thing that happened was that since the heater is in the sump, the water temperature dropped dramatically. I came into the office to find a 68 degree tank. I secured the topoff line in the sump, and I had some fresh water in a bucket that I topped the tank off with. The tank has only gone up about 1.5 degrees or so since I got here, so I'm thinking that it will take a day or two to get back up to temperature. Hopefully I won't lose anything. Everything looks fine right now, but we'll see. Good thing I don't have much in the tank.

Here's the FTS that I promised last week. If I get some time today I'll do some more water tests.

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/fts_012207.jpg

[Sweetpea]

That bites! I hope everything makes it through!

[perpetual98]

So far, everything seems fine. The tank is up to 76.6 already and nothing looks worse for the wear, but we'll see I guess.

[hummer]

hope things r ok!! did you have water every where? from the to off line

[perpetual98]

I had some water on the floor, but not a whole lot. I have a concrete floor in my office and I happened to have a fan running to move the air from my wall-heater for the office. It actually dries spills really fast, so the fan was almost able to dry the water as fast as the topoff was putting it onto the floor. lol

[perpetual98]

01/23/07

Ok, I'm sure none of you really care, but I did more water tests. Parameters are all looking good considering how new the tank is.

Nitrite: 0.05
Nitrate: 2.5
Ammonia: 0
pH: 8.3
Calcium: 400

My digital salinity meter died on me it appears. $60 well spent. Not. Seeing as I bought it from another reefer, it's probably a safe bet to say he won't offer me a refund. lol

[dakar]

Of course we care...... not all of use can dump water on the floor in our office.... given my office is above the data center I don't think it would appreciated if I topped it off for them....

[perpetual98]

01/29/07 water tests

Nitrite: 0.05
Nitrate: 1
Ammonia: 0
pH: 8.3
Calcium: 400

So far, it looks like the readings are pretty good, which I'm rather surprised with actually. I bought a whole bunch of macro algae from someone on RC and it was pretty foul smelling when I got it, but I tossed some of it in the HOB refugium to see if it would perk up. Well, it's pretty much melted away to a nasty goo and I figured that was going to spike some ammonia and other readings. I took my salt bucket home to do a water change on a couple tanks there, so I need to bring some salt back here to make up some new salt water. I'll completely rip that HOB fuge off the sump and clean it and put it back on.

I had a little algae bloom for about a week, but that's since passed. I think adding the SEIO to the back to eliminate that "dead flow" area really helped.

I'm now up to 6 small fish in the tank. 2 of the original 4 green Chromies, 3 small clowns and a sunrise dottyback are all doing well. The dottyback has even colored up since brining it home from the LFS. The dottyback is also the only fish that seems bright enough to stick to the rocks and out of the flow. The other 5 fish are constantly swimming in a fashion that almost seems strained due to all of the flow in the tank. The dottyback just chills out in the rockwork and probably mocks them. Then again, they're staying in shape and I won't be forced to buy them small treadmills to get their stubborn belly-fat in check.

The light mover is working fantastic. After I got the new rail and ripped everything apart, I realized that my acrylic bracket was helping cause the interference with the rail, so it was probably a 2 part problem. I ground out a little of the acrylic with the dremel and put the new rail in and it's been peachy since then.

Which reminds me, I keep forgetting to bring my 2RPM motor in to see if it will work as a direct bolt-on swap with the 6RPM motor.

Perhaps a note to remind myself is in order. http://reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Here's the obligatory FTS for this week. Not much has changed since last week's FTS. lol

http://www.ericfeige.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/fts_013107.jpg

[mutts]

that is really nice looking!

but it looks so clean

[hummer]

that looks soooooooooooooooooooooo cool

[Sweetpea]

Very nice!!!

[perpetual98]

Thanks everyone! It's actually going TOO well. All of the corals that I put in are flourishing (even though most of them have only been in there a week), no fish deaths since the first couple chromies.

I'm waiting for the other foot to drop and something to crash. I've been doing this long enough to know that it CAN'T be this easy. lol

Eric

[hummer]

aw dont say that it sounds sceary for my im setting up mine next week......hehe im sooooooooooo exsited