PEPPIE'S 4th BUILD

[Peppie]

So here I go again. This is the basic Idea. I keep trying to improve on the last build.
Take a look, please pick it apart. (two heads are better than one) I am pretty thicked skinned, so please feel free to be blunt.
The size is 32'' x 25'' x 22'' tall. The fuge chamber is 8'' wide 22'' deep x 22'' tall. Nothing has been cut yet. The DT will have 3/4'' Plexiglass G, The fuge will be 1/2 cell cast, not sure what type.

OK let me hear were I'm wrong.

 

[Peppie]

Would this be considered a closed loop system? Would the evap. show up in the DT or in the return chamber in the fuge?

 

[eww]

Dave, I think your evap is going to show up in your DT with this design. Your maxi is pulling from there and eventually pushing into the DT so it will keep pulling what it has to to push it back out and the only thing I see that can drop is the DT. That would mean without an ATO you may run your skimmer dry if you don't keep it topped off. Also you are showing a ball valve on the maxi pump. Are you going to be able to easily reach it for adjustments in the bottom of that chamber? It only looks like you have a 8" x 6" area to reach down 22" deep to get to the valve. Might be kinda tight unless you don;t think it will need maintenance and adjustment very often. Just my first thoughts...

 

[TJL]

Hey Dave, Eric is correct and you will need to have bulkheads or a cut out from overflow box into fuge section then pull water from there for the return. Also why may I ask is the fuge elevated 3" it would be much more secure and easier to fabricate flush with rest of tank. Are you planning another one of your awsome cabinet builds with this tank? ??

Cheers, Todd

 

[Peppie]

I will hook up the ATO. It has 2 float switches hooked up to a timer that comes on for 1 min, every 4 hours. I will build a small snail safe compartment to house the switches in the DT.
The maxjet in the fuge will be at the bottom of that chamber, and yes that is a tight space. It is going to be 7 1/2'' wide for sure, the other measurement has not yet been set in stone. I will do a mach-up to see how much room is needed to get my arm down there for the adjustment and maint,
Thanks Eric, This is the feed back I need to have to make this tank work properly.
Keep it coming people. I want to cut some acrylic next week

 

[estanoche]

I don't even understand the purpose of the MJ except to give the chaeto some flow.....................

- Is the MJ sucking water from the DT, and pushing it over the chaeto, then overflowing into the tank?? If it is overflowing, then the need for the return lines really isnt needed, you can have a cleaner display by not even using them................ You could just skip the whole inlet all together, drill some "venting" holes in the back, and use the pump to roll the cheato. Then you can put the MJ somewhere convenient for you to clean.

 

[Peppie]

Yes the maxi is pulling water from the DT. It is also used to roll the cheato. There will be a bulkhead between the cheato chamber and the return chamber. I want the pump there to also push the water to the height that will clear the toothed baffle that runs almost the full length of the return chamber and turns 90 deg back twords the DT.
The idea of pulling water from the DT at near the bottom and having it dump into the return at the top was based on the water travling thru the cheato chamber.
The reason the fuge section is elevated is due to the size of the acrylic I have on hand to build this tank.
Yes it will be another woodworking wonder for the hood and the two viewing faces of the tank. I have a couple of ideas I'm rolling around in my head.
I will be going bare bottom, so I will be elevating all the rock work on acrylic rods. I am also going to hand rock islands off the right side of the tank as well as the back. I'm going to try to do my rock work without stacking any rock on top of another.
Hope this cleared up some of your concerns and Qs. If not hit me again

 

[Peppie]

Just had a thought will that Maxijet have enough poop to rise the water level 3'' higher than the water level in the DT? That is about 2.2 gallons above the DT. Not to mention the pump setting close to the bottom of the fuge. I know most pumps have a max head. Is that related to how much water weight is in the tube above the pump, plus a small amount of friction?

 

[Peppie]

Today I the old tank. $400 worth of acrylic, and about 45hrs of labor reduced to a few bowed pieces of 1/2''. It is enough to build the fuge section of the new tank. Sorry the pics are not downloaded yet. I'll try to get them up Sunday. Also got the tank pieces cut to size and the edges routed. It is ready to glue. I'm going to practice glueing on the fuge before I glue the tank.

 

[Peppie]

Here ya go that a look at my skillsaw work

Here are a few of the jigs and routed edges

I started out just useing the plywood as the straight edge.

I dint like the result so I used a better straight edge.

That is much better

 

[eww]

looking good so far Dave. Sorry to see that last tank reduced to what it is now though but it will be reborn in a new better form I'm sure.

 

[Peppie]

Ive got my fingers crossed, but I am not holding my breath. LOL

 

[Peppie]

Worked on the build today, working with this recycled acrylic is a HUGE PITA. Had to scribe the bow in the used acrylic to a piece of wood, so I could rout that profile to the edge of the mating piece. This may be a problem when I start to weld of the edges to the faces. I may be better off using new, flat stock. The only thing about that is I only have 3/4'' material. Its a 20x8x20 fuge. talk about over kill.
Then again I like a good challenge. LOLOL

 

[Peppie]

Back in the shop today. I finished edging some of the smaller pieces. I put the router back in the table to do them.

I glued a strip of P-Lam to the out board side of the fence to keep the cut to about 1/64th of an inch

I modified 2 framing squares for a jig to keep the pieces of acrylic 90deg. when gluing.

wedges are a must to keep the joint tight

I never throw things away. This was a desk top, it will come in handy to keep things flat

A few supplies for the build

A couple of jigs to keep things in place once the glue has been applied

Here you can see the bow I have to deal with.

One seam done, and a little weight on top to keep it snug. A bunch more to go.

 

[Peppie]

I was just advised that #3 weld-On didnt have enough soak time for material over 1/2''. CRAP
Wish me luck. LOL

 

[Peppie]

I have been busy today. The main body for the fuge is glued up and all corners are reinforced. I added 1/2'' strips to all inside corners. I dont want any seam issues on this build, so I am going over board. A couple of the corners look like s--- but they will hold water and no one will see them. The #3 weldOn sure sets up fast. I am going to go up to Tapps Plastic Sat, and get some #4 for the main tank build.
I have a HOB skimmer that I will use for this tank. The overflow for this is not your typical coast to coast overflow. I made a section for the pick-up tube from the skimmer to set in so I thought it should be deeper than the overflow section. I'm not sure if I should glue it to the back of the tank or just let it hang on the back.
Here are a few pics.

Lttle spring sticks are great for gluing

Part of the overflow

I cut the teeth on the table saw

That was just in case you didnt see the first pic LOL

I didnt like the gloss on the black acrylic so I sanded it with 600grit

You can see were it dumps into the box

Looks like I need to take time and clean this place up. I cant find anything. And when I do I trip over crap trying to get it. LOL

 

[eww]

Dude it looka like I've been working in there.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Peppie]

If I am not making a MESS. I'm not getting anything done. The problem now is, I cant get anything done, because I've got a MESS. LOL

 

[Peppie]

Only a small mess today. I got the divider glued in place. I left plenty of room to get my arm in ther to pull the pump for maint.

I needed to strain the water coming from the fuge to the return, and still make it easy to clean. I found a strainer from a different pump and made a friction fit washer to snap it on and snap it off. Works great.

I went ahead and made some clips to hang the skimmer overflow to the tank instead of gluing it to the tank. You just never know. I didnt want to be committed to the placement of the skimmer. I will be using a colored background (color undecided) it is 1/4'' hard board and will be removeable to change colors or replace if damaged. Again I didnt want to paint the back of the tank. That is what you see here (the 1/4'' hardboard,3/4''tank, clip)

I will glue the clips to the overflow
Here are a few pics of the finished fuge chamber

The water will flow into the large chamber to the left, Macro alg,eggc rock,eggc 1'' space open at the bottm for easy clean up

The pump will pull from the fuge. I'll set some media on the eggc. The water will flow up thur the media and back to the DT

The whole unit is ready to weld to the right side of the DT
I got my WeldOn #4 today and will start to weld the DT on Monday
If anybody sees something that will not work let me know before I glue this to the DT Please

 

[eww]

Am I totally upside down here??? Doesn't that maxijet pull in from the front and shoot water out the top? It looks like you might have it mounted backwards. Maybe I'm wrong. I thought you were pulling water in from the DT and blowing it into the larger fuge section with the two egg crate racks or do I have this completely wrong?