In Wall - going for it! - seeking your ideas/feedback/advice

[class clown]

So.. Just two more components left to take a look at on this bad boy.

1) Ventalation
2) electrical


for the first, would something simple like this work? any other ideas?

 

[class clown]

No thoughts on the ventalation ehh? Must mean it's perfect (or you're just sick of my lamo drawrings)

How about electrical? Any thoughts on that? if I had 4 20amp designated circuits, and 4 gfi receptacles, would that do? Any help putting together a parts list for that woudl be appreciated. As mentioned, I know little about electrical needs.

Also - anyone know of a good electrical online retailer for cheap?

 

[Scooterman]

That vent probably was placed in the event more was needed but it is just venting the space now, If you don't feel safe using it just add another next to it, how hard could that be? Either way, you could get your HAVOC guy look at it & see if you really need it & probably he will say you could use it. How hard wold it be to just add another vent?

 

[Scooterman]

If you have 4 dedicated 20amp circuits, I'd think that should be way plenty of power. When Nikki added hers, she used AFCI (arc fault breakers) & on the outlets use a single GFCI. The GFCI usually you can daisy chain several outlets downstream & all be protected. You will need to consider locating outlets at several locations or plan on maybe extending a few cords. I like moving the electrical as far as I can from water, possible splashing into the outlets but still usable, the power centers everyone uses seems to work out well, individual switches is nice to have. I use a long surge protected strips but they don't have the individual switches. You can get most of the parts locally at HD or Lowe's, prices are reasonable. On last thing I got was outlet protection boxes, these go over the outlets, really saved me from splashes several times already, keeps water out of the outlets.

 

[DonW]

What would be nice is a way to measure how much water is removed so you can add back the same amount!

That is very easy to do with the use of float switches and relays. No electronics neened. I wouldnt use a Aquacontroler just because its wasting expensive IO resources.
I also think that if your going to take automation far enough as to do water changes it would be more cost effective to get a automation controller.
Aquarium controllers are sort of cool but overpriced and price per IO is outragous.

Don

 

[dragoneggs]

No thoughts on the ventalation ehh? Must mean it's perfect (or you're just sick of my lamo drawrings)

How about electrical? Any thoughts on that? if I had 4 20amp designated circuits, and 4 gfi receptacles, would that do? Any help putting together a parts list for that woudl be appreciated. As mentioned, I know little about electrical needs.

Also - anyone know of a good electrical online retailer for cheap?

I wouldn't get too wrapped up on your ventilation exact plans. That should be easy do arrange once you have things in place.

As far as electrical, I have two dedicated 20amps which are plenty so far but I haven't added a chiller. I am sure three would be more than plenty regardless of what you do. You will need plenty of outlets though! I am using 3 x 8 lighted/switched plug power strips and have most of the outlets in use. Just my Ca reactor is using up three outlets. Two of the strips are located in my stand below and the third is located in the canopy. Please forgive the blue tape as I am still working on final routing for some systems.

 

[class clown]

Wow Mark - that looks clean w/ or withought the blue tape .. scheeesh! nice! I still need to come over and see you're setup sometime. So 3 should be enough ehh? Cool

 

[SRV]

I wouldn't get too wrapped up on your ventilation exact plans. That should be easy do arrange once you have things in place.

As far as electrical, I have two dedicated 20amps which are plenty so far but I haven't added a chiller. I am sure three would be more than plenty regardless of what you do. You will need plenty of outlets though! I am using 3 x 8 lighted/switched plug power strips and have most of the outlets in use. Just my Ca reactor is using up three outlets. Two of the strips are located in my stand below and the third is located in the canopy. Please forgive the blue tape as I am still working on final routing for some systems.

Mark
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the plug strips?
Rick

 

[trido]

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the plug strips?

Here is one link http://www.idjnow.com/StoreModules/...TING EFFECTS--SubDeptID=Controllers^Switching

 

[class clown]

UPDATE: My items have started to arrive - slowly but surely.

I had a mishap with one of my biggest orders being 46 items short of what I ordered (mostly plumbing) , and containing 3 broken T5 bulbs. I won't mention the name of the company as I think it was an honest mistake and I'm hoping they take care of me since it was such a big order, but I just hope this isn't a preminition for how the rest of the project will continue.

I have most of the big stuff in though. Hammerhead, Oceans motions, kalk reactor, lumenarcs, lifting storage rack that I'm using for a lighting rack.

Work has been crazy busy lately. I still need to plan out my electrical and gather a list together of wood to build the stand. Hopefully I can find some time this weekend.

 

[NC2WA]

Ben,

What did you decide on for your lighting rack? Can you send a link or pic?

thanks
kirk

 

[class clown]

Ben,

What did you decide on for your lighting rack? Can you send a link or pic?

thanks
kirk

I ended up going w/ Costco's Racor Prostar heavylift:

It's a pretty beefy model. I thought initially it'd be easy to mod by cutting out the wire mesh in the center for the lumenarc's, but the wire mesh is actually pretty darn sturdy and I'm not sure how I'll do this without some heavy duty equipment - certainly my tin snips won't cut it.

Here's a couple shot's of what I'm stockpiling so far:

bottom of the lighting rack - hmmm, how to mod? how to mod?

couple boxes of plumbing (more are on the way)

Hammerhead in plastic, Kalk reactor in box, broken T5 bulbs on the right

and my favorite - they look like alien space ships - the lumenarc III's w/ vent kits...

 

[sgwill122]

Hey Ben I have a grinder you can borrow that will make short work of the mesh.

 

[Scooterman]

Ben Is that the only two eye hooks used for mounting the LIII? Looks like it would not sit level like that.

 

[dragoneggs]

Ben Is that the only two eye hooks used for mounting the LIII? Looks like it would not sit level like that.

Nice pile of stuff Ben... FYI I mounted my LIIIs to the top of the canopy with only a single screw through the top center of the reflector. I then secured the ballast box to ballast support structure on the side. Here are a couple pics...

 

[class clown]

Ben Is that the only two eye hooks used for mounting the LIII? Looks like it would not sit level like that.

That's it scooty. I thought it was strange too, but it's actually some pretty sweet engeneering. because of the weight of this big beefy mogul socket, it actually balances out quite nicely.

 

[class clown]

Hey Ben I have a grinder you can borrow that will make short work of the mesh.

Nice - I may have to take you up on that offer too Steve The one thing I don't want to do is butcher it. My goal is to look at this and have someone say SWEEET, like I just did when i saw Mark's pictures. I'll have to really think this one through. I may have to put a template together for some precisition cutting, repaint the exposed ends, and then use some angle iron to make a nice solid resting place for the LIII's on top without interupting the reflection patter.

The T5's will be easy - I just hang those underneath. thank goodness for somethign easy

 

[Jan]

The T5's will be easy - I just hang those underneath.

Hang them underneath your Luminarcs? My mini's are blocking much of the light from my actinics....wondering what to do about that, if anything.

 

[NC2WA]

Ben,

Thanks for the pic. I am going to see about getting some T5's for me as well.

Kirk

 

[class clown]

Hang them underneath your Luminarcs? My mini's are blocking much of the light from my actinics....wondering what to do about that, if anything.

Nahh - they'd be on the sides of the lumenarcs, but underneath the rack - Dont make me draw another lamo picture Jan

I'd recomend making some retrofit brackets and bring your actinics down so that you're lumenarc's aren't blocking the light. I had the same problem in my 55 hood. I can show you the creative solution I came up with to build brackets that dropped my actinics down to the same level as the MH reflectors. This may create some more problems with accessing the tank though depending on how much extra room you have in there.