Peppie's 180 Reef-Room

[JPG@CFI]

Dave,

I'd go with a light sand, but the manufacturer will tell you what nozzle to use. There is a place in southcenter that carries all the goods. I can't remember their name, but are a large outfit. They have great customer support. You can blast the threads to clean them up, but I use a waterproof lube so they don't rust in place. Best of luck, Jason

 

[eddiecorrea]

Take the stand to Blastech in Auburn. $150 - $200 to get it blasted and it will look perfect. You also won't have the massive mess of the blasting yourself and won't waste money on a Harbor Freight blaster.

IF you want to continue to do it yourself I'd use 80grit glass beads. They will make a nice clean finish and your primer and finish will adhere perfectly to it.

I'd personally get it blasted and powdercoated. My friend owns American Powder Coating in Auburn. Call and see how much it would cost you. Tell him Eddie sent you and he will hook you up I'm sure. His name is Sean.

 

[crazyfish253]

DTM holds good to metal without a profile. DTM is not a very sacrificial coating so blasting is not necessary. If you scratch the DTM it will rust very quick blasted or not. I would recommend if you do blast use a zinc primer, even a rattle can zinc would be better than just DTM. The zinc is a sacrificial coating so if you scratch the paint the zinc will sacrifice before the steel even rusts. I know your looking for the long term overkill and zinc would be the way to go. If you choose not to use zinc

I would apply it with multiple coats achieving an 8 mill dry film thickness. When applying with a roller you may get some roller hairs, this is what is called a wick like a candle in wax. A direct rout for the salt water to the steel (RUST SPOT). Use some blue tape multiple times on the roller cover to pull off any hairs. This will minimize wicking. When your going to have salty environment you must use a sacrificial coating if want it to last more than a few years.

 

[Peppie]

Take the stand to Blastech in Auburn. $150 - $200 to get it blasted and it will look perfect. You also won't have the massive mess of the blasting yourself and won't waste money on a Harbor Freight blaster.

IF you want to continue to do it yourself I'd use 80grit glass beads. They will make a nice clean finish and your primer and finish will adhere perfectly to it.

I'd personally get it blasted and powdercoated. My friend owns American Powder Coating in Auburn. Call and see how much it would cost you. Tell him Eddie sent you and he will hook you up I'm sure. His name is Sean.

Thanks for your opinion Eddie,
I prefer to do the work myself. It will cost me a fraction compared to having it professionally powdercoated. Not to mention loading,transporting, and unloading this 400lbs+ Thats gotta be worth the money I spent on a cheap blaster.
The stand will not be in the house, so it wont be showcased, but it does need to be protected. I feel I am capable of doing this without spending 4-5 hundred bucks.
On top of that I get the experience of sandblasting (something I have not yet done). I also get to say I did it.

 

[Peppie]

DTM holds good to metal without a profile. DTM is not a very sacrificial coating so blasting is not necessary. If you scratch the DTM it will rust very quick blasted or not. I would recommend if you do blast use a zinc primer, even a rattle can zinc would be better than just DTM. The zinc is a sacrificial coating so if you scratch the paint the zinc will sacrifice before the steel even rusts. I know your looking for the long term overkill and zinc would be the way to go. If you choose not to use zinc

I would apply it with multiple coats achieving an 8 mill dry film thickness. When applying with a roller you may get some roller hairs, this is what is called a wick like a candle in wax. A direct rout for the salt water to the steel (RUST SPOT). Use some blue tape multiple times on the roller cover to pull off any hairs. This will minimize wicking. When your going to have salty environment you must use a sacrificial coating if want it to last more than a few years.

Thanks Matt,
Good advise. Would it be better if I used a foam roller to apply the DTM, over the rattle can zinc primer?
The industrial zinc product that SW carried was $250 per gal. I just rolled my eyes and asked what else do ya got.

 

[Peppie]

I am getting ready to make a mess!

I will post up some long over due progress later today!
Plan B is in motion, or is it plan C ?

 

[Spinner]

I grew up with the smell of fresh lumber comming from 60 years of builders in my family. I hope you have learned your lesson about sharing with others.......so yes go ahead with plan B,C,and some of D FYI i sent you my almost full can of pink Krylon Fusion per your request!

 

[marsh4211]

Nice im liking the way this is going. keep up the good work.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Peppie if you paint a single inch of pvc pink I will loose all respect man!:loco:

 

[senji]

pink is a real mans color. only men comfortable with there sexuality use it. i rock a pink shirt once in awhile.

 

[Peppie]

pink is a real mans color. only men comfortable with there sexuality use it. i rock a pink shirt once in awhile.

Nick, only you could pull that off! LOL

 

[Peppie]

Nice im liking the way this is going. keep up the good work.

I only wish it were going a bit quicker.

 

[Peppie]

Peppie if you paint a single inch of pvc pink I will loose all respect man!:loco:

How will I know what pipe is doing what?? Maybe some directional arrows??

 

[Peppie]

I grew up with the smell of fresh lumber comming from 60 years of builders in my family. I hope you have learned your lesson about sharing with others.......so yes go ahead with plan B,C,and some of D FYI i sent you my almost full can of pink Krylon Fusion per your request!

The lessons I learn from sharing can often be disappointing, but more times inspiring.

If I were to mix the smell of wood with the correct shade of of pink I would be accused of being a deranged dirty old man.

 

[Peppie]

OK
Lets get to it.

First on the list is to get this wired and mounted into the ceiling. It is rated @ 210cfm. I hope that is large enough to pull humid air out of a 9 X 12 room.
It was the most bang for the buck at the Big Box Store.

I had to take some of the rock off the ceiling to get to this part of the install. I will run the 7'' duct to a gable vent about 10' away.

Check this off the list.

I have 3 empty breaker slots in the main panel. I'll install 3, 15amp breakers for this system.

The other two lines

 

[Peppie]

Now that I have the wire ran to the elec. panel, I may as well frame some walls to run it thru.
This wall will be twice as long than what is in the picture. It will be much easier to work on this project with half the wall in place.

This wall is next, I took down the shelves. I will pull most of the slot wall off so I can run some wire.

I got it opened up

The two blue boxes are the add ons. And the rolled up coil in the bottom left is the other circuit, it will go to the far end of the tank for the Apex.

covered back up and read for mud and paint.

 

[trido]

Looking great Dave!! I just downsized my reef from four 20 amp breakers to two. I needed them for my kitchen remodel. Can I ask why you used 15 amp instead of 20?

 

[Peppie]

Looking great Dave!! I just downsized my reef from four 20 amp breakers to two. I needed them for my kitchen remodel. Can I ask why you used 15 amp instead of 20?

Apex Controller Manual said to plug the unit into a 15amp cir.
Didnt think I needed 20amps, being I will have 3 separate cir. @ 15amps.
The breakers have not yet been purchased. The 20amp is still do-able.

Why would I need to use 20 amps??

 

[Peppie]

So this is the plan B part.
When I began this adventure the now "Fishroom" was to only be a filter/sump room. If I have to much time to think about anything I always seem to change the out come one way or another. I keep telling myself "I am just adapting" LOL

The water barrels were set up for a gravity feed system, it worked very well. I wanted to keep that idea for the new plan B. But the humungous steel stand sitting where it needs to made getting to the far side of the room nearly impossible.
This is what it looked like

I cut the wall back 16''. I needed to make that point narrower. It was only 14'' from the wall to the steel stand. Not enough room to get by comfortably.

This is were the fresh RO/DI barrel sets. I will support the shelf with some 2 X 4s, ( I ran out of lumber )

This is how the other barrels sit. The second highest is the saltwater mixing barrel. Heater and pump will plug into the new blue elec. box to the left.
The small 30 gal barrel below will be the ATO holding tank. The yellow wire to the top right will power the pump that is controlled by the Apex on the other side of the room.

I need to prime and paint before I hard plumb the barrels.

Now I can pull some drywall and reframe the tank wall.

 

[tat2z_21]

Peppie, looks amazing, also looks like a lot of fun. Makes me want to redo my sump room.