Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

Last night about 8 pm, I turned on the Iwaki pump. I predicted it would raise the temp right back to 82.4 F

As of 5:15 am, temp is currently at 80.6. The Iwaki, mag 7, and skimmer are running. Tonight I will dbl check the temp, and turn on the OM unit.

Nick

 

[dgasmd]

Nick:

This is very tedious work to say the least, but it will certainly pay off to do the right detective work and figure out exactly what is doing what. That way you can address the problem at the root rather than trying to treat symptoms, all of which will become problems in themselves in the long run.

 

[Maxx]

Alberto....
I kinda enjoy the figuring out part. That was was I loved about EMS...figuring out what was causing the problems that were being presented. Is it this??? Is it that??? etc....So this doent bug me too much...I'm just wanting to be done with the set up stage and on to the stocking stage.

Temp is showing slight fluctuations between 27-28 C which translates out to 80.6-82.4 F.....so I'm guessing somewhere at 81.5 F....Without the OM unit.
I'm going to turn on the OM unit and see what happens temp wise.
Nick

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Nick, quick question for you. Your cutting board, is it UV safe? I went on the site from your link to check but couldn't find the info. I remember Kevin (Aquatic Dreams) mentioning something about the need for UV safe board. Reason I'm askig is the more I thought about it and my own experiences with DSB I have decided to go with the board. My current tank is bare bottom, but I was going to go with a DSB for my cube, not anymore! So I'm looking for the place to get it from.

 

[Maxx]

Todd,
To be honest with you, I never looked and kinda doubt it. All the UV safety factor is going to do for you is prevent yellowing/discoloration of the board over time. As far as I'm concerned, this is no big deal...the board will eventually be covered in coralline algae anyway and if things get too ugly, I can always buy another piece and cut to fit. My rockwork is going to be zip tied to a PVC rack that I'll be just dry fitting together anyway...so it would be an easy time of just pulling all rockwork out and putting somewhere long enought to remove the old board and insert the new.

Interestingly enough, the house temp is now 68 F and the tank is at 78.8 F with everything but lights on...(OM, Iwaki, Skimmer, and Mag 7). If things stayed like this, I'd be golden....I'll have to see what happens when I mount the lights up tomorrow.

Nick

 

[dannyd]

Nick How do you like the oceans motions 4 way? Have you checked out their revelution power heads? I am planning on putting the 4 way on my 240 gallon closed loop system and installing 8 of the revelution either the 360 degree or the 180 degree rotating heads. This way It can get circulation throughout the tank. I wam using a 2700 gph pump by dolphin. How long did it take to recieve the item after you purchased it?

 

[DisturbedReefer]

You have a point there, I was planning to do pretty much the same and I'm going with two islands so I have a center channel for swimming and lots of room for SPS growth. I only wish I didn't have to do two pieces of board since I have a cube with a euro top. Getting excited about the board idea, I left my hex without substrate after the move about 3 months ago and it is almost completely covered in coralline now.

 

[Maxx]

Danny,
I love the OM unit. I think this is one of the best things to come around in this hobby in a long time. I've seen the Revolutions, but didnt feel they would suit my needs. The outlet on them looks alot like a powerhead to me, and the problem with powerheads (IMO) is that the flow is very concentrated as opposed to the larger more diffuse flow coming from the fan outlets I put on the end of the LocLine. I could be completely wrong, this is just a guesstimation based on what I've seen of them via the internet. I really like the concept behind them though. Neat idea.
I dont recall how long it took for it to arrive, not very long at all though. Some people favor the Tunze Streams, or motorized ball valves over the OM units...amd thats fine...but nobody can say anything negative about Paul's customer service. The man is awesome.

Todd,
I'm going to do a similar aquascape like you described. I'm planning on one larger sweeping from higher up on the right, sloping down toward the center of the tank. And then a single irrelgular column rising upo towards the water surface on the left...ithe column will have a couple (2 maybe 3) ledges sticking out at odd angles, (not shading each other).
Any chance you could get the board in one piece past the euro-bracing by angling it in? I would order one larger piece, and cut it to fit your needs. This stuff cuts really easy. I was surprised.

 

[DisturbedReefer]

The problem with my tank for the board is that it is a complete square 36x36 with a 4" euro bracing all around. So, my only way to get it in would be to cut it, I will probably cut it in half so that each piece will have one of the islands on them.

 

[Maxx]

Yeah, thats probably the way to go Todd....

I hooked up the halides tonight and turned them on. They are dual 250 watt Double Ended (DE) bulbs. I will also be running 190 watts of VHO actinics for color supplementation. I dont think they will add anything that the MH's wouldnt, temperature wise.
The lights have been running for about 6 hours and the temperature has risen to 82.4 degrees F. The house is at 69 degrees F so I think the ambient air temp has a larger effect on my tanks temp than I had hoped or expected.
I'm going to be figuring out a way to DIY a chiller from the old dorm fridge I have in the basement. I just want to lower the temp about 5 degrees or so and then use a heater to maintain the correct temp, (at least until I can afford to buy the right chiller).
I'm evaporating somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 1/2 gallons a day.

In the Things that make you go DUH!!! department:
I've been trying to figure out where a micro bubble problem was coming from since I moved the tank inside the house from the garage. The bubbles were coming from the OM unit and were all over the place...really annoying, I figured that it was just because the tank was new, and would eventually go away.
Wasnt happening. In fact, I could tell it was getting worse.
So I shut down the OM unit and pump and tried to figure out what the problem was... Checked to make sure the closed loop had enough water and wasnt causing some cavitation...everything was fine in there.
Turned it all back on...problem was worse than when I turned it all off and looked inside the priming hook....wait a minute??? All I did was open the priming hook cap! Leaving the pump running, I unscrewed the priming hook cap, (seen in this photo...the part sticking up to the right of the Loc-Line return Y...)

And suddenly bubbles starting flooding out from the closed loop....the priming hook from the closed loop intake started sucking air horribly.....
DUH!!!!?????!!!! This is the INTAKE...its sucking air stupid!!!! Thats why there are so many micro bubbles!!!
It hadnt done this in the garage because I cranked it tight attempting to prevent a geyser of water all over my motorcycle in the garage when I was wet testing....
Took the cap off completely, wrapped the threads with teflon tape, and cranked it tight by hand.
Turned everything back on.......no bubbles!!
Yeah, I'm a genius.....
Tomorrow will be getting the light box handcrank together and then I will begin staining the lightbox support arms, and the dowel that the lightbox will hang from and will rise/lower from.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

I've been as busy as Rocio would let me get on the tank today.....

Installed the dowel brackets today, cleaned of the little dorm fridge, bought a maxi jet 1200 to run water through tubing that will sit in the fridge, bought 100 feet of 1/2 ID tubing to sit in the fridge, plugged in the little fridge to see if it still works and how well it still works, (Froze a bottle of water in a couple of hours when placed on coldest setting), connected the American DJ PC-100A power centers today, and hung the ballasts for my MH's....And I took pictures of most of it.

Here is a close up of the dowel bracket.

I used a 1 3/4" hole saw to cut the hole. Heres a helpful tip those following along at home. When using a hole saw that uses a drill bit to get started, drill all the way through the wood, until the drill bit itself punches through, but not the hole saw. You can cut halfway through the wood with the hole saw if you like, but do not go all the way through with hole saw. Flip the piece over, place your drill bit in the hole it made from the other side, and cut from the other side of the piece. This time you're going all the way through the wood. In doing this, you avoid the wood splintering when the hole saw comes through. Its pretty ugly when that happens. This keeps that from happening.
In case thats really confusing to follow...drill halfway through with holesaw, all the way through with drill bit. flip piece over, line up drill bit into drill bit hole from the other side, and begin cutting. This should prevent any splintering. Its what I did here.

Here is a photo of the bracket with the dowel rod inserted. The dowel rod and the lightbox support arm still need to be stained and sealed. The hole is 1 3/4" but the dowel is only 1 1/4". I made the hole larger for two really good reasons. First, I wnated some room for the dowel to rotate with out binding up. Second, I only had 1 1/4" hole bits, and the 1 3/4" hole saw was the smallest one I had....nothing else would fit.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Next I mounted up the Power Centers and hung up my Sunlight Supply BlueWave IV E ballasts. You can see the back of my new light weight lightbox in the image. I have not mounted the trim on the lightbox, but it will match the stand. The lightbox is just sitting on two 2x4's to keep it off the top of the tank. The 2x4's also give me a good frame of reference for the lowest I want my lightbox to hang.

Here is a close up of the Power Center mounted to the upright...I have two and they are mounted in the same place on both sides. The other ballast is in the same place on the other side as well.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Still need to:

Stain lightbox support arms, and dowel.
Drill hole for light box cables to mount from the dowel.
Glue trim to the lightbox, (hide them gaps).
drill holes through the sides of the dorm fridge, run the ends of the tubing through the holes, and seal them with insulating foam.
Buy a smaller square-ish shaped bucket or something that will hold 100 feet of tubing and water, (Tubing sits in water inside the bucket for more efficient heat transfer).
Buy a top off resevoir somehwere in the neighborhood of 15-20 gallons.
Add salt mix and aquascape.....
sigh...I'm getting to the finish line!

Nick

 

[Scooterman]

WOW Nick looking awesome!

Are you getting any sleep these days?

 

[Maxx]

LOL...yeah, I'm getting sleep.
I didnt get everything I wanted done this weekend...time just flew by. I've got a lead on a chiller thats for sale locally though. Its the bigger version of the one I was looking at:Pacific Coast CL-650 1/4 hp inline chiller
I had been eyeballing the 1/10 hp version for my tank, but a local reefer is getting out of the hobby and is selling all of his equipment. He's letting the chiller go for $400.00 and the Mag 9.5 he uses to feed the chiller. He bought all of this in May of this year and still has receipts. I should be able to pick them up on either Thursday or Friday this week.
Thats a good thing cause I was really close to cutting holes in the side of the dorm fridge.
Nick

 

[dannyd]

Hello Nick I took your advice and ordered a 4 way oceans motions system for my 240 gallon tank to do my closed loop. I ordered version 1 and then ordered a extra drum version 2 so I can change and experiment with my wave motions. I am so glad you posted your tank because I have been rocking my brain trying to figure out what I was going to do on my closed loop without buying another pump this way will work. I am using a dolphin 2700 ghp pump on my tank and putting 8 locklines in the top of the tank and connection two lock lines per opening on the 4 way. This way it will switch back and forth to different sides of the tank.

 

[Maxx]

Danny,
Glad I could help you decide which way to go. From what I've been reading, the Amp Master 2700 will be fine on your tank. I hope you ordered the OM unit with 1 1/2 inch inlet/ports. The largest Loc-Line available is 3/4 of an inch unfortunately, so you will have to reduce your plumbing down to that, but I'm thinking you could run 8 seperate outlets, (all 3/4 inch) and then add a Y to each of those for your Loc-Line. Doing it that way should reduce the pressure placed on your pump and give you better flow. Sounds like your going to have quite a set up! Make sure you post up a thread about setting it up so I can follow along and see how a big tank gets done!
What are you planning on keeping in the tank?

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Have made some progress over the last couple of days, which is kinda surprising since Ive been sick as a dog, (if snot were gold, I'd own Fiji right now), and I've been working. Anyway...here we go:

First up was finishing up the lift mechanism for the lightbox. This was kinda kicking my butt for a bit. I'm still not wildly happy with it, but this will do until I come up with a better method.

I was concerned about the handwheel rotating, but not turning the dowel it was connected to, (kinda like when you turn a bolt and it rotates the nut also, so nothing changes...hope that makes sense), I initially thought about connecting the handwheel to the dowel with more than one screw, so it wouldnt spin uselessly. I didnt like that idea, since I was worried about the stress placed on all those screws from the rotational torque. Screws with the head twisted off are a ROYAL PITA to remove.
So I figured I'd build a collar that goes around the dowel rod, and connect it with screws to even out the stress placed on them. This is the collar. I had to go out and buy a 1 1/4 hole saw drill bit to get this right.

Even then I screwed it up a couple of times. I initially tried to use some leftover plywood since it was available and stained and sealed.....long story short, the screws inserted through the sides split the wood. I wound up using leftover 2x6 which was stained and sealed and cut it to fit.

You can see the screw on top running through the end grain of the wood here. I used one large screw per side to anchor this to the dowel. I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could rip the collar free of the dowel, but I'd have to work really hard to do that, and in any event that would be more stress than the collar will deal with while over my tank.

Here is a front shot of the handwheel attahed to the collar and dowel.
Again, I just used some scrap wood left over from the super heavy lightbox and cut it down to the shape it is now.

Here's a shot of the rear of the handwheel mounted to the collar and dowel.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Here is a pic of the handwheel and everything mounted over the tank. I added this little knob planning on using it to raise and lower the lightbox.....doesnt work to well for that though. The knob is too small, ( I couldnt find a long straight handled knob/handle to use for this). So I wind up grabbing the sides of the handwheel and raising/lowering the lightbox that way. Rocio makes fun of the little knob....I dont care, I'm secure enough in my manhood have a little knob on my handwheel. I'm not compensating for anything...

Here are two photos of the cotter pins I bought to keep the dowel from sliding out of the brackets and causing my lightbox to come crashing down.
Found em at Home Depot for 3 bucks each. I use two, one on either end so the dowel cant move very far.

Here is the cotter pin with the safety clip closed.

Here it is with the safety clip open. You just pull it over the end of the pin...kinda tough, so it wont happen accidently.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

This part kept me thinking for a bit.....
I had difficulty finding an appropriate method of keeping the lightbox raised at whatever height I wanted. Basically I needed to keep the dowel from moving after I raised/lowered the lightbox to the desired height. This is what I settled on:

These are two hook and eye latches with spring clips that keep them from accidently slipping of the eye bolt. I use one on each side. There are 4 eyebolts circling the dowel, so I can raise/lower the lightbox and lock it into almost any height. I have two sets of eyebolts shown here in these pics cause I screwed up the first placement and had to redo it....some people who have read this thread actually have the crazy impression that I'm some DIY super genius and get all this right on the first try...I WISH THAT WAS TRUE!!! This is just one more way of showing I'm human and make mistakes. So anyione who thinks this sort of thing is too difficult, thats crap. Cause if I can do this, anyone (except maybe my dad.....) can do it. Ya just gotta be willing to try.

Top down shot of the locking mechanism, (LOL...Its not really a mechanism, just makes me sound smarter...anybody impressed?????? Hello.....Hello...is this thing on????)

Nick