Hey tony if you need a hand give me a shout!!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Man, Im excited for you, so I can imagine how you must feel being soooo close to getting water in the beast. You can feel free to call on me for anything as well.

Looks awesome Tony. That is quite the progress you've made.

Let me know if you need Kevin to run your electrical for you. Its the least we can do after you took care of our livestock for so long. Besides I hear the electrical trade is the trade where a little knowledge can be dangerous!

Nice job on the carpentry. Going to look sweet when it's done.

Looks good Tony. Are the hood vent ducts, to the hrv?

Right on Tony so your saying that the lights light wont fit ,it it doesnt send it to me i will use it ..:mrgreen: looks great man like how you put the hood in too.

I'll help if you need it in any way...Make a day or two out of it LOL

Thanks for the offers, be careful though I may just take you up on it. (Kev, I might need help on the weekend or one day huffing the sump into the stand. Linda's already declared "I'm not helping you with that." :lol:)

...

Anyhow, the HRV (heat recovery ventilator) vent covers are in, as are the barndoor hanger tracks.

Now, you might be tempted to believe that going from here...
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1030003-0.jpg

to here..
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1050003-0.jpg

... wouldn't take about 4 to 5 hours of effort. But, apparently, you'd be mistaken. I sure was.. :neutral: Hoooley geeez was this not a lot of fun getting those things up there.

Looks like Uni-Strut/Cantruss. I should have given you a hand. Work with that ALOT, being an Industrial electrician and all :D But, Looking GREAT :biggrin:

Part of the problem was that I don't have proper mounting brackets for the tracks. All the proper brackets I could find are intended for .. well, hanging actual barn doors, so they are to sit flush against a wall parallel to the track. Since the track is perpendicular to the joists, I just drilled the track and screwed it right into the joists. Problem is, it doesn't matter how many times I measure, I have to cut (or in this case, drill) one time more than the measurements. Measure once, cut twice. Measure twice, cut .. er, three times. Apparently I suck at measuring. :redface: :lol: So there was a lot of drilling into the track going on tonight.

Guess you would hate me if I told you that that stuff also comes in a slotted back version, so no drilling required, Huh?

Atleast its up, right lol Now hang them lights :onfire:

Just say when, and I'll send him over, complete with a couple of double doubles.

looks good Tony, did you get the Lumenarc mini's in canada? also did you get the wides or just regulars?

Oh I wouldn't hate you for saying, I'd just hate myself more for not looking longer. :lol: Part of the problem is this stuff is pretty foreign to me so I had trouble finding what I had in mind, as it was. Luckily AndyL on Canreef was able to set me up with this stuff for a pretty good deal so I was happy enough. I'm happy they're off my floor, they are gargantuan and heavy (way heavier than the light rack, there's irony). I had nightmare visions of dropping one on the tank and damaging the glass ... as it was I did drop one once and took out the eggcrate on the overflow. :( At least it's just eggcrate though, easily enough replaced.

John, they're just regulars. I didn't know there was a wide version of the mini's. I got them in a group order, er, about 2 years ago. Well, that's only sort of the story. I ordered two regulars initially in the group order, then decided they were too big because I want to flank the reflectors with T5's. So I traded with Michika for the mini's. Then I bought the third off Asmodeus. The irony is that even with the mini's I will still have very little clearance for the t5's. I might take a page out of Michika's/KrazyKuch's book and go with 24's mounted perpendicular. The main thing I want out of the t5's is a little actinic supplementation and a dusk/dawn effect so going with 24-inchers might just be the ticket .. they are cheaper and easier to get ahold of the 60-inchers..

Good to see you're keeping the dream alive =)

If you need a hand lifting something let me know. I'm in the area and built like a wall (verge of collapse).

I was really looking forward to making a light rack as well but the wife vetoed that idea. Looks like you did a great job!

Looking good Tony.

I look forward to following along!

Looks Great Tony, How did you make you aluminum light hanger. Mine is currently wood and I'd really like to change it. Could you share where you got your supplies and a cost? Pleeease

J

So when's the "Hey My Tank is finally full of water!" Barbeque?

The only time I really injured myself on my build was when I was installing those overhead tracks. Working directly above my head I dropped the screwdriver right onto my forehead and cut myself pretty badly.

I had to do the exact same thing as you...Find the crossing joists, measure and drill the track, then put it up and hope they lined up. Sounds like my measuring went somewhat better than yours! The stuff I used (KN Crowder) does not have any slotted version available.

btw...you can get small end plugs that you can install on the ends of the tracks that will prevent you from inadvertently rolling the lights right off the end of the track. Needless to say...that would be bad. I have some....have not gotten around to installing them.

Hit a wee snag tonight. :( Bummer, 3-4 days of progress without a showstopper was just begging for it though.

What's happened is I tried to modify the shuttle cars for the barndoor hangers to be able to hang the canopy from them. I used an eyehook upside-down with a locknut on the top to hold it in place. But the problem is the locknut can't clear the screws that are holding up the track (not even close, I tried yanking on it pretty hard).

So time for some headscratching. Either I find a different way to hang the lightframe, or I find a different way to mount the tracks. If I could just find some flush-ceiling mount brackets I'd be set, but I don't know where to buy such a thing. I might ask my blacksmith buddy if he's able to fabricate me something.

Anyhow, even though it's not working out, here are some pictures detailing what I had in mind.

This is the original shuttlecar ...
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1050006-0.jpg

This is the exploded view of the modified shuttlecar..
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1050007-0.jpg

I decided on turnbuckles just so there's wiggle room for adjustments in case it doesn't hang level. In retrospect the upside eye hook is way longer than it needs to be. It's a 5" bolt and a 2.5" would suffice. I was thinking I'll cut the bolts down to size or get shorter ones, but now with the fact that I can't roll the rollers in the track I guess I have some other homework to do in the meantime.

...

The lightframe itself is basically a box. The aluminum and all the brackets and bolts-n-nuts cost around $80 and everything came from Rona/Home Depot. I just looked through the metal bins and found this 3/4" aluminum square rod. I had the fantasy of having it welded at first but decided that brackets and bolts and screws are good enough.

The idea is that it's a box with three cross-bars on the top, at 25%, 50% and 75% (roughly) to evenly space out the reflectors. The whole thing put together weighs around 22lbs and is decently sturdy.

It occurs to me now that if all you wanted was to hang the lumenarcs then a box isn't even needed, just the top layer itself. I went with the box idea though so that the bottom layer is there for attaching T5's if I ever get around to buying them.

Here are some closeup shots showing details of the construction..
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1050003-1.jpg
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1050004-0.jpg
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1050005-0.jpg

The 24" T5s are also much easyier to ship if you need to, they don't usually require additional shipping on top of the regular extra shipping for lightbulbs!

Sucks about the shuttle though.

Nice workmanship there Tony. Ever consider mounting some VHO actinics under the halides?

What kind of screws did you use to hold up the track? Can you switch out those screws for ones with flatter heads that would allow your locknut to clear?

If not, you might be stuck with the original shuttlecar bolt. Figure out how to attach a eyelet to the bottom of that bolt.

I'm thinking a kind of long nut. One that can be threaded onto the bottom of the existing bolt AND threaded onto your eyelet. I believe it would be called a "threaded rod coupler", or a "coupling nut".

Pacific Fasteners in Vancouver had stuff like this for me (in stainless steel)

Tony, you should be able to unscrew one of the eyelets on the turnbuckle, and screw the stock shuttlecar bolt into the turnbuckle. Thus, not needing the one eyebolt and the clevis. One thread of the turnbuckle is right hand thread, the other is left hand. So use the right hand thread end LOL If that's not long enough or wont work for some reason, you can get whats called Coupling Nuts. They are approx 1.5" long, and threaded inside. You can even get them mismatched threads, say 5/16 on one side, and 3/8" on the other. they are specifically for joining threaded rods together :D

Tony I'm glad you're documenting all of this, that way I can follow it when I get my build going :razz: Its also fantastically awesome and awesomely fantastic that you're getting a move on on this thing! :mrgreen: Seeing it in person actually on the stand renewed my faith that one day you'll actually have saltwater in it! :wink:

Thanks all.

Using some coupling nuts is something I thought about last night ... I didn't realize they came in mismatched thread sizes, that's awesome to know.

Although I think I like the idea of removing one of the turnbuckle bolts and replacing it with a regular carriage bolt. That idea has a lot of potential!!! Thank you!!!! (Argh, today at work is going to be a frustrating 8 hours until I can get home and try it out. :lol:)

You think thats frustrating? Tomorrow, Im shipping out again for another 21 days in the North West territories. Wont be able to do nothing tank related till Jan 28 LOL And it's -40 there right now HAHA, I must be an idiot.....

Shouldnt need a carriage bolt either, the bolt that came with the trolley should thread right into the turnbuckle. Atleast thats my theory LOL:wink:

The stock bolt is HUUUUUUUGE, it's like a 1/2" or possibly even 5/8" thickness. I'm pretty sure you could use it to suspend a BC Ferry in the air :lol: I just bought a 1/4" turnbuckle for this purpose because I have very little vertical space to work with on account of that darn ceiling jog for the ducts.

Ohh, the turnbuckles 1/4" I was thinking the turnbuckle was 5/16 or so and the stock bolt was 3/8" But ya, 1/4" be plenty strong. darn pictures perspective is allways skewed LOL:wink:

[quote=Delphinus;375020] I'm pretty sure you could use it to suspend a BC Ferry in the air :lol:

I don't know about that. Most of the fleet is in pretty bad shape. Nothing but DEAD WEIGHT, or an excellent anchor for a Super Tanker :wink:

Well, it wouldn't be the BOLT that would fall apart. :lol:

Anyhow, thanks Bandit, the idea worked perfect.

The shuttlecars now look like this:
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1060003-0.jpg

And here is the lightframe up in the air. W00ty!!1!ONE!
http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/a/d/...p1060004-0.jpg

It actually sits pretty level without needing any adjustments. Only thing is it sits a little too low, it needs to come up 3"-4". I'll be running 400w's so I was hoping for as close to 12" above the water surface as possible. Right now they are about 8". So I'll be chopping down the bolts to make it happen since the hanger assembly is already at minimum length.

Actually the irony is at the current height it would fit under the furnace ducts. But I really want the 11"-12" of height for the sake of minimizing heat transfer and hopefully creating a more uniform light cast.

I would do the bolts tonight but all of a sudden I'm wiped. Think I'm gonna check out what's on the PVR. :lol:

Looks sweet Tony! Just a few tweaks and you can scratch that one off your list.:biggrin:

^^^^ now you feel old and not just look old :)


Nice progress btw :)

that looks great, must be nice to be able to move your lights away from the tank. All the little things that really make the difference. Cant wait to see more.

Looks great!

Now...you'll want to put a light up in the ceiling between those two air intakes. That way, you'll still be able to see what you are doing when you roll the lights out of the way.

Very nice Tony! I was looking at active threads, and I thought "When did Tony have a 280g in-wall ??" .. then I noticed the dates! :razz:

Good advice from banditpowdercoat! Nice easy fix!

Thanks Brad. :) I have some spare 175's ballasts and a cheapy dual reflector I was thinking of using for that. I also have some N.I.B. ReefOptix reflectors I could use too, haven't quite decided if I'll use those instead or sell them. For the purpose of "temporary lighting" the cheapy DIY thing might be good enough..

Yeah I know. It's been bad. I used to travel a lot for work, then I had kids then I had other projects, then I got down on the hobby for a while and thought about selling everything, then I would save up for equipment purchases .... I have a long list of excuses .. :redface:

I wish I had thought to photograph what the furnace ducts looked like originally. THAT was a huge project to fix up in itself. A lot of the challenges that have slowed me down have had nothing to do with setting up a tank and but instead have to do with fixing up builder's blunders, or renovating a basement, or running plumbing .. and then fixing the plumbing because I didn't do it right ... stuff like that.

There's a guy that's dedicated to the hobby. *salute*

Ok, so whats next? :lol::razz: