Jumping In! My tank diary begins.
 

Hello,

This is my first crack at salt after many years doing the freshwater thing.

I'll be keeping a sort of diary of my progress here:

http://www.reef.thelastlight.net/

Comments welcome. Cheers!

Brett

couldn't get into that link :wink:

tank
 

looks like you could hold up a car with that stand.
but keep it comeing

Wowzers.. that's one heavy duty stand. That bad boy will secure some peace of mind alright :lol:

Looking forward to more progress.. welcome to the board. Welcome to the addiction. Things seem to be moving along quite nicely for you so far. :wink:

Well done, can't wait to see the finished product.

Re:
 

Nice start, That is one hardcore stand. :mrgreen:

This just in: All three cats on the stand at once brought it down. I'm in tears! Back to the drawing board =)

Thanks folks. I've been reading up for nearly a year. It's SO sweet to finally be getting my hands dirty (and soon SALTY)

Brett

Thanks for sharing ! These threads really help those of us hovering on the fringes waiting to make the leap :) :). Site looks good to me lastlight!
I liked Albert's simple , no nonsense reply to what he sees as the basic neccessities as ,sometimes ,the more reading one does the more confusing it gets.
.........Dave

Looking good, Brett! I didnt know anything about carpentry, plumbing, or electrical either when I got into this. But I did my research and muddled through it. Feel free to check out my old photo gallery:

http://www.auphanonline.com/gallery/...d=1330&page=98

If you want to add another piece of mind to the stability, might I suggest some construction grade, Polyurethane Adhesive (comes in a tube, so you have to use a caulking gun to squirt it out). I glued & screwed everything, as suggested by a carpenter that I know. You can get it at Home Depot.

Oh, and another tidbit: Dont DIY to save money. It actually cost me a lot more DIY, than it would if i had bought everything. The priority for DIY is mainly for customization. So dont be surprised when you go over-budget (because you WILL!). ;)

There are some DIY projects that might cost more than retail, but IMO that would mean you ended up with something mucher higher quality and customized than retail.

And for a lot of projects, DIY is actually cheaper, even if you do go over budget by a bit. For example, I have done 2 lighting hoods that were much cheaper going with a retrofit kit and DIY hood compared to buying a complete unit. My Auto-top of system is cheaper than retail by far. My sump is DIY with an old tank and baffles, FAR cheaper than buying a retail sump.

I had some DIY lighting... 4 55watt pc's, all overdriven, that cost me $130, and $30 for the reflector... Thats a lot cheaper than buying a coralife setup.

Other than that, most of the time the supplies cost about the same as the store bought project.... and sometimes, or atleast in my case, it looks better

Yes, fair enough. My DIY sump/fuge were cheaper too, as was my DIY Overflow box.

I just wanted to point out the flip side of some DIY projects, so that people know before they jump in. You'll definitely get personal satisfaction from building a higher quality, customized product, but you will pay for it. In both Time and Money. Plus Murphy's Law is always there to prove itself. So you have to weigh those options. Else you can pay a premium up front for a retail product, and you'll have it right away. So it depends on what you're looking for, and what you're willing to give up.

But again, dont get me wrong, I jumped in to this DIY thing whole heartedly, and I actually learned a LOT about the various trades involved. It was very rewarding, and I'm already thinking about how I'd improve on some things for the next time.

Famous Last Words: Measure Twice, Cut Once!!

Yes for me the reward already has been immense. I've never had a space to mess around in and now having a basement allows me to do just that. This stand will surely cost more than a retail one but in the end I made it, I know it's strong, and i can make it exactly as I want it (with my limited skillset). Plus, like you said, It's a chance to learn. I'm on a computer all day and it's nice to do some hands-on work like this.

I expect to save on the canopy as I bought a retrofit 250 W MH fixture but I wouldn't be surprised if I spend as much or more than a comparable retail unit by the time I'm done putting fans in etc.

Brett

Good to hear, Brett! You know what's weird for me, I actually bought a ready-made DIY hood that had 2 x MH moguls, spider reflectors, fans, grills, and 2 x 250W Icecap ballasts, shipped from a guy in the states, and it was significantly ($100?) cheaper than buying those parts locally, even after shipping and duties.

I just took the parts out and put them into my own DIY hood.

Having done these projects, I cant wait to get my own fixer-upper house and renovate it myself, just like those home improvement shows! haha ;)

Hehe, I love your writing. Pretty funny stuff :cool:

Great looking stand. Reminds me of my own, built by my dad (he has the better tools and needed a "retirement project"). I call it the Tank for the tank.:razz:

Way past my bedtime AGAIN.

But I made some minor progress with the stand:

http://www.reef.thelastlight.net/#feb_6_2006

Brett

Looking good. A circular saw with an edge guide would be easier and more accurate than a jigsaw for those types of cuts in the future. They are about $99 for a laser guided one at sears or cantire.

Yeah you're probably right about the accuracy. I was worried about wrecking the laminated maple edges with the circular saw as my blade isn't all that new. Maybe I'll pick up a new blade for it test it on a scrap piece.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Brett

I used a router with a flush-cut bit on my stand.

If you do get a new blade ask about a Carbide Triple Chip blade at the hardware store.

Thanks for the advice. I did pickup a carbide blade for the circular saw and with guides it does a great job!

Anyways, I've been pretty busy many things...the tank being one of them thankfully.

A lot of updates all at once:

http://www.thelastlight.net/reef/#feb_27_2006

Cheers!

Brett

Glad my advice helped out. Until someone told me, I didn't even know my circular saw came with an edge guard!

And a great job so far, I like the return manifold, identical to mine but with 5 loclines instead of 7, my tank is 6 feet.

Looks great

I'd estimate that after losses maybe 1000 of ther 1500 gph are making it into the tank. So at the nozzles, you can't really feel too much pressure.

Should i toss a couple seios in there? would people recommend the tunze looking ones or the ones closer to powerheads?

Brett

I personally would go for Tunze's if I had the cash. The SEIOs are a good bargain, but the larger capacity ones get pretty big.

The Tunze fellow at RC is always telling people with tanks 55 gallons or less to not get one. I orig. wanted one...

Would 2 x Seio 620 be effective?

Is that one smaller in size than the 820?

Brett

As well...I see some Seio's looking like wave boxes and some with the round turnine look. Which is which?

They are both the same, you just take off the guard at the bottom and it looks like a Tunze.

I think the 620 is smaller than the 820. Not 100% sure of that though.

I believe the 620 is slightly smaller but they are way under powered. (especially in a 4 foot tank) You would be much happier with the 820s or 1100s.

I'm back from the dead!

I haven't been slackin' honest. Here's my progress to date!

http://www.thelastlight.net/reef/#mar_19_2006

I should make each update a seperate page to fix the load time I know...

Cheers,

Brett

Looking good!

If heat becomes an issue you might want to have your ballast outside your lighting hood.

I'll actually have a second ballast in there as soon as I have the funds. I'm putting 3 4" fans in the canopy to deal with this. one blowing fresh air in the side and two in the top blowing it out.

Anyone foresee any problems there?

Brett

I would put 1 fan on each side, one blowing towards the other one that is sucking the hot air out. Start with two, if two isn't enough, use 4.

Before you buy the fans ask to run them in the store to see how much noise they make.

The only thing about the "1 fan in, 1 fan out" method is that you're only moving the same amount of air that one fan would move.

E.g., if the fans are rated 110cfm then you only get 110cfm through the hood. But if you direct both in, or both out (and vent for the other direction) then you get 220cfm through the hood.

Not saying it's wrong to do 1-in, 1-out, I have 2 hoods this way, but thought I would point out that about the fan directions because it is often overlooked.

I wanted to avoid a fan in the visible end of the canopy. Is it that much better to have them on opposing ends rather than blowing horizontally in and vertically out? If so I'll do what's safer. My wife hates house fires for some odd reason! The fans I intended to buy are these:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...ID=pfo-pmcfan4

I used to run one of those, not super loud, but not super quiet either. 3 of them is going to make quite a hum I think.

Maybe the icecap ones run quieter, does anyone know?

Good point on the fans.

I have no proof on this, but I like one pointing to the other end and having it sucked out because it just seems as though you are dealing with the heat more "directly". By passing onefan right over the bulbs and ballast the heat is getting "pushed" to the other end of the canopy where the other fan sucks it out. Like I said I don't know that this is more/less efficient.

In terms of safety I don't think it matters.

one fan would be in the end and blow the heat to the other end and on that end the fan would be in the top of the canopy. I figured if heat rose it'd work as well but maybe i'm wrong here. luckily i can try one in the top first and if it isn't great patch it without messing my finish up. unless a guest is 6'6" or higher the top can be torn up a little without fear of it looking too ghetto.

I run Icecaps (DC) in one canopy and Orions (AC) in another. The Orions are actually quieter. The Icecaps are neat though in that they come with heat sensors and will run at slow, medium or fast speed depending on temperature. At the slow speed I couldn't hear them, but when my halides are on they switch to 110cfm (the max speed) within seconds. They do make a bit of a noise at that speed (could be worse, but we're not talking "whisper silent" unfortunately).

I think one thing to try, when you mount the fans onto your canopy, put some small o-rings over the screws to act like a bushing or whatever the term is, they'll (hopefully) suck up some of the vibration and prevent it getting transmitted to the hood.

It's amazing how a simple oversight here or there can accumulate into a lot of tank noise. One of my canopies just howls sometimes, it's because it just barely touches one of my sump return pipes, and the vibration is transferred to the hood and it just resonates. :(

There's never a shortage of "Oh I never thought THAT would happen" moments in this hobby, you'll always make it better "next time" and even then you'll still think "Dang, I wish I could have forseen THAT such-and-such happening..."

i totally hear you. i had the system getting pretty quiet. i added the canopy and now all the weight resonates with the dang return pump! maybe some rubber bands under the canopy will help...

Looks Great!

My only concern are your ballasts and the outlets etc inside the hood. It can get pretty humid in there, and salt creep will always reer it's ugly head when you least expect it, or a fish may decide to jump and splash water some day. It would be Much safer to mount that stuff outside of the canopy. I personally try to have as little eletrical stuff inside the canopy as possible. Just in case, y'know? Maybe you can extend the wiring and put that stuff lower on the stand or something.

When I was researching my fans, the concensus was to have 2 fans blow IN. Air will travel in the path of least resistence, so it will find a way out of the canopy. In my case, I actually cut vent holes too, so that's where most of the hot air exhausts out of. FYI: Hot Air Rises. So have vents higher if possible.

But if you have 1 in and 1 out, the OUT one will break down pretty fast. Since it's exhausting humid air, which will corrode the fan. Unless you spend $$ and get marine grade fans, none of these other fans are rated for the humidity that a SW aquarium under MH lights will put out. Also, the point of fans is to speed Evaporation. Evaporation = Cooling. The faster it evaporates, the faster the tank temperature will cool down. You want maximum CFM from your fans. So as Delphinus pointed out, 1 x In and 1 x out wont achieve this.

Also, if you're ok with soldering, you can just get a couple of 120mm Computer Case fans (cheaper), and hook them up to any old AC/DC adapters you have laying around. I just got a couple of female plugs from Radioshack, and soldered the leads of some fans I had lying around, and plugged them right into the AC/DC adapters I had. No need to spend $30 on a fan from JL. You can even find the quieter case fans if you want (that JL one looks like an AC fan, which run pretty loud).

BTW, I'm helping a buddy setup his RO/DI and auto top off. Your creative mounting of the float valve is very ingenious! No need to drill a hole to mount the float valve then. I might steal the idea. Cudos!