280g Inwall

[Delphinus]

Hi Brad, do you have a gap between the frame and the tank or the frame and the ceiling? I looked specifically at your thread and it looked to me like it's resting on the tank straight to the ceiling? I thought maybe you were able to get away with this because you have an acrylic tank ... Or maybe you just don't have a bouncy flexy joist like I do. I'm starting to suspect these engineered joists that I have are supposed to be bouncy and flexy. Which is great for reducing noise but not so great in this scenario.

Oh well, I have high hopes for the sister-joists method .. I've gone and bought the lumber but just due to the nature of the work I'm unable to put it up by myself. My wife is about 7.5 months pregnant and suffering from every pregnancy related ailment so I've been .. kind of not asking her for help. I have to wait until some poor unsuspecting other person comes along. The next person to ring my doorbell to tell me about Jehovah's Witnesses or sell me a Calgary Herald is in for a surprise.

[untamed]

No, no gap at all to the ceiling. There's a strip of foam door insulation between the frame and the tank. I put that foam there to prevent the wood from sitting directly on top of the tank where it would get wet.

While the frame is connected to walls on the left and right, it isn't connected to the ceiling at all. That means that the weight of the overhead wall/doors is largely resting on the tank. I suppose that an acrylic tank lets me get away with that.

Like I said...I think I just got lucky because I didn't consider ceiling flex at all.

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

... The next person to ring my doorbell to tell me about Jehovah's Witnesses or sell me a Calgary Herald is in for a surprise.

Mitch

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by untamed

... That means that the weight of the overhead wall/doors is largely resting on the tank. ...

Like I said...I think I just got lucky because I didn't consider ceiling flex at all.

Mitch

[Delphinus]

Well, a year has passed so it's time to resurrect this thread and show to the world just how pathetically slow I am at getting this project going.

In my defense, there have been some massive challenges to overcome that have nothing to do with how to set up a tank .. but everything to do with how to (or how not to) build a house and/or renovate a basement.

Highlights:
- Removing flex from the ceiling
- Painting concrete
- Finding the floor drain that I paid the housebuilders to put in. Apparently I didn't pay them enough to put in the floor drain because when I lifted the cover it was just a 3" pipe end encased in concrete. Oh there were swear words as I sat there and chipped at the floor for about 6 hours trying to get the pipe open.
- Building a light frame and then discovering that my furnace and HRV vents overlap the tank too much and I have a problem on my hands. I SHOULD have just said "to heck with it" and moved the tank over 12" ... but I was stubborn to my belief that I've picked the best spot for the tank and I'm just going to work with it as best I can. Big time headache that nearly had me throwing the towel on this project in earlier this year. Next house I build (which will be never, hopefully), but if I do find myself in the position, I'm springing for nine foot ceilings. I've learned that lesson...

Overall it's been a bit of a tough year for me in the hobby so I've taken long breaks at times while considering my next moves. I might also have had a second kid which tends to shake your life upside down for a bit. But anyhow, enough excuses, and onto the updates.

[Delphinus]

I'll start with the floor. I opted to paint the concrete because I thought that would be easier and quicker than lino. I was probably wrong.

It turns out you need to "etch" concrete, preferably with muriatic acid, before you can paint it. Home Depot would not sell me muriatic acid .. "Are you nuts? That stuff is far too dangerous." Uhhh thanks guys, but the paint YOU sold me said I have to in the instructions? I finally found a guy working there who knew of an alternative though, so off I went.

But first, the floor drain. I had a floor drain installed by the housebuilders. But I never thought to look at it. I finally popped the cover off and found .. it was not a floor drain but just a pipe encased in concrete.

I didn't think to take a picture of it initially. After about 6 hours of bashing the concrete with a sledgehammer and chisel, and a hearty dose of swearing, I got it to this point..


Hard to tell in the photo but the pipe isn't even centred in the hole. Technically, I should have just jackhammered the concrete, installed a proper drain and repour concrete, but that was just not on the table. I just worked the concrete until it's a basic funnel shape and left it at that for now.

Here's Tasha inspecting the drain hookup from the laundry sink. You can tell she's thinking "WTF?"


Plumbing installed (hot and cold lines, I used 3/4" pipe) and drain installed:


I opted for 3/4" line because I thought it might be better for the RO/DI feedline, the more pressure for RO, the better.

I also subverted the household pressure regulator so I get about 96psi at the tap and a reasonable output from the RO/DI.

I don't have a picture handy but one thing I did that was a sort of "oops" was install the regulator back on the household supply backwards. OOOPS. It makes a rather interesting sound as it slams shut at the speed of sound and you wonder why there's no water coming out of any taps in your house ....

[Delphinus]

Here's the first pass of the aluminium light frame.

It's had to be modified because it doesn't fit over the tank thanks to those %$#%$!#!! furnace/HRV vents overlapping the tank. There's been a few choice swear words uttered over this particular predicament. We'll see how it turns out..



With the Lumenarc mini's ..

[Delphinus]

Here's the inside of the canopy. I chose plywood instead of drywall for this side because I think it will hold up to moisture and humidity better.


I'm using quarter round on the inside corners just to help keep humidity out of the ceiling. Here's my triple-mitre job, I'm pleased how that turned out.


Finished painting..


And just how it looks from the outside..


Starting to look like a tank!! Yay.

There's still so much ground to cover that I get queasy thinking about it. My goals for the next two weeks are:

- Install the HRV vent covers

- Install the barndoor hangers for the light frame, and hang the light frame in place

- Get the electrical done

- Get the tank plumbing done.

That might be enough for me to get water and rock into the tank and start cycling, while I finish off the rest of the room (ie., drywall the walls inside the tank room and on the tank display side, get the decorative moulding in place on the front side and so on).

[fooser]

You are making me want to get 3 lumenarcs too now Tony.

[rattler]

Congrats Tony!!

It's good to see this starting to come together

Cheers!

Rattler