Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

Bought a couple of things today.

First was a riser for my skimmer. Euro-Reef recommends their skimmers sit in only 5-8 inches of water for maximum efficiency. Unfortunately, the way my sump was designed by me, (hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20.....sigh), the skimmer would be sitting in 12.5 inches of water. So I needed to fix that. I bought two 6 inch (diameter) fitting clean out bodies from Lowes, and two 6 inch flat topped caps. Total cost $30.00, but when dry fitted together they make a 6 inch flat topped platform for my skimmer and pump.

Here the two pieces are apart.



Here are all four pieces assembled into two risers.



Here is the skimmer sitting ontop of the risers. For frame of reference the skimmer is a Euro-Reef CS6-2, ( 6 inch diameter tube, 24 inches high.)




This is how deep the skimmer sat before the risers.



Here is the skimmer after the risers.....with Gracie's head in the way.



Here is a different angle.
Before risers:



After risers:



Nick

[Maxx]

I also bought a Watch Dog water alarm from Lowes. $19.99 from the link I attached......$9.99 at Lowes in the plumbing aisle by sump pumps. 110 decibels of notification that a leak is in progress. Think Fire Alarm only for flooding....
This will sit in the stand (which has been water proofed with silicone seams) and should alert pretty much the whole freakin house that there is a problem with the aquarium, and that something should be done before the house is ruined or the tank runs dry....which would also suck.......alot.



BTW Home Depot also sells these online for $9.99 but their website was down for back ups when I posted this....

I also bought more plumbing and more egg crate. Playing with egg crate SUCKS!!!! Anyone know a way to cut this stuff without having it explode into a bazillion shards???

Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Great stuff Nick! Whose that long nosed and big eared inspector?

[Maxx]

Thats Gracie, our one year old crack monke...uh Labrador retriever. She's the main reason for the access doors.
Nick

[Maxx]

I just tested the flow rate of the new return plumbing....(bumped up from 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter PVC).
I made a HUGE gain in flow...from 316 GPH up to 453.85 gallons...roughly 454 gph, which turns my 80 gallon tank volume over approximately 5.67 times per hour. Right where I wanted it. And this is using a Mag 7 as my return pump. Still havent made the jump to a Mag 9.5...might not need to.
Nick

[mps9506]

Rockin

Love the dog, I have a black lab myself, and he stares at his own reflection in the sump and growls for like 10 minutes straight, I think all labs have mental issues
Mike

[Craig Manoukian]

Cool beans Maxx!

[Maxx]

Originally posted by mps9506
Rockin

Love the dog, I have a black lab myself, and he stares at his own reflection in the sump and growls for like 10 minutes straight, I think all labs have mental issues
Mike

I keep telling my fiance that its a good thing Gracie is cute.....cause she aint smart....
Oddly enough, Rocio gets mad when I say that.
Nick

[Spooda420]

looks good nick, I guess you timed it about right by the time you'll be adding livestock.... you can write to santa

Dear Santa,

I have been a good boy. I help keep the peace in St. Louis, MO. I try not to do bad things. My wish list is:

1. Fish
2. Corals
3. Fish food
4. Fish

I promise I will take care of them and put them away when I'm not playing with them

everything looks great!

keep the pics coming!

Chris

[Maxx]

ROFL Chris......
Wasnt it about this time last year the squirrel invasion occured? Thats still pretty high on my list of priorities!
But yeah, the plan is to get this beast up and running hopefully within the month.

Scooterman gave me a way to check if my house can handle the increased electrical usage.

Hey Nick.... you need to find the breaker that supplies power to your outlets. The cheapest way of doing this is by flipping off each breaker one at a time, then going around to each room to see what was turned off, when doing this you may want to shut everything off but a light in each room. I used a small light & went to the room that the breaker turned off and plugged it in to every outlet, sometimes one breaker will cover several rooms, so take notes, & make a list, this is time consuming I know but will pay off later. Once you get a complete list, you can see what size breaker/s that feed your aquarium, & other devices. In most post-modern homes the big electrical demands were, kitchens, I.e., refrigerators, toasters etc. The other was your central A/C/electric stoves, which big ticket items used 220v double pole breakers, usually they are very obvious in the breaker box. Modern homes, electric water heaters, microwaves, dish washers, dryers etc. so they have larger breakers supplying those areas, sometime several breakers feed the kitchen (I think I have one 50A for the stove, one 30A & one 20A in my kitchen). The under sight until recently has been the living room, this room these days also use up lots of power. Most all other rooms can span one breaker with no problems. As you make a list, on the breaker panel, either write the rooms each breaker supplies or post a detailed list next to it, in emergencies it will be helpful. In an older home, it may be difficult to power a huge reef & maintain a safety factor, It could be as easy as adding another breaker & dedicated line to the tank area, or it could mean totally breaker box replacement, then adding another line to the tank area, this is when you will need to call in a professional, certified, or at least well experienced in retrofitting & meeting the proper codes in your local area. Now that I scared you, LOL, you can use plan "B", after locating all of your breakers & their feeds, you can devise a split on power maybe. Try and use two separate breakers, & save you lots of cash. One good thing about breakers, if you are pushing them too far, they should trip (if properly wired in the first place), that is their purpose, if you do trip a breaker, then it is time for alternative planning. I hope this helps Nick.

So it looks like I'll be doing that on Tuesday night after Rocio gets off work. She works from the house and I cant exactly go inadvertantly flipping off her computer, just cause I wanna see what breaker goes where.....I work tonight and Monday night also...so its gonna have to wait til at least then.
I will buy the DJ 100 power centers Tuesday, and order a TDS meter as well. so thats its for iupdates for the moment unfortunately....
Nick

[Maxx]

I went downstairs and messed with the breakers tonight in order to discover which breaker my tank would be on. If I'm reading things right, my tank will be on a 20 amp breaker which runs only three outlets. Those three outlets power :
My computer and printer.
My paper shredder.
And a living room light.
Three 60 or so watt bulbs in the basement.

Not exactly sure of the total draw of all of those together....but I feel much better about plugging everything into the outlet next to the tank.

Here is the whole breaker box.



And here is a close up of the breaker box. The switch with the tape on either side is the one controlling the outlet I want to run my tank from. Its the first one down from the two red switches....
BTW anyone got any idea what those are sposed to control?? Cause they didnt turn anything else off in the house.



Nick

[Maxx]

Update: 11-29-2004,

I feel like a bit of a dumb@$$ cause I made some stupid errors in construction.
I used the remaining 3/4" plywood, (left over from skinning the stand), on my lightbox. This resulted in a lightbox that weighed about 40-50 lbs which was 'sposed to hang over the tank. When I realized how heavy this was I figured it was just well built.......
DOH!!!! note to self....bigger is not neccessarily better when building a canopy full of electric lamps to hang over a fragile water filled glass box.
Well it was so heavy it pulled my support braces out of whack and wasnt really going to work as planned. So, I decided to take it apart and reconfigure. I decided to use 1/4" plywood instead for the skin. One of the things I had disliked about the original lightbox was that it hung over all four edges of the tank a couple of inches....cause I just cut the lightbox frame pieces the exact dimensions of the tank. I didnt take into account the extra two inches created by the wood used for the frame itself, (ie used 1x2's for the frame....cut the 1x2's into (4) pieces 36" long, (4) pieces 18" inches long for the width...which when assembled left with a box 36" long, but 20" wide...18 inch pieces were placed inside the 36 inch pieces....make sense?) And when I added the 3/4" playwood to that, it added another 1 1/2" to the diameter of the box...so now I've got a 38Lx 22Wx10H box that weighed 40-50 lbs.....
So I did some surgery on the lightbox frame with my mitre saw.....and didnt do such a good job.....cut the side braces, (originally 18" long), too short......and then I headed on back to HD for more wood.

The new box is being stained right now. Its ALOT lighter in weight than the previous one. Its also shorter in height and width as well. The new box should be about 38Lx15Wx7.5H. I am going to be running 36" 95 Watt VHO actinics, in addition to my dual 250 w AB10K DE bulbs...so thats why I needed 36" of interior lightbox space....which makes the exterior of the lightbox a full 38 inches long.
I also just bought a TDS meter from the same place I bought my RO/DI unit from www.airwaterice.com
Cost me $35 shipped. I was in the process of ordering the cuttingboard for the bottom of the tank...but their website is kinda weird regarding custom sizes...so I'll wait til later on today when they are open and speak to a person by phone so there are no misunderstandings.
Thats all for right now......I'm gonna wait til the TDS meter arrives before filling the tank. I want to double check the water coming out of my RO/DI unit...Ive had it for about 2 years, but I shut it off for the last 10 months or so since I havent had a tank up and running during that time. I have spare filters for it, but I just want to make sure. The filters are sposed to be the color changing type, and the bottom of one of the membranes has turned and orange rust color, but its just the bottom inch...so in theory, it should still be good to go.....
Thanks for staying tuned...
Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Keep up the good work Nick!

[Maxx]

Goodies came in the mail today!!!
Got my cutting board for the bottom. I bought it from www.thecuttingboardcompany.com and bought a sheet of white 1/2" thick measuring 34 3/4" x 16 3/4". I cut a section out for the overflow and placed in the tank. Looks good and I'm happy with it.
My TDS meter arrived today also...(along with the neighbors bills??? I'm not payin 'em...I dont care if he is my neighbor).
Water from the tap measures at 215-218 ppm. Water from the RO/Di unit measures at 014 ppm. I'm happy with that. The tank will have water put it in it tonight. Probably wont be able to get it full tonight...but thats okay, cause I can wait another day.

I have the new lighter weight, light box ready to be hung. And I bought the American DJ PC-100A power centers the other day. they need to be hooked up. I like these things. More pics will follow.
Nick

[Woodstock]

You're getting close Nick!! It will not be long before you are complaining about an algae bloom! Can't wait to see pics of it stocked! My tap is around 80 ppm... not too bad i guess.....