Gablami's Reefer 525 Build

[Gablami]

The pH change may have triggered my trochus snails to spawn. Half a dozen snails were up top on the glass spewing clouds of milky stuff.

 

[Gablami]

Not too shabby, now keep and eye on your alkalinity since the BRS guys claimed they greatly (triple?) their dosing regimes.

Haha, I'm checking my alkalinity and it's finally started to go down. Will keep an eye on it.

 

[roostertech]

The pH change may have triggered my trochus snails to spawn. Half a dozen snails were up top on the glass spewing clouds of milky stuff.

View attachment 6111

Snail sexy time!

Haha, I'm checking my alkalinity and it's finally started to go down. Will keep an eye on it.

 

[Flagg37]

Let us know after a while how worth while you think it is. An average increase of .2 pH doesn't seem like a lot but maybe it's more beneficial than it would seem.

 

[roostertech]

Let us know after a while how worth while you think it is. An average increase of .2 pH doesn't seem like a lot but maybe it's more beneficial than it would seem.

pH is on log scale

 

[Gablami]

It's still going up, actually. Now I might be thinking about figuring out that solenoid business.

 

[roostertech]

Very neat, I never thought of it till the BRS video

 

[Flagg37]

It's still going up, actually. Now I might be thinking about figuring out that solenoid business.

View attachment 6112

I guess that is more substantial.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I would let it ride out just to see how high it does end up going, but yeah looks like that solenoid dohicky might be a good investment. That or stop breathing so much in your house!

 

[Gablami]

I think I bought the wrong solenoid. Everything else is perfect, 3 way valve, 1/4 NPT threads, just DC not AC. I'm learning as I go here.

This is for batteries right? I can't wire it to plug into apex? I remember something about how Apex can control DC devices, but somehow don't think this will work.

 

[roostertech]

Plug your DC adapter into EB8?

 

[RandyC]

It's still going up, actually. Now I might be thinking about figuring out that solenoid business.

View attachment 6112

You know, I really only see two long term solutions to this problem:

1. get a bigger house to hold more O2
2. ditch the wife and baby; keep tank

 

[sfsuphysics]

Should work fine, you just need a DC power source, i.e. a wall wart and you can plug that into one of the Apex power slots, that is unless the Apex is capable of providing 12V DC power

I think I bought the wrong solenoid. Everything else is perfect, 3 way valve, 1/4 NPT threads, just DC not AC. I'm learning as I go here.

This is for batteries right? I can't wire it to plug into apex? I remember something about how Apex can control DC devices, but somehow don't think this will work.

View attachment 6114

 

[Gablami]

Ah thanks guys, I didn't know about dc adapters. Will have to find one though. From what I can figure, I need to take an extension cord or something like that, strip the ends, and connect to the screws here (DC doesn't have positive and negative?) with grounding wire (is that necessary? Most wall warts don't have that third prong.) then find the adapter and I'm good to go! Crossing fingers.

 

[Gablami]

You know, I really only see two long term solutions to this problem:

1. get a bigger house to hold more O2
2. ditch the wife and baby; keep tank

Haha, wife baby tank and house will need to learn to coexist . So help me...

 

[roostertech]

DC output have two wires typically red and black. Don't connect your solenoid directly to AC unless you want to buy a new one.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well do you have an old rechargable anything that needs to be thrown away? See if you can't salvage a power supply from that.

Wall wart. Just look at the print, make sure it's 1) DC and 2) 12V output, the amount of current is irrelevant since your solenoid uses such a tiny amount.

If you need extra length to get to the power of your Apex, you can use some super thin wire like even phone wire since so little current is being used

And positive and negative absolutely matter with DC current, you don't want to switch those around. I wouldn't worry about the ground wire personally, a ground with DC is usually to have a point of reference for the voltage, although it MAY be necessary.

I hate to sound anti-man here, but wasn't there an instruction manual with that thing? It'll let you know which wires go to what.

 

[BSAJim]

Gablami,

Allow the once an electrical engineer to pipe in (yes, there were us guys before everybody went for an IT or SW degree).

Mike is generally correct. The current draw on the solenoid is negligible at 14W / 29mA. Almost any wall-type adapter that produces 12V will be fine.

Typically, solenoids are not polarity sensitive, since it is powering an induction coil. If the solenoid does care, polarity will be marked. The well adapter will usually provide a diagram with output polarity.

You will not need a ground. Both voltage and current make it unnecessary.

PM me if you need detailed assistance

Jim

 

[Gablami]

Thanks Jim and Sfcu for the tips and assistance. Rooster went above and beyond and he found some instructions online (none came with the solenoid). I connected it to a 12v 0.5a wall wart correctly, and the solenoid worked, heard the click, the led light came on, but the valves did not move. It is a pneumatic solenoid. Took it apart and saw the magnet move with the current, but still couldn't get the valve to move. There were some other reviews that commented on this, and one said that it needed positive pressure to work, not negative pressure. Either way, I blew and sucked on that sucker until I turned blue and I couldn't get it to work, but I think it was a pneumatic error, not electrical.

So I just went ahead and bought the one on the BRS FAQ vid. At least I know I can get it to work, even though it is a 2 way valve instead of a 3 way. No point in keeping my pH above 8.3, using up the canister.

 

[Gablami]

I ended up not putting a solenoid on the CO2 scrubbed, and just punctured a small hole in the tubing to mix room air with the CO2 deficient air (no need to be above 8.3). But after 11 days, the CO2 scrubber media is purple and my pH is dropping. Was hoping it would last longer than that. I do think it helped. I've got coralline algae growing, my alk replacement went up (Ca did not go up much), and my SPS look good. Each BRS jug is 9 lbs, and gives 7 canisters, so that's about 3 canisters a month ($21/month). Amazon has a sodalime, CO2 absorbent for respiratory medical equipment, that also changes color, 20 lbs/$59, which would be $12/month. Might try that once my BRS media runs out.