Coral reefer
Past President
Just use silicon grease. No need for a wrench!
Moving in from Texas
- Thread starter jccaclimber
- Start date
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Can you expand on that? While I'm a proponent of greasing o rings and gaskets the overflow pipes can still make them shift and lift an edge.
Jeff Rehling
Guest
I need one of those!
Coral reefer
Past President
The silicon grease makes it easy enough to tighten the nuts by hand. No wrench needed. Haven't used one in years. It's easy enough to tighten that I can over tighten by hand even.
Flagg37
Guest
How did you make that?
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Good thing you know someone you can borrow one from. I did get a request from a friend to make more of these, but it isn't cost effective to start with a chunk of aluminum this large. I (or better yet Griz up above) could 3d print and one profitably cheaper than I could get the materials to make a metal one. I just felt like going with a chunk of metal for other reasons.
Are you putting the grease on the threads or gasket? Even when the bulkhead is in a hole an inch or two up inside the stand?
I took away all the parts that didn't look like that until that is all that was left
.In all seriousness:
Face stock
Turn OD
Knurl OD (not my best knurl)
Drill ID
Turn ID
Start parting op
chamfer 3x assessible edges.
Finish parting op
CAD part
Write CNC code (got some help on this one, I'm rusty)
Move to mill
Cut hex/reliefs/chamfers
Clean up
I might go back later and put some flats or a method of mounting an extension or socket adapter on the back at some point.
Once I end up with one I can see cutting the other end for a SCH80 bulkhead nut tool at some point too, although there are better ways to make one of those.
Coral reefer
Past President
Extension would be cool, especially if it attached to a socket or something! The rest of the post is gibberish to me...not nearly on that level.
As little no as my fingers can reach I usually can tighten it good enough. Haven't met my match yet. Took me years to learn the silicon grease trick, can't believe I used to get bulkheads to seal without it!
As little no as my fingers can reach I usually can tighten it good enough. Haven't met my match yet. Took me years to learn the silicon grease trick, can't believe I used to get bulkheads to seal without it!
xcaret
Guest
WOW ! CNC'd ?
grizfyrfyter
Guest
I can definitely 3d print these for pretty cheap. $10 I would guess.
Better yet, I'll make a set and donate them to the club.
Better yet, I'll make a set and donate them to the club.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Just the hex portion. Sure I could lay it out manually, but with no rotary table this was way faster.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
This is a great solution.
Flagg37
Guest
I thought the knurl looked pretty good. What grade aluminum did you use? Last time I milled some 7075 that was pretty rough. I went through a few bits.Good thing you know someone you can borrow one from. I did get a request from a friend to make more of these, but it isn't cost effective to start with a chunk of aluminum this large. I (or better yet Griz up above) could 3d print and one profitably cheaper than I could get the materials to make a metal one. I just felt like going with a chunk of metal for other reasons.
Are you putting the grease on the threads or gasket? Even when the bulkhead is in a hole an inch or two up inside the stand?
I took away all the parts that didn't look like that until that is all that was left
In all seriousness:
Face stock
Turn OD
Knurl OD (not my best knurl)
Drill ID
Turn ID
Start parting op
chamfer 3x assessible edges.
Finish parting op
CAD part
Write CNC code (got some help on this one, I'm rusty)
Move to mill
Cut hex/reliefs/chamfers
Clean up
I might go back later and put some flats or a method of mounting an extension or socket adapter on the back at some point.
Once I end up with one I can see cutting the other end for a SCH80 bulkhead nut tool at some point too, although there are better ways to make one of those.
I was thinking you may have found some really thick walled pipe or at least a cylinder to start with.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
I started with 6061 T6 solid round. The knurl has good bite, but it was a small diameter forming type bump knurl, pretty much the hardest sort to use, and I didn't think to use a live center. As a result the depth varies a bit and the peaks aren't crisp. I also tried to restart from the headstock end so part of it is double knurled with an offset.
I rather like cutting 7075 and 606x equally, but that comes from having spent time doing 65HRC HT A2 steel on worn out machines. After that any properly heat treated aluminum is a joy.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Back in town and at it again. I now have a reversible way to hook my RO unit to the shower via a hose fitting.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Return plumbing is a bit shady as I'm trying out a couple types of hoses, but its in. With that, I'm now adding water while figuring out how to rig the lights.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
More wiring today. Still pretty ugly, but at least most of it is connected. I miss my other RO unit, this thing where it's going to take 2 days to fill the tank is getting old.
I'm not thrilled that the water I drop down the front could splash some of the electronics under the tank, so there may be adjustments at some point.
I'm not thrilled that the water I drop down the front could splash some of the electronics under the tank, so there may be adjustments at some point.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Another trip through home coming up in a week and I'm going to try getting some of my fish. I'm a bit concerned about putting in coral (see the pH issue below), but I think some fish poop will be good. The chaeto is growing nicely, and the diatom bloom has started. No idea what the ammonia is, nor nitrite/nitrate, so I need to check that. I might just bring 3 oz of water back to Dallas this weekend and test there. Yesterday marked 2 weeks with salt water, and by the time I get back it will be 4, so things should be getting stable. I did my first parameter test over the weekend and came up with Mg at 1300, Alk at 11.2, and Ca at 460. All in all ok, although lower Mg than I'd like. In line with expectations given that the tank was filled with Red Sea Coral Pro 2 weeks prior.
To put it a different way, I've done worse with dry rock to start and gotten away with it. It all depends how much gunk is coming off of the rocks and how well the macro is doing. Thankfully Ashburn2k has kindly continued to hold my frags, so I've had time for things to stabilize.
In other news, the issues with a large tank in a small space have reared their ugly head. The first was a truly awful amount of condensation in my apartment. Part of it was the 60-65 *F air temperature with a 75*F tank (now 77 *F), but having water dripping down the windows and condensing on the cold floor seemed like a recipe for mold and structural damage.
A quick trip to TAP later for a few pieces of polycarbonate and I have at least the beginning of a lid. I know I'm always extolling the virtues of a lid when it comes to thermal regulation and evaporation, but here are some numbers to prove it.
No lid the heaters* took 190 minutes to raise from 75.0 to 75.8 *F, or 238 minutes per degree.
With lid the heaters took 120 minutes to raise from 76 to 77.1 *F, or 109 minutes per degree, more than twice as fast!
Additionally the air temp during that entire time was decreasing. The no lids portion had a room air colder than water temperature delta of 6.9 *F at the start and 8.9 *F at the finish. The with lids portion had 8.9 *F at the start and a 11.1 *F at the finish, so not only did the with lids portion heat twice as fast, it did so against a significantly larger temperature delta. I haven't insulated the tank or sump yet, but given the temporary installation I may skip that step.
So that whole pH thing. My wife was in town last week. We both stayed in a hotel near the convention she was presenting at for part of the week, and were both at my apartment over the weekend. When we were gone the pH was surprisingly rock solid varying from 8.18 to 8.19 over the last 24 hours before we got back. We spent the night in the apartment and watched it fall to 7.88, rebounding to 7.93 when we left for several hours, but then falling all the way to 7.65 the next night! I'm not sure what the CO2 concentration was in the apartment, but I doubt it was good for any of us. Removing the draft stop I had put in front of the door helped significantly, and now I'm back to one person in the apartment. The pH this morning was at a low of 7.93 and was up to 8.07 by the time I got home. Worst case I can easily route the skimmer inlet line out the door, but I suspect once I get some coral growth and can back it up with soda ash the pH won't be critically low.
*Heaters are both Eheim Jaegers. There is a 300 W in the display and a 250 W in the sump. There is actually a second 300 W heater in the display, but it turns out that it's burned out, so it's a good thing I had a spare. At this point I may be in violation of my own rules about having heaters that can cook tanks, but I already had them as spares, I wasn't planning a lid, and my landlord has me turn off the electric apartment heater when I'm not around.
To put it a different way, I've done worse with dry rock to start and gotten away with it. It all depends how much gunk is coming off of the rocks and how well the macro is doing. Thankfully Ashburn2k has kindly continued to hold my frags, so I've had time for things to stabilize.
In other news, the issues with a large tank in a small space have reared their ugly head. The first was a truly awful amount of condensation in my apartment. Part of it was the 60-65 *F air temperature with a 75*F tank (now 77 *F), but having water dripping down the windows and condensing on the cold floor seemed like a recipe for mold and structural damage.
A quick trip to TAP later for a few pieces of polycarbonate and I have at least the beginning of a lid. I know I'm always extolling the virtues of a lid when it comes to thermal regulation and evaporation, but here are some numbers to prove it.
No lid the heaters* took 190 minutes to raise from 75.0 to 75.8 *F, or 238 minutes per degree.
With lid the heaters took 120 minutes to raise from 76 to 77.1 *F, or 109 minutes per degree, more than twice as fast!
Additionally the air temp during that entire time was decreasing. The no lids portion had a room air colder than water temperature delta of 6.9 *F at the start and 8.9 *F at the finish. The with lids portion had 8.9 *F at the start and a 11.1 *F at the finish, so not only did the with lids portion heat twice as fast, it did so against a significantly larger temperature delta. I haven't insulated the tank or sump yet, but given the temporary installation I may skip that step.
So that whole pH thing. My wife was in town last week. We both stayed in a hotel near the convention she was presenting at for part of the week, and were both at my apartment over the weekend. When we were gone the pH was surprisingly rock solid varying from 8.18 to 8.19 over the last 24 hours before we got back. We spent the night in the apartment and watched it fall to 7.88, rebounding to 7.93 when we left for several hours, but then falling all the way to 7.65 the next night! I'm not sure what the CO2 concentration was in the apartment, but I doubt it was good for any of us. Removing the draft stop I had put in front of the door helped significantly, and now I'm back to one person in the apartment. The pH this morning was at a low of 7.93 and was up to 8.07 by the time I got home. Worst case I can easily route the skimmer inlet line out the door, but I suspect once I get some coral growth and can back it up with soda ash the pH won't be critically low.
*Heaters are both Eheim Jaegers. There is a 300 W in the display and a 250 W in the sump. There is actually a second 300 W heater in the display, but it turns out that it's burned out, so it's a good thing I had a spare. At this point I may be in violation of my own rules about having heaters that can cook tanks, but I already had them as spares, I wasn't planning a lid, and my landlord has me turn off the electric apartment heater when I'm not around.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
yeah small living space + people is a good recipe for low pH in tank. Some house plants could help it more than you think, or you could just go the kalkwasser direction and have periodic additions all day, but routing the skimmer inlet outside is probably your best bet.
It would be interesting to see if the temperature dropping with/without lids is similar.
It would be interesting to see if the temperature dropping with/without lids is similar.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Thought about house plants, but the only two windows are above the toilet and my bed, so I'd have to add lighting for that too.
I've tightened up the temperature control, but the current drop rate is 0.4 *F in 150 minutes, so 375 minutes per degree. Prior was 1.1 *F in 140 minutes, or 127 minutes per degree.
I should add that the lights were at the same intensity during all of the above time periods.