Jestersix

TGunn's First 37g in the Bay Area

rygh said:
Hmm, 60/40 split of white/blue?
Or is that 60-blue and 40-white?
Hopefully the latter. You may not be happy with 60% whites.
Make sure they are on a different circuit, for dimming.
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Whoops yes looked way back at my order and it's 60/40 blue and white. I have two dimmable drivers so the plan is to keep them on separate circuits so I can fine tune the intensity and color.

I'm definitely a fan of a blue color from my Radium Halide days.

I also have a bunch of 10k satisled leds and drivers if I need more light.

I put the two color leds pretty close together this time around so I hope I don't have the same issue I had before with color bands (aka the disco ball effect)...

I'll build a housing for the lights out of acrylic so that I can hang that over the tank...

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Such a nice tank! I have one of the 30 gallon Oceanic cubes just like this. I built in similar back chambers and mine houses my seahorses. I'm excited to see what you do with yours!
 
Alright, so my Bulk Reef Supply RO/DI unit with pressure tank came today and I got it all plumbing in.
It turns out there was already a drain saddle valve. I just put a Tee on the cold water faucet and I was ready to roll.
IMG_20140325_184956.jpg


SSShhhh, don't tell the leasing company I drilled through the cabinets to run the water line out of the cupboards:
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I'm waiting to hear back from BRS whether it's safe to use the pressure tank -- it came dented:
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Source water is 313TDS, and pressure is 45 PSI. Yikes. I think I'm going to have to order a booster pump.. I've been flushing the system for 5 mins so far and output TDS is 12 so far.
 
Oh for sure. It shouldn't have been dented (that's my job), but in the mean time it would be nice to have something. Haha well it didn't blow up overnight so I answered the "will it hold" question.

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Yet more (slow) progress on my setup. I decided it would be best to use a GFCI for the setup (the GFCI on my 140g saved me when I knocked the t5 lights off the chain holding them up and they dropped into the tank... with my hand in it).

I figured it was also a good time to wire up one of the industrial temperature controllers I have. This one isn't a fancy PID controller like my other one, but the fact it is two stage means it can control both the heaters and a fan to help accelerate evaporative cooling.
IMG_20140403_205339.jpg
 
I just saw this post. I was the one who got the other tank at Mario place. It a nice tank, I will make a thread for my, too. For your information, you should test the tank with fill with water before hook anything up. Also fill the front to ensure it not leak with the filter area. My tank leaked between the front and the back, also leak between the filter and the return area. But it not a big deal, I was able to seal it with silicon and now it up and cycling.
 
nly04 said:
I just saw this post. I was the one who got the other tank at Mario place. It a nice tank, I will make a thread for my, too. For your information, you should test the tank with fill with water before hook anything up. Also fill the front to ensure it not leak with the filter area. My tank leaked between the front and the back, also leak between the filter and the return area. But it not a big deal, I was able to seal it with silicon and now it up and cycling.
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Great idea; it would be nice to see what you do with your tank as well. :)
I definitely plan on filling the tank up to check for leaks, good point.

Does your tank have a similar usable front area (24" wide x 12" deep roughly)? I'm not sure how much liverock I'll need for this and would be curious how much you used.

Thanks,
Tyler
 
tygunn said:
Oh for sure. It shouldn't have been dented (that's my job), but in the mean time it would be nice to have something. Haha well it didn't blow up overnight so I answered the "will it hold" question.
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I realize I never did say what the deal was. BRS was of course good about it. It's only cosmetic to have the dent so I had the option of a partial refund or having a new one sent out. I opted for the partial refund; can't see the tank under the sink anyways.
 
Yes, the front area is 13"D x 24"W. Mario made perfect size for the filter chamber which is 5"D x 11"W and this can fit a lot of difference size of nano skimmer. I made a filter basket and put it right under of the overflow in the first chamber to catch any junk if it can catch, then the skimmer chamber and a filter pad before water go to the return chamber. I just made a thread for my tank.
 
nly04 said:
Yes, the front area is 13"D x 24"W. Mario made perfect size for the filter chamber which is 5"D x 11"W and this can fit a lot of difference size of nano skimmer. I made a filter basket and put it right under of the overflow in the first chamber to catch any junk if it can catch, then the skimmer chamber and a filter pad before water go to the return chamber. I just made a thread for my tank.
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Okay sounds like the same size filter area. Yes, I'm SO happy I can fit my Tunze Nano DOC skimmer in there without cutting off the magnet to make it fit. There's plenty of room unlike in my old Solana. I'll check out your thread. :)
 
Some more progress! Today I filled up the aquarium with fresh water to test it for leaks --so far so good - no leaks. The overflow weir is a bit noisy splashing into the back filtration compartment, so I'll need to figure something out for that..

I took the tank pic with all 69w of high intensity LED lighting on. I've glued on the 60 degree optics to each LED. I'm quite pleased with the color I'm seeing with 60% royal blue LEDs and 40% cool white LEDs. The resulting color temperature is around 20,000k, which is exactly what I wanted to see.

IMG_8917.jpg


Ugh, good 'ol 1600 ISO made that really noisey.

I'm also happy with how I put the white and blue LEDs side by side. When I last used LED lights like this I spaced all the LEDs out. The problem was that the ripples on the water surface would cause the blue and white light to separate considerably as the ripples propagated across the water surface. The result was quite unique with bands of blue and white light rippling around the tank. The close proximity of the LEDs seems to prevent that.
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Next step: Finally finish my SolidWorks model of the housing for the LEDs so I can finally order the acrylic for that and build it.
 
Alright, the tank is now in a good position to start cycling! :)

I just finished my seismic reinforcements for the tank.

I used two heavy L backets anchored to studs with 2 1/2" x 5/16" lag bolts, and 5/6" bolts to attach the stand to the tank:
IMG_20140409_195029.jpg


SSHHHH, you don't see the extra mis-drilled hole. :)

The white stuff under the tank is quake putty. I put it under the perimeter bracing to help prevent the tank from sliding off the stand in a quake. This stuff is tough. I can't slide the tank as hard as I try.
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I was kinda torn about whether I should use L-brackets or straps. In the end I figure if the stand is well anchored to the structure, the weight of the tank and the quake putty should keep it put. Add the fact the mass of water in the tank is going to slosh, dissipating some of the motion. That's my story. :)
 
... And the tank is slowly filling with di water. The ro system is making water at 20tds even after a long run. So I've ordered a Booster pump to up the pressure... That should help lower the product tds and up my production rate. I also ordered some catalytic carbon that I will throw in a spare filter canister to help ensure chloramine isn't an issue.

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Hmm, okay, so I have enough water in the tank now to get the water circulating. The problem is that the overflow is LOUD.
IMG_20140411_072343.jpg

The water splashes down to the chamber below quite violently. I tried using the little plastic panel in the pic along with another to form a "ramp" for the water to go down more smoothly. It generally worked, but because I can't get a perfect seal without siliconing these pieces in (which I don't want to do so I can remove to clean) water still leaks along the edges and splashes down.

Any ideas of how to mitigate this?
 
You could either extend your drain so that the outlet is under water level or you could create a bubble tower by filling that chamber with pieces of live rubble rock.

The rubble tower would also help with water quality by means added biological filtration from the live rock.

If it were me, I would do the rubble tower option.

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Jeremy said:
You could either extend your drain so that the outlet is under water level or you could create a bubble tower by filling that chamber with pieces of live rubble rock.

The rubble tower would also help with water quality by means added biological filtration from the live rock.

If it were me, I would do the rubble tower option.

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Click to expand...

Since this is an integrated sump in the back portion of the tank, I don't have a drain line that I can just submerge... Doh..

The rubble is a good idea; I wonder if it would be an issue that there would be a portion of rock that isn't under water.

Maybe I'll get some egg crate and look into building a little stand to hold up a pile of rubble where the water drains. I don't know if I want to fill the entire compartment with rubble as I fear it would become a detritus trap.

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